Hybrid Sales Drops in 2008
Needless to say, green advocates were not pleased with the news that sales of gasoline-electric hybrids in the United States fell 9.9 percent in 2008. Not pleased, but not surprised either. When gasoline was going for $4 a gallon, hybrids looked good — vital even. But with the automotive industry in the er . . . waste disposal unit . . ., credit streams all but dried up, and gas selling for around $1.70, sticking with the old (paid for) gas guzzler is the better option.
Carmakers managed to sell 315,761 hybrids during the year, just 2.4 percent of the automotive market overall. But, right up at the top of the heap, declines or not, was Toyota with the venerable Prius. Three out of every four hybrids on the roads in this country is a Prius, a hybrid that may someday be regarded as the Model T of its genre. Still, however, Prius sales perfectly mirror what was going on in the country last year. Sales for the first half of the year were 91,440; for the second half 67,444.
Other hybrid makers’ results were:
- Ford: 19,522 down from 25,108 in 2007
- GM: 14,439, up from 5,175 in 2007
- Nissan: 8,819 down from 8,388 in 2007
- Honda: 31,495 down from 35,980 in 2007
GM’s Bob Lutz said it all at the Detroit auto show in early January. “At $1.50 a gallon, the American public is not willing to pay for fuel-saving technology.” Now green advocates will be looking to the Obama administration to see if new incentives for hybrid purchases are in the offing and to carmakers themselves to see if they can, as a result of their federal bailout, get affordable hybrid products on the showroom floor.