Hybrids one of the few July sales highlights, up 12% for the month

While July 2007 sales were down for the vast majority of brands including Toyota, hybrids continued to show retail strength. Total sales of hybrids hit 28,585 in July an increase of 12% from the previous year with a 2.2% market share. The Prius continues to steam along hitting 16,062, a bump of 44.5% accounting form most of the overall increase. The Camry, Highlander, and Lexus GS450h all had drops of almost ten percent or more.

Nissan's Altima hybrid cracked 1,000 monthly sales for the first time since it went on sale late last year. While the new 2008 Ford Escape and Mercury Hybrid increased by 2% overall, the much improved hybrid versions dropped by 23.4% and 10.5% respectively. Over at Honda the Civic and soon to be discontinued Accord both dropped in sales as well. For now GM still doesn't break out hybrid sales although that may change this fall when the Two-Mode hybrid Tahoe and Yukon hit the road.

[Source: GreenCarCongress.com]

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