Hybrid Sales down 18% from this time last year. Overall car sales up 4.5% thru May 2015 [View all]

[Bill USA]

May 2015 Dashboard

Total Hybrid CY 2015 (thru May): 158,640 CY 2014 (thru May) 193,543 .... CY 2015 vs 2014 : -18.0%

What’s up with declining hybrid sales?

Has America lost its appetite for saving fuel? Hybrid sales have declined in recent months, at a time when high gasoline prices have fallen, so it is easy to draw a connection. But industry analysts say there may or may not be a link.

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“Autotrader’s analysis of IHS/Polk registration data shows the hybrid/electric vehicle share of vehicle registrations peaked in May 2014, and that share has dropped every month since then,” Krebs said.

If you think relatively low gasoline prices are solely to blame for sluggish hybrid sales, Krebs says you’re wrong. She says the market began trending downward when gas prices were still increasing, and continