Toyota Camry Hybrid Outselling V6 Models

Toyota Camry Hybrid Outselling V6 Models

By Bill Visnic

Yet another sign consumer interest is turning from horsepower to fuel economy: the hybrid-electric version of the Toyota Camry, one of the nation’s best-selling cars, is outselling V6-powered Camrys by a solid margin.

For March, Edmunds.com data indicate sales of the Camry Hybrid set a new record: 6,930 units, or a considerable 22 percent of Camry’s 31,310 sales last month. Camry Hybrid monthly sales eclipsed 6,000 units only once since the car’s launch, in May 2007, when the 6,853 sold represented slightly more than 17 percent of total Camry sales.

Toyota sources, meanwhile, confirm the 22 percent Camry Hybrid portion of total Camry sales easily exceeded the roughly 13 percent of Camry sales for versions powered by the car’s 268-horsepower, 3.5-liter V6. Sales volumes and mix ratios differ somewhat between Edmunds.com data and Toyota’s figures, likely due to accounting for fleet sales; Toyota reports that March’s 6,930 Camry Hybrid sales, for example, represent 17 percent of total Camry sales. The figure nonetheless surpasses Camry V6 sales.

The Camry Hybrid’s burgeoning popularity in relation to V6 models reflects still-expanding growth curve for the company’s mainstream hybrid models. Through the first quarter, Toyota is on pace to sell nearly 60,000 units of the Camry Hybrid alone – or a roughly 10 percent increase over the 54,477 Camry Hybrids sold last year.

“High demand of the Camry Hybrid can be attributed to its fuel efficiency, increased   awareness and familiarity of the model, increased awareness and familiarity of Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive, and higher-value option packages,” a Toyota spokesperson told AutoObserver .

“We're happy that customers see the Camry Hybrid as an additional option to the V6 and 4-cylinder,” the spokesperson continued, adding, “Consumer desire will continue to guide our production and sales expectations.” 

For the Toyota brand, rapidly rising fuel prices have helped hybrids emerge to be the volume sellers critics once said was unlikely. Toyota sold 181,221 Prius hybrids last year, a throbbing 68.9 percent increase over the 106,971 Prius deliveries in 2006.

The Camry Hybrid’s fuel economy figures of 33/34 miles per gallon city/highway fuel economy compares favorably for economy-conscious buyers with the 19/28 city/highway mpg highway offered by V6 Camrys – and even the 21/31 city/highway mpg of 4-cylinder Camrys.

Combined with last year’s 54,477 Camry Hybrids, Toyota’s two hybrid passenger cars accounted for a number approaching a quarter-million sales – and both models are on pace to surpass that number this year.

Toyota says in 2007, nearly 80 percent of Camry Hybrids were manufactured at the company’s assembly plant in Georgetown, Ky., but future higher penetration of the Camry Hybrid at the expense of V6 models is unlikely to markedly affect Toyota’s U.S. V6 engine production.

Michelle Krebs:  is Editor-in-Chief of AutoObserver.com. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.