Sales of the Ford Fusion Hybrid accelerated by a whopping 64 percent to 2,486 units. Ford also added nearly 25 percent more sales of the Ford Escape Hybrid. At this point, Ford has decisively leapfrogged Honda to become the number two seller of hybrid cars. Toyota owns 68 percent of the hybrid market; Ford holds 14 percent; and Honda has dropped to nearly 9 percent of hybrid car sales. The upcoming Honda CR-Z hybrid might help the company regain the second place spot—and Honda executives are promising a clean-slate approach for future hybrids.
Sales of the Altima hybrid, which is only available in eight states, soared by 253 percent. It’s unclear if publicity about the company’s all-electric Nissan Leaf helped raise the green perception of the entire Nissan brand.
BMW shipped the first 7 units of its $103,000 ActiveHybrid 7. Those units, combined with 12 reported sales of the BMW X6, reveal the company’s half-hearted efforts with hybrids. General Motors and Mercedes haven’t fared much better.
Clean diesel sales were up by 8.4 percent to 6,961 units in May compared to last month. Volkswagen continues to dominate clean diesel sales with nearly 80 percent of the market, led by the Jetta TDI, which single-handedly is responsible for 62 percent of all clean diesel purchases.
Despite the rebound in May, hybrid gas-electric cars continue to lag behind the overall market in year-to-date sales, with an 8.5 percent increase so far in 2010 over last year—compared to a 17.2 percent increase in the overall market. That’s not a big surprise, considering that average U.S. gas prices are about 20 cents lower than this time last year. Public outrage over the Gulf oil spill has created a latent demand for fuel-efficient or petroleum-free alternatives—but as long as gas is cheap, sales of hybrids, clean diesel and upcoming plug-in cars will be dampened. If and when gas prices start to climb, Toyota and Ford will be well positioned with hybrids, and Volkswagen with clean diesel vehicles.
May 2010 Hybrid Car Sales Numbers
Hybrids sold in the US (May 2010): 28,202Hybrid Take-Rate: 2.56%
US hybrid sales for May 2010
| Model | Units | vs. last month | vs. May 2009 | CYTD | vs. CYTD 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota Prius | 14,248 | 13.5% | 41.2% | 55,041 | 28.7% |
| Ford Fusion | 2,486 | 64.0% | 32.4% | 7,998 | 138.6% |
| Honda Insight | 1,913 | 1.8% | -31.2 | 8,766 | 61.0% |
| Toyota Camry | 1,455 | -12.1% | -50.5% | 6,537 | -40.1% |
| Lexus HS 250h | 1,360 | 26.4% | n/a | 5,889 | n/a |
| Lexus RX450h | 1,358 | 10.2% | 245.5% | 5,741 | 8.9% |
| Ford Escape | 1,302 | 24.2% | -23.5% | 4,861 | -17.4% |
| Altima | 1,167 | 253.6% | 283.3% | 3,569 | 42.3% |
| Honda Civic | 717 | 15.5% | -65.5% | 2,516 | -76.6% |
| Toyota Highlander | 683 | -1.3% | -49.4% | 2,834 | -46.1% |
| Chevy Silverado | 299 | 179.4% | 247.7% | 635 | 173.7% |
| Chevy Tahoe | 241 | 70.9% | -13.0% | 745 | -44.6% |
| GMC Yukon | 193 | 34.0% | 22.9% | 614 | -17.8% |
| Mercedes ML450 | 181 | 389.2% | n/a | 424 | n/a |
| Cadillac Escalade | 131 | 14.9% | -36.7% | 566 | -38.0% |
| Mercedes S400 | 101 | -6.5% | n/a | 461 | n/a |
| Mercury Mariner | 81 | 14.1% | -35.2% | 404 | -32.6% |
| Mercury Milan | 76 | -16.5% | -62.4% | 424 | -23.6% |
| Mazda Tribute | 61 | 5.2% | -52.0% | 263 | -38.8% |
| Chevy Malibu | 41 | -38.8% | -94.2% | 323 | -84.9% |
| GMC Sierra | 38 | -29.6% | -13.6% | 246 | 113.9% |
| Lexus GS450h | 38 | 52.0% | -11.6% | 157 | -13.3% |
| BMW X6 | 12 | -42.9% | n/a | 97 | n/a |
| Lexus LS600hL | 8 | 14.3% | -70.4% | 48 | -61.9% |
| BMW ActiveHybrid 7 | 7 | n/a | n/a | 7 | n/a |
| Saturn Vue | 3 | -25.0% | -98.7% | 33 | -97.4% |
| Saturn Aura | 2 | n/a | -94.3% | 33 | -75.4% |
| All hybrids | 28,202 | 19.2% | 9.2% | 109,232 | 8.5% |
| All vehicles | 1,102,899 | 12.3% | 19.1% | 4,630,284 | 17.2% Data source-hybrid cars |
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