Hybrid sales slide 9.9% in 2008
Despite all the clamor about how hybrids are going to save the planet, cure cancer, facilitate the second coming, etc., sales of battery-pack-mobiles are down nearly ten percent for 2008. At the beginning of 2008, it looked like hybrids were going to have their best year ever, driven by high fuel prices and a recessive economy. That recession, however,has caused consumers to cut way back, leading to dramatic drop in fuel prices, killing much of the argument for a hybrid's price premium. Consumers shy away from hybrids when fuel dips below $3.50 per gallon, and the incessant clang of news stories about expensive fuel also dries up, causing the issue of fuel efficiency to fall from consciousness.
Toyota is still the hybrid sales king, with 241,000 units shifted in 2008. Honda managed to ring up 31,000 sales, and Ford came in third with nearly 20,000 vehicles sold. While nearly every automaker offering hybrids is down (Nissan actually saw a 5 percent increase, and General Motors garnered a whopping 179 percent jump thanks to its 2008 introductions), Ford was hardest hit, with a 22 percent drop. Some might say "we told you so" about the way things have played out - by the time everyone got on board with more efficient offerings, the bottom has fallen out of the price of fuel - and others might use the sales figures to agitate for a gas tax to stimulate the purchase of fuel efficient vehicles.
[Source: Auto News - sub req]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
firstplace 4:44PM (1/25/2009)
too funny. the people have spoken.
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machina 5:37PM (1/25/2009)
Of course they've spoken, but perhaps their words were misunderstood. I believe nearly all car sales have fallen in 2008. I'd check for market share rather than just sheer vehicle-type sales. I'd bet that SUV sales took a bit of a dip in 2008 too, but more of one than hybrid sales.
MachinaDC5 5:39PM (1/25/2009)
Indeed they have spoken, but their words seem to have been misinterpreted. I believe SUV sales dropped by even larger numbers, and same for other vehicles. Look for market share, not sheer percent sold because I'd think that every vehicle type took a serious hit in 2008.
Fatima 5:46PM (1/25/2009)
Fine then give the money to research institutions such as universities to develop ways to efficiently extract Hydrogen. This may sound like a big waste, but the pay offs are big too!
zamafir 5:57PM (1/25/2009)
People have spoken? New flash, hundreds of thousands of Americans loosing jobs every month, the people don't have money. Since you're an expert, firstplace, what kind of drop was seen in non hybrid cars of the same size? SUVs? etc? Oh... more than 10%? Critical thinking is fun and easy :).
Bob-omb 6:26PM (1/25/2009)
What a ridiculous article. Hybrids experienced less of a decline than gasoline-powered cars. Wouldn't that make them more desirable, comparatively?
The people have spoken indeed.
firstplace 6:42PM (1/25/2009)
actually mini sales (small cars like most hybrids that sold in any numbers) are up. Dont think too hard, you might hurt yourself.
firstplace 8:35PM (1/25/2009)
want another example: "American Honda Motor Co. and Toyota each sold 12.5 percent fewer hybrids last year than in 2007. " As I recall Honda lost 6% or so. So there hybrids lost even more then there regular sales.
PJ 9:45PM (1/25/2009)
Wow. I'm glad that not everyone here slept through high-school statistics.
Total U.S. vehicle sales fell 18% in 2008. Hybrid sales only fell 9.9%. So while the total sales pie shrank, hybrids' piece of it got bigger.
That hissing sound is the smugness going out of Roth's post.
McLovin 11:28PM (1/25/2009)
"the people have spoken..."
Nope. Not even close...
Total sales of the Hummer brand for 2008 fell nearly 50%. So if Hybrid's fall by 8% then this is actually a victory for hybrids.
Fatima 4:46PM (1/25/2009)
What we need are hydrogen cars not hybrid cars. The US gov't has been giving money to everyone so why not give them to the automakers to make hydrogen cars? Instead of living off the puss of the earth and giving all our money to the middle east!
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firstplace 4:50PM (1/25/2009)
the problem with that is there aren't hydrogen gas stations... Also you have to get the hydrogen from water, that takes energy. 50% of our energy is coal based...
Brent Malesich 4:56PM (1/25/2009)
I agree 110%.... but we will also need to build nuclear power facilities to create the energy needed to make the hydrogen fuel.... Europe understands clean nuclear energy, but we have let actors and other pop icons scare us away from this clean energy.
Fatima 5:09PM (1/25/2009)
Yea, I am all for Nuclear Energy. There is no such thing as "clean" coal! Hybrid Gas stations are not hard to build, just refit current gas stations with hydrogen tanks instead of gasoline. The point of hydrogen is the energy to make it can come from anywhere, solar, wind, nuclear, etc. Where as gas only comes from oil..
Joe 5:15PM (1/25/2009)
It's not hard to build Hydrogen pumps, what is difficult is supplying them with hydrogen. Especially once you start talking about everybody driving FC cars. Thats a lot of hydrogen which needs to be delivered under immense pressure to the fueling stations.
It's no small effort.
why not the LS2LS7? 5:38PM (1/25/2009)
Hydrogen is not viable right now. And handing out money isn't going to fix it soon.
Right now hydrogen is made by steam reformation of natural gas.
Splitting it from water would be nice, but right now isn't terribly clean. Electric (battery) cars are far more efficient if you can live with the limitations.
I look forward to hydrogen developments. But right now we need to make due with what we have.
Jason 11:33PM (1/25/2009)
I disagree,
We have no idea where battery tech will be in the next 5-10 years. We could have battery/super capacitor powered cars that travel 400 miles on a 15 minute charge. Most importantly though, the infrastructure for transporting electricity is already there, although it might have to be beefed up a little if everyone switches to electric cars.
LX builder 4:55PM (1/25/2009)
Thats about half the drop of the overall car market. So Hybrids did pretty well.
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Sam Watson 5:26PM (1/25/2009)
Exactly my thoughts LX!
Hybrids are the device to buy us time to get to hydrogen infrastructure. For a great & exhaustive read about the nature of the oil industry and the prospects for hydrogen as a viable fuel check out The Hydrogen Economy.
maestro_mario 7:37PM (1/25/2009)
Considering that Hybrids are luxury vehicles, you're right.