Published May 2, 2012
The HybridCars.com monthly sales dashboard is a collaboration of HybridCars.com and Baum & Associates, a Michigan-based market research firm focusing on automotive issues including the hybrid and electric vehicle market.
The Prius Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle edged its way to the top of the plug-in roster, selling 192 more than the second-place Chevy Volt. The PHV was helped upward by a broad fan base for Toyota's growing sub-brand.
It was another good month for hybrids, which saw a “take rate” or percentage of total North American sales at 3.38 percent, which follows last month’s take of 3.44 percent.
Raw volume of the overall market and hybrids was down from last month, but in relatively equal percentage changes.
The Camry Hybrid is a bit of a sleeper, with 4,406 sold in April, and 5,404 in March, and 15,676 so far this year which would equate to a rate of 45,000 by the end of the year. It has been running at between 11 percent to 13 percent of total vehicle sales since February. Note the Camry is new, but so is the Camry Hybrid and it is doing well.
This month, we have managed to make inquiries needed to split the Prius “family” into its four component parts. As some of you will recollect, Toyota chooses to report sales as a total number for all Prii, but we are cautiously optimistic that we can count on breakout numbers going forward. Ultimately, this will depend on the cooperation of others to get around Toyota's policy to not breakout the individual Prius sales numbers.
And speaking of the linchpin of them all, the Prius Liftback's sales remain even with last year’s numbers, and even this month with the new variants. In coming months, we would expect the Liftback to move ahead of year-ago results due to limited availability in 2011 from April 2011 to the end of the year. The biggest question is whether the new variants will take away from the Liftback’s volume, but early indications are that the new versions are additive.
As for diesel shares, these are the only category as a whole – compared to "Plug-in Electric" and "Hybrid" – that made an incremental month-over-month uptick compared to March. The take rate for diesels is up from 0.83 percent last month to 0.99 percent this month. The Jetta and Passat diesels were off just modestly from last month, while the overall market was down 15.6 percent.
Regarding Plug-in Electric category vehicles, the Prius plug-in did well, resulting in an unchanged share for all plug-ins in March and April at 0.30 percent. The Nissan Leaf has been weak the last two months. The Volt dropped more than the overall vehicle average. GM reported there were shortages of the new (HOV lane eligible version) model year version in California, which is possible due to the four week shutdown from mid-March to mid-April. May sales will be important.
Note that April auto sales nearly always go down in absolute terms from March, but the number of selling days in April was relatively low, due to lots of the days falling on the weekends, and a holiday falling in this month.
April 2012 Hybrid Car Sales Numbers
Hybrids sold in the U.S. (April 2012): 39,901
Hybrid Take-Rate: 3.38%
U.S. hybrid sales for April 2012
| Model | Units | vs. last month | vs. April 2011 | CYTD | vs. CYTD 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota Prius | 15,661 | -13.0% | 25.5% | 59,094 | 6.9% |
| Toyota Camry | 4,406 | -18.5% | 296.9% | 15,676 | 256.3% |
| Prius c | 4,006 | -17.8% | n/a | 8,881 | n/a |
| Prius v | 3,847 | -22.1% | n/a | 15,495 | n/a |
| Hyundai Sonata | 1,847 | -11.9% | 130.9 | 6,814 | 464.6% |
| Lexus CT 200h | 1,620 | -27.1% | 85.1% | 6,508 | 111.7% |
