Automotive News (subscription req'd) today has a report on the share of registrations for hybrid vehicles in various states and California is definitely the dominant market. Through the first seven months of 2006, 26.4 percent of the more than 144,000 hybrids registered in the United States were in California. This is more than double the 12.8 percent of total market that California represents overall. In fact, the Los Angeles area alone represents 12.4 percent of all the hybrids in the country, followed by the San Francisco Bay area, with 7.9 percent.
Hybrids are generally not as popular in Michigan which 4.2 percent of total vehicle registrations but only 1.7 percent of the hybrid registrations. There are of course exceptions, with hybrids and even some plug-in electrics being popular the Ann Arbor area. I personally know three people who own hybrids (an Escape, a Prius and a Civic) and see lots of Civics and Priuses as well as several Insights around town. The Detroit area has a disproportionate penetration of domestic brand cars because many people in the area work for Big 2.5 and buy what they build. Going forward in the next couple of years the penetration of hybrids in Michigan will probably increase significantly with the introduction of more hybrids from GM, Chrysler and Ford.
[Source: Automotive News]
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