Hybrid Sales Fall 48.4 % From August to September As Clunkers Program Dissappears

By Eric Loveday

Eric Loveday

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Eric Loveday is a car enthusiast with a love for everything automotive. He purchased a 1970 Chevelle at age 16, quickly outgrew its dated engineering... More

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1,031 views Oct 6, 2009

The 2010 Toyota Prius

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The Cash For Clunkers program was highly successful at boosting sales of many different types of vehicles including hybrids.  During the program, hybrid sales soared for both the month of July and August, but now without a Clunkers program around, sales have fallen off dramatically.

Sales of hybrid cars, trucks, and SUVs have fallen 48.4 % for the month of September compared with August.  The fall can likely be attributed to buyers making purchases in July and August while incentives were high leaving relatively few hybrid buyers in the market.

September sales of hybrid models only reached 19,977 units compared with the August amount of 38,701.  The drop in sales for hybrids is greater than anticipated.  In fact, hybrids fell even more than conventional vehicles which saw a decrease from August to September of only 40.9%.

No vehicle was left behind in slipping sales in the hybrid segment.  Even the category leader, the Toyota Prius, saw declines of 42 % in sales volume.  Every automaker took a hit including the hybrid industry leading Toyota and Lexus combination.  They saw sales drop 39.7 %.

A few more numbers of interest.  Nissan's hybrid sales fell 89.1%, Honda fell 61.6 %, Ford dropped 54.5% and GM dropped 40.8 %.

Hopefully the low sales numbers were caused by a huge boom in sales in July and August and in no way indicate that buyers are moving away from hybrid vehicles.

Source:  Edmunds.com