| Chevy Malibu Hybrid | 1,557 | 10.0% | 31,240% | 3,324 | n/a |
| Buick LaCrosse | 1,165 | 4.3% | n/a | 4,311 | n/a |
| Kia Optima | 837 | -19.5% | n/a | 3,507 | n/a |
| Lexus RX400/450h | 801 | -19.3% | -31.4% | 3,372 | -25.3% |
| Ford Fusion | 778 | -22.9% | -39.5% | 3,508 | -31.2% |
| Honda Civic | 766 | -15.5% | 533.1% | 2,862 | 63.8% |
| Honda Insight | 738 | -28.5% | -72.1% | 3,035 | -65.1% |
| Toy. Highlander | 552 | -9.1% | 45.3% | 1,995 | -22.5% |
| Linc. MKZ Hybrid | 397 | -36.6% | -21.1% | 1,695 | -10.0% |
| Honda CR-Z | 334 | -37.7% | -81.6% | 1,699 | -69.0% |
| Buick Regal | 130 | -3.7% | n/a | 465 | n/a |
| Porsche Cayenne | 104 | -16.1% | -2.8% | 477 | -16.9% |
| Cad. Escalade | 57 | 45.7% | -51.3% | 253 | -41.0% |
| Chevy Tahoe | 47 | -17.5% | -25.4% | 170 | -30.3% |
| GMC Yukon Hybrid | 40 | -38.5% | -58.3% | 175 | -39.4% |
| Chevy Silverado | 30 | -61.5% | -70.9% | 171 | -60.8% |
| Lexus HS 250h | 28 | -89.3% | -90.0% | 591 | -39.6% |
| BMW Hybrid 7 | 29 | -46.3% | -9.4% | 173 | 26.3% |
| Porsche Panamera S | 26 | -39.5% | n/a | 142 | n/a |
| Infiniti M35h | 23 | -51.1% | -45.2% | 163 | 288.1% |
| Mazda Tribute | 16 | -44.8% | -56.8% | 90 | -37.5% |
| GMC Sierra | 12 | -25.0% | -25.0% | 44 | -47.0% |
| VW Touareg Hybrid | 12 | -36.8 | -76.9% | 85 | -61.5% |
| Altima | 10 | -44.4% | -97.0% | 77 | -95.2% |
| Lexus GS450h | 10 | -16.7% | -65.5% | 67 | -36.2% |
| Lexus LS600hL | 8 | 60.0% | -20.0% | 27 | -20.6% |
| Mercedes S400HV | 8 | -20.0% | -75.0% | 57 | -46.7% |
| Ford Escape | 0 | -100.0% | -100.0% | 941 | -73.7% |
| Mercedes ML450 | 0 | -100.0% | n/a | 13 | 1,200.0% |
| BMW X6 | -1 | 150% | -150.0% | 1 | -95.2% |
| All hybrids | 39,901 | -17.0% | 55.9% | 145,958 | 41.7% |
| All vehicles | 1,181,186 | -15.6% | 2.3% | 4,637,337 | 10.3% |
April 2012 Plug-in Electric Car Sales Numbers
Plug-in cars sold in the U.S. (April 2012): 3,595
Plug-in Take-Rate: 0.30%
U.S. plug-in electric sales for April 2012
| Model | Units | vs. last month | vs. April 2011 | CYTD | vs. CYTD 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prius PHV | 1,654 | 85.6% | n/a | 2,552 | n/a |
| Chevrolet Volt | 1,462 | -36.1% | 196.6% | 5,377 | 215.7% |
| Nissan LEAF | 370 | -36.1% | -35.4% | 2,103 | 105.2% |
| BMW Active E | 326 | 183.5% | n/a | 553 | n/a |
| Mitsubishi i | 79 | 41.1% | n/a | 215 | n/a |
| Smart ED | 0 | -100.0% | -100.0% | 2 | -97.5% |
| All plug-in cars | 3,595 | -13.2% | 228.9% | 10,832 | 285.9% |
| All vehicles | 1,181,186 | -15.6% | 2.3% | 4,637,337 | 10.3% |
April 2012 Clean Diesel Car Sales Numbers
Clean Diesels sold in the U.S. (April 2012): 11,713
Diesel Take-Rate: 0.99%
U.S. clean diesel sales for April 2012
| Model | Units | vs. last month | vs. April 2011 | CYTD | vs. CYTD 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VW Jetta | 4,842 | -4.1% | -13.0% | 15,863 | -4.8% |
| Passat Diesel | 2,010 | 2.0% | n/a | 7,239 | n/a |
| Mercedes GL320 | 1,464 | 236.6% | 242.1% | 3,034 | 100.4% |
| Volkswagen Golf | 785 | -16.2% | 18.1% | 3,055 | 0.2% |
| BMW X5 | 667 | -23.8% | 51.6% | 2,556 | 17.5% |
| Mercedes ML320 | 470 | -24.7% | 95.8% | 2,055 | 103.3% |
| Audi A3 | 368 | 1.7% | 1.1% | 1,376 | 8.5% |
| VW Touareg | 359 | -11.1% | 36.0% | 1,577 | 94.2% |
| Audi Q7 | 275 | 8.3% | -26.3% | 976 | -30.2% |
| Mercedes E320 | 254 | -42.4% | 3.3% | 1,166 | 32.8% |
| BMW 335d | 107 | -2.7% | -52.4% | 688 | -28.8% |
| Mercedes S350 | 86 | 26.5% | n/a | 272 | n/a |
| Mercedes R320 | 26 | -21.283.3% | -25.7% | 116 | -32.6% |
| Jeep Gr Cherokee | 0 | n/a | -100.0% | - | -100.0% |
| All clean diesels | 11,713 | 0.6% | 28.2% | 39,973 | 33.0% |
| All vehicles | 1,181,186 | -15.6% | 2.3% | 4,637,337 | 10.3% |
