Hybrid Car Review

Despite the hangover affect from the end of Cash for Clunkers, despite the short supply also due to the Cash for Clunkers, despite the overall car market, despite the lower gas prices and despite the coming refresh in the Camry and Altima (due out this month), hybrid car sales remained stable when compared to last year.  Sales were down by 1.4% with 19,980 units sold in September, 2009.

Cumulative sales are down by 18% for the year.   Despite the Fusion, Milan, and GM hybrid models establishing themselves, and along with the introduction of the new Insight, Prius sales have still be depressed in comparison.  That puts a damper on the overall market for the year.  Again, hybrid sales are leading the overall vehicle marketplace, but that still means they are going to be down for the year.

Monthly Sales		September 2008		September 2009		% Change
Make	Model	N	%	N	%
Chrysler	Aspen/Durango	0	0.0	0	0	0
Ford	Escape/Mariner	990	5.0	878	4.5	-11.3
Ford	Fusion/Milan	0	0.0	1,260	6.4	0.0
GM	Escalade	91	0.5	189	1.0	107.7
GM	Silverado/Sierra	0	0.0	120	0.6	0.0
GM	Tahoe/Yukon	1,010	5.1	426	2.2	-57.8
Honda	Accord	0	0.0	0	0.0	0.0
Honda	Civic	2,020	10.1	152	0.8	-92.5
Honda	Insight	0	0.0	1,746	8.9	0.0
Nissan	Altima	470	2.4	345	1.8	-26.6
Toyota	Camry	2,785	13.9	872	4.4	-68.7
Toyota	GS 450h	29	0.1	38	0.2	31.0
Toyota	HS 250h	0	0.0	1,242	6.3	0.0
Toyota	Highlander	921	4.6	269	1.4	-70.8
Toyota	LS600hL	47	0.2	12	0.1	-74.5
Toyota	Prius	10,873	54.4	10,984	55.8	1.0
Toyota	RX 400h	744	3.7	1,168	5.9	57.0
Total		19,980		19,701		-1.4

Cumulative Sales		Cumulative 2008		Cumulative 2009		% Change
Make	Model	N	%	N	%
Chrysler	Aspen/Durango	0	0	0	0.0	0.0
Ford	Escape/Mariner	16,181	6.2	13,414	6.3	-17.1
Ford	Fusion/Milan	4,070	1.6	12,602	5.9	209.6
GM	Escalade	357	0.1	1,410	0.7	295.0
GM	Silverado/Sierra	300	0.1	996	0.5	232.0
GM	Tahoe/Yukon	2,730	1.0	3,856	1.8	41.2
Honda	Accord	193	0.1	1	0.0	-99.5
Honda	Civic	23,258	8.9	14,166	6.6	-39.1
Honda	Insight	4,041	1.5	15,791	7.4	290.8
Nissan	Altima	7,392	2.8	7,713	3.6	4.3
Toyota	Camry	37,369	14.3	18,502	8.6	-50.5
Toyota	GS 450h	577	0.2	339	0.2	-41.2
Toyota	HS 250h	1,242	0.5	1,785	0.8	43.7
Toyota	Highlander	15,720	6.0	8,635	4.0	-45.1
Toyota	LS600hL	748	0.3	207	0.1	-72.3
Toyota	Prius	135,062	51.5	104,794	48.9	-22.4
Toyota	RX 400h	12,852	4.9	10,089	4.7	-21.5
Total		262,092		214,300		-18.2

Camry, Highlander, and Altima sales were way down this September compared to last September.  But that was most likely due to the refresh of those models in October.  Although there were no major changes to the models, consumers probably opted to wait until until October to buy.  We'll have to wait and see if that's true.

Prius sales were up slightly, and Insight sales were strong, which made up for most of the losses from other models. 
It's hard to judge how much sales were affected by short supply due to the Cash for Clunkers program.  Gas prices were also down a little bit this much, which is usually very indicative of how hybrid sales will go.

It should be noted that hybrid car sales were down by 13% from 2007, as the recession and the limitation on Prius sales put a real damper on the month.

Compared to last month, sales were way down, but comparing to August is usually an indication of seasonal changes.  You just have to examine the sales charts over the years to see how month-to-month changes can be drastic.

Related:
Hybrid Car Sales, September 2008
Hybrid Car Sales, August 2009