General Motors is finally starting to regularly break out the sales figures for its hybrid vehicles and while the numbers are improving, they still look very weak compared to the competition. August was the company's best month yet for hybrids with a whopping 1,629 units delivered of the six available models. Buyers took home a combined 797 examples of the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon plus a single Escalade hybrid. The Escalade only went on sale in late August so we'll be looking for the September numbers to see if there really is any demand for a $70,000+ luxury hybrid SUV. Over on the mild hybrid side of the tally, the Saturn Vue was the winner with 417 sales, followed by the Malibu at 388 and finally the Aura with a mere 26 sales. These numbers are still pretty weak but at least they are trending upward. Over 12 months the current rate amounts to over 19,500 units, a number that will likely grow significantly when the two-mode Vue goes on sale in a few months. With six hybrids on sale though, that's still pretty tame compared even to Ford, which sells every one of the 25,000 Escape and Mariner hybrids it offers. Ford will likely jump well out ahead in the new year with the Fusion hybrid. Next month, we'll be carefully watching Chrysler's numbers as well, since the first sales of the Durango and Aspen hybrids should be recorded.

Related:

• In the AutoblogGreen Garage: 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid Limited FWD
• In the AutoblogGreen Garage: 2008 Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid
• In the AutoblogGreen Garage: 2008 Chevy Tahoe Two-Mode Hybrid

[Source: General Motors]

Toyota's Camry Hybrid is selling like crazy these days. Last year, Toyota managed to sell 54,477 Camry Hybrids, an impressive figure no doubt, and sales are showing no signs of slowing down. For example, in the month of March, Toyota set a new record for the hybrid version of the Camry by selling 6,930. For the year, it is on track to sell over 60,000 of its midsize hybrid sedan, a 10 percent increase over the previous year. In fact, the Camry Hybrid, which is EPA rated at 33 miles per gallon city and 34 miles per gallon highway, is easily outselling the 268 horsepower 3.5 liter V6 powered model, which is rated at 19 city and 28 highway. Historically, American buyers have shown a propensity to choose the largest engine available.

When sales of the Prius and the Camry Hybrid are combined, Toyota easily remains the world's leader in hybrid vehicle sales and appears a lock to remain that way, at least for the next few years.

[Source: Auto Observer]

Hybridcars.com's monthly wrap-up of hybrid sales is out for August and nothing much has changed. Toyota sold a lot of Priuses (14,000+ units, up 26 percent from last August), but overall the market was down. Hybridcars suggests it might be low gas prices (compared to earlier this year) that helped depress hybrid sales. You can read the rest of their analysis at the Read link, below.

[Source: Hybridcars]

Take all Toyota and Lexus sales in Europe since 2000, figure out which of those vehicles were hybrids and you'll get a number larger than 101,235. That's how many Toyota has sold as of the end of July. If Toyota ever wondered if hybrids were a good idea in diesel-friendly Europe, these sales - and the fact that Toyota sold more than 50,000 hybrids in the last 13 months - must be making the decision easier to justify. As in America, the Prius is the runaway best-seller, with more than 73,000 sold in Europe. Thierry Dombreval, executive vice-president of Toyota Motor Europe, now calls the gas-electric hybrid powertrain "a mainstream technology for Europe." Let's get that next-gen Prius out already.

[Source: Toyota]

Our friends at J. D. Power and Associates are reporting that sales of "conventional" hybrids, though strong, are probably not expanding because of the increased awareness of the upcoming plug-In versions that are now in the works. Perhaps there are other distractions as well: relatively stable gasoline prices; large discount programs on other vehicles, and the fact that the Prius - though clearly successful at indicating its owner's "lifestyle choice" - has never been exactly a beauty queen.

After all, the car looks high and narrow and backseat headroom is less than desirable for some (me). Also, the smaller tires don't do well for the proportions of the car. They don't have to be racing slicks but they need to be more substantial. Right now, they look like the Prius drove through a puddle and the tires shrank.

On the other hand, Toyota has announced a drop in first cost from about $22,200 in 2007 to $20,950 in 2008 for a slightly decontented version. Sounds like a good incentive to me. A new owner can buy some more substantial wheels and tires for the car with the savings.

[Source: Bobit Publications]

Even though Toyota's hybrids no longer qualify for the top tax credit in the U.S. (not that they need it), Edmunds.com is saying that now is the time to buy a hybrid, any hybrid, in America. Just-Auto says Edmonds' reasons are:

• Hybrid prices are at their lowest level in years, in part because incentives are finally being offered on certain makes/models.
• The aforementioned tax credits, some of which run out later this spring.
• Gas prices have started their annual summer rise.
• HOV lane accessibility, insurance discounts, and free in some areas.

I can't help but notice that all four of these reasons relate to money (as opposed to, say, emissions levels). But I suppose the emissions issues are constant, whereas the money savings are dramatically higher now than at other times. What do you think? Is this the perfect storm for hybrid sales? Are you ready to bite?

[Source: Just-Auto (subs req'd)]

It was a good year for hybrid sales last year, up 28 percent over 2005 numbers, according to numbers out from R.L. Polk & Co. today. But, thanks to some tax credits ending (sorry, Toyota) the rate of increase might have peaked. Polk's numbers are:

• 254,545 hybrids sold in 2006
• 199,148 hybrids sold in 2005

One Polk analyst told MSNBC that hybrid sales growth in 2006 was the second lowest since 2000, thanks in part to "more environmentally friendly options." Hybrids only made up 1.5 percent of the U.S. vehicle market last year, and the Polk analyst said 2007 should see about 300,000 hybrids sold. Toyota would like 150,000 of those to be Priuses.

UPDATE: I changed the headline of this post to be more accurate. The old title was "Hybrid car sales' growth slowed in 2006."

[Source: MSNBC]

Overall hybrid vehicle sales are showing significant growth in 2006 compared to 2005, but not all the players are celebrating. Honda has only managed to move 4,924 Accord hybrids by the end of October, compared to 15,269 in 2005, a drop of 67.8 percent. The Civic hybrid on the other hand is up 25.3 percent compared to 2005. Price and fuel consumption may be factors in the discrepancy, since the Accord with the V-6 is set up more as a performance enhancement than an economy booster. The Civic is definitely tuned more for mileage with ratings of 49/51 mpg compared to the 28/35 mpg of the Accord Hybrid.

The Prius is down by about 1,000 units so far in 2006 but still dominates the hybrid segment with a 42.5 percent share. The new Camry hybrid which has only been available since May has already sold over 24,000 copies and combines a four cylinder with the electric motor. The other major hybrid player so far is Ford which has also seen very contradictory results. Sales of the Escape hybrid are up 23.5 percent to 16,304 while the identical Mercury Mariner hybrid has only sold 2,793 units this year.

[Source: AutoWeek]

There's a lot of ways to say you've sold about three thousand hybrid cars, but yesterday Ford decided to go with "hybrid sales up 132 percent" over a year ago. The total vehicles sold of Ford's Escape and Mariner hybrid models totaled only 2,862 vehicles, but since that's a bit more than the company sold last year, they've got some right to promote that fact. The hybrid numbers are hidden in Ford's press release announcing increased sales amounts for the Fusion, Focus and Mustang and lower sales numbers for some of Ford's trucks and SUVs, like the Explorer and Expedition. Seems like customer demand is for greener cars.

[Source: Ford]

The Detroit News reports that sales of certain hybrids, especially larger ones, aren’t quite what Toyota, Ford and Honda were hoping for. Carlos Ghosn throws around the “I told you so” line to whomever is listening after having warned in the past about the economic sense (or nonsense) of hybrids. Some of the complaints from customers include not saving enough money to make up for the price premium, and lower than advertised fuel economy. From a technical point of view, small and light-weight electric hybrid vehicles tend to make more sense, compared to the larger ones, and maybe the market is finding this out for itself.

[Source: The Detroit News]