Yesterday, I posted an overview of the May 2009 auto sales figures for Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Nissan, and Toyota. As I usually do every month, now it is time to look at hybrid vehicles, and other small cars, fared in this recession.

The first manufacturer that I checked was Honda; in May 2009, Honda posted an overall sales decline of 41.5% (U.S. sales). American Honda sold 2,780 of the new Honda Insights in May 2009; this is up over the 2,096 Insights sold in April 2009. In other Honda hybrid news, 2,077 Civic Hybrids were sold. This is down, significantly, from April 2009 when 3,361 Honda Civic Hybrids were sold.

Next up is Toyota and its flagship hybrid, the Prius. The third generation Prius is now available and in May, Toyota sold 10,091 Prius models (no information about second or third generation sales were available). While this is down 30.2% over May 2008, it is up from the 8,385 units sold in April 2009.

As the recession continues and the consumer confidence in the auto industry remains shaky, it is unlikely that the June 2009 numbers will be much better. However, one can only hope.

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