Hybrid Demand Doesn’t Prevent September Sales Drops
The increased demand for hybrids and high fuel efficiency vehicles wasn’t enough to prevent all of the major auto manufacturers from experiencing record sales drops for the month of September. Although sales figures are not usually a topic covered here at The Green Motorist, I think that these figures are definitely newsworthy and will be of interest to you as they definitely piqued my interest.
Let’s start with Toyota, known in green motoring circles for their top-selling hybrid Toyota Prius. Comparing September 2008 to September 2007, Toyota Motor Sales USA experienced a 32.3% drop in sales. In September 2008, Toyota moved just over 144,000 units. One year ago, that figure was over 213,000. Details on which models sold were not available.
Moving on, let’s look at Honda’s American sales. Honda’s popular Civic models, which have great fuel efficiency even in their non-hybrid models, weren’t popular enough to keep Honda from posting a 24% decline in sales over this time last year.
Other significant losses were seen by Isuzu with a 54.3% loss, Suzuki with a 46.6% drop and Porsche with a 44.8% decline. Looking at domestic sales, Ford/Lincoln/Mercury sales were down 33.7% over September 2007, Chrysler sales were down 32.8% and General Motors experienced a 15.6% loss.
Of course, the state of the economy in the United States is a bit shaky right now. I am curious if the large drop in sales seen by the auto manufacturers will lead them to pursue greener automotive options more aggressively. While it is great to see all of the new technology being planned, the price tags placed on many of these future hybrids and electrics might be cost prohibitive to the majority of US consumers.
As spring of 2009 comes, I will be looking forward to sales figures for the 2009 Honda Insight. As a reasonably priced hybrid vehicle, it may be what Honda needs to boost their sales and get ahead of the competition.
Source: Automotive News
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