Advanced Tech Vehicle Sales Soar With Gas Prices
By John O'Dell April 2, 2011Ah, what a difference record gas prices can make.
With the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline hovering at $3.62 as March ended - up from $2.80 a year earlier - sales of fuel-efficient advanced-technology cars and crossovers have soared to heights not seen in almost 18 months.
Gas-electric hybrid models, led by the Toyota Prius - the segment's 500-lb. gorilla - accounted for a 2.81 percent share of the light vehicle market in March, the biggest slice of the sales pie since they hit 2.93 percent in October, 2009.
2011 Prius - still the champ.
The numbers still don't top the monthly sales records set in the hybrid segment during the 2007 gas price run-up, when consumers saw $3-a-gallon gasoline for the first time, but many analysts are predicting we'll see the $5 gallon by the end of the year. That ought to be good for record sales of anything that gets more than 30 miles per gallon, hybrid or not.
Gas prices aren't the only thing driving the market.
"Having nearly a dozen new models to choose from is certainly helping hybrids appeal to a broader audience than in the past," said Edmunds.com sales analyst Ivan Drury.
Indeed, new hybrid models such as the Lincoln MKZ, Honda CR-Z, Lexus CT 200h and VW Touareg and the plug-in Chevrolet Volt and battery-electric Nissan Leaf combined to account for almost 10 percent of advanced technology vehicle sales in the first quarter this year. (One new model, the Hyundai Sonata hybrid, is missing from this report because Hyundai does not report hybrid sales separately from conventional Sonata sales.)
By the Numbers
Advanced Technology Vehicle Sales by Manufacturer
1st Quarter 2011 - 1st Quarter 2010 - Change
BMW: 94 - 64 - 46.8%
Ford: 7,704 - 7,047 - 9.3%
GM: 2,323 - 1,585 - 46.6%
Honda: 11,354 - 6,160 - 84.3%
Mercedes-Benz: 110 - 458 - <75.9%>
Nissan: 1,728 - 2,072 - <16.6%>
Porsche: 432 - 0 - NA
Toyota: 54,609 - 39,861 - 37%
VW: 169 - 0 - NA
All Advanced-Tech Vehicles: 78,523 - 57,247 - 37.2%
Also driving at least some hybrid sales in late March, said Drury, were fears of shortages of popular models imported from Japan because of supply and production interruptions in the wake of that country's March 11 earthquake and tsunami disasters.
But the big push for the quarter has come cost of fuel.
"We're seeing the same pattern in buyer behavior that we saw when gas prices last hit record highs in 2008," Drury said.
The unanswered question is whether consumers will change that pattern - a rush to smaller, more efficient cars and croissovers when fuel prices rise followed by and a return to guzzlers when things stabilize -and make fuel efficiency a permanent part of the car-buying decision.
We've been reporting hybrid sales for several years now and this year we've changed the category title to advanced technology vehicles to reflect the market introduction of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range, plug-in sedan and the Nissan Leaf battery-electric hatchback as the first of what will be a growing crop of vehicles that take technology beyond the conventional hybrid.
But sales of those cars are so low yet - impeded by factory production and delivery constraints - as to have almost no impact on the overall segment, which is still dominated by hybrids.
General Motors reported deliveries of 608 Volts in March, for a cumulative total of 1,210 since the model's December launch, while Nissan reported U.S. deliveries of 298 Leaf EVs - all imported from Japan before the earthquake - for a total of 452 since its December introduction.
While the Volt and Leaf still are in the starting gate, hybrids are racing at full throttle right now because gas prices are rising rapidly and, with the Middle East in turmoil, the national spotlight is shining on topics such as energy independence and potential oil shortages.
It's powerful stuff that has many a commuter thinking hard about hybrids and compact economy cars while backing the pickup or full-sized SUV out of the garage in the morning.
For the first quarter - because three months worth of data make a better trend indicator than a single month's numbers - sales of alt-tech vehicles were up 37.2 percent from same period in 2010. By comparison, sales of conventional internal combustion cars and trucks, paced by small cars and small crossovers, rose 20.2 percent from last year's first quarter.
Sales of hybrid crossovers and SUVs,, which typically deliver far worse fuel economy than hybrid cars, fell slightly, accounting for just 12.5 percent of the advanced-tech vehicles segment, down from 15 percent a year earlier.
The Prius was the star of the first quarter, with sales up 51.5 percent from the first three months of 2010 - 42,779 versus 28,238.
Honda's subcompact Insight hybrid also did well, its total quarterly sales of 6.058 representing a 21.8 percent hike from 4,973 a year earlier.
Among new kids on the block, Honda's CR-Z hybrid, with 3,670 sales for the quarter, and the Lexus CT 200h hybrid hatchback at 2,199 sales, both shined. Because both were introduced later last year they don't have first-quarter 2010 numbers for comparison.
In the loser column, the Lexus HS 250h, hurt by a $36,600 base price in a weak economy, saw sales plummet by 79.7 percent during the first three months - to 699 from 3,453 a year earlier.
Looking at March advanced technology vehicle sales alone, the Prius remained the advanced-tech segment's standout, with sales up 57.9 percent from a year earlier and 37.4 percent from February.
Honda's Insight posted a bigger percentage gain, up 68.4 percent from a year earlier and 61.6 percent from February. But total March sales of 2,782 Insights paled by comparison to the Prius tally of 18,605 sales for the month.
Perhaps more indicative than anything else, though, of what soaring fuel prices can do for a fuel-efficient model, Lexus' lackluster HS 250h - which posted that bottom-scraping first quarter plunge, actually posted a plus in March with 230 sales for the month enabling a15.7 percent hike from February's total of just 183.
March 2011 - February 2011 - March 2010
BMW: 13 -15 - 0
Ford: 3,276 - 2,569 - 3,050
GM: 1,006 - 556 - 640
Honda: 4,908 - 3,345 - 2,231
Mercedes-Benz: 57 - 39 - 0
Nissan: 843 - 433 - 394
Porsche: 114 - 140 - 0
Toyota: 24,739 - 16,461 - 16,714
VW: 44 - 41 - 0.
All hybrids: 35,000 - 23,678 - 23,029
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John, I apologize for hijacking this post, but I wasn't sure of a better place to mention this. Locating the Green Car Adviser on Edmunds.com is anything but intuitive. If your numbers are down, it's because you can't be found.
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