Honda, Ford Lead Hybrid Sales to Slight April Gain in Otherwise Dreary Market

Honda, Ford Lead Hybrid Sales to Slight April Gain in Otherwise Dreary Market

By John O'Dell May 4, 2009

By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

Hybrid sales in the U.S. rose in April for the fourth consecutive month and posted the highest monthly volume since October 2008.

The bump illustrates the influence that novelty and price still have on the market: Honda's new Insight, Ford's new Fusion and a heavily incentivized Honda Civic hybrid overcame slumping sales of many other gas-electric models to account for the gain.

But in a month when car and light truck sales overall still fell well below the one-million mark, the performance of the hybrid segment wasn't much to get excited about.

The month-over-month increase wasn't strong enough, for example, to put April's hybrid sales in contention with April 2008, when gasoline prices averaged above $3.50 a gallon, car buyers were scouring the market for fuel-efficient models and recession hadn't begun wreaking havoc with the economy.

By the Numbers

Dealers sold 21,735 gas-electric hybrids in April, according to Edmunds.com data, up 1.4 percent from 21,433 in March but down 45.9 percent from April '08 sales of 40,198 - the second-best month on record for hybrids.

Toyota's Prius, due to be replaced by an all-new, next-generation model by the end of this month and helped by big incentives in some markets, continued to be the top-selling hybrid in the nation, although April sales of 8,385 were down 6 percent from March and off 61.5 percent from a year earlier.

The 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid was second in volume with 3,361 sold in April, up 17.1 percent for the month but down 22.3 percent from April '08.

Toyota's Camry hybrid was the third biggest seller for the month, but sales of 2,198 models actually represented a 14 percent decline from March and a 67 percent plunge from a year earlier.

The 2010 Honda Insight, with a base price of just over $20,000 making it the least-expensive new hybrid, was the fourth best-selling model as sales more than tripled to 2,096 from its introductory month in March. The total likely would have been higher but not all dealerships were fully stocked.

Newness, Discounts Sell

"I think that incentives combined with the synergy of new models in the segment helped in April and will really help hybrid sales in the next few months despite low gas prices," said Emdumds.com industry analyst Jessica Caldwell.

A few other low-volume models also posted month-over-month gains in April, but the sales increases came in unimpressive double-digit figures: the Mercury Milan hybrid (a twin of the new Ford Fusion) was up 88 percent with 92 sold during the month; the new '09 Chevrolet Silverado dual-mode hybrid pickup rose 71 percent with 70 sold; and the -09 Saturn Aura hybrid sedan up 24 percent with 31 sold.

None of those models was available in April, 2008, when just 11 hybrid models were on sale, versus 21models for sale last month (we're not counting the Honda Accord hybrid, which was discontinued at the end of the 2007 model year but continued posting a trickle of monthly sales through 2008).

Of the hybrids available both last month and in April, 2008, only one, the Saturn Vue Greenline, posted a year-over-year gain. Saturn dealers sold 338 of the mild hybrid crossover SUVs last month, up from 300 in April '08, the model's second month on the market.

Hybrid Sales
April 2009, March 2009, April 2008.
Ford
Ford Escape - 1,049; 1,211; 1,682.
Mercury Mariner (twin) - 85; 140; 225.
Ford Fusion - 1,073; 402; not sold.
Mercury Milan (twin) - 92; 49; not sold.
GM
Chevrolet Malibu - 547; 547; not sold.
Chevrolet Silverado - 70; 41; not sold.
GMC Sierra (twin) - 25; 27; not sold.
Chevrolet Tahoe  -  237; 279; not sold.
GMC Yukon (twin) - 115; 155; not sold.
Cadillac Escalade - 171; 175; not sold.
Saturn Aura - 31; 26; not sold.
Saturn Vue Greenline - 338; 362; 300.
Honda
Honda Civic - 3,361; 2,869; 4,324.
Honda Insight  - 2,096; 569; not sold.
Nissan
Nissan Altima - 222; 834; 801,
Toyota
Lexus GS 450h - 33; 42; 82.
Lexus LA 600h L - 19; 25; 122.
Lexus RX400h - 655; 1,165; 1,624.
Toyota Camry - 2,198; 2,554; 6,678.
Toyota Highlander - 933; 1,037; 2,578.
Toyota Prius - 8,385; 8,924; 21,757.

John O'Dell:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.