The Hybrid Dilemma – Hybrid sales are still lagging

The Hybrid Dilemma
Despite the runaway success of the Toyota Prius, hybrid sales are still lagging.

Toyota Motor’s Hybrid Prius is a big success. In June, the company sold 17,756 of these cars, bringing sales to 94,503 units for the first half of the year.

The Prius is a winner; but that’s not the case for Toyota’s other hybrids. Prius accounts for two-thirds of Toyota’s sales volume in hybrids, even though the company makes five other hybrid vehicles, three of which it sells under its luxury Lexus brand.

Honda Motor, one of the pioneers in hybrid technology, recently announced that it was dropping its Accord hybrid. Its Civic hybrid six-month sales, which equal 17,141, are fewer than Prius sales for the month of June alone.

Other manufacturers’ hybrids have not been big sellers, either. Ford Motor has sold only 11,444 of its Escape sport utility hybrids in six months, and only 2,028 of the Mercury Mariner version. Nissan’s hybrid Altima sedan is a half-hearted effort, as it is not even distributed nationally.

Besides fuel economy, people buy hybrids to make a social statement about energy and the environment. It does not hurt that the Environmental Protection Agency rates the Prius at 48 miles per gallon in the city, 45 on the highway.

Read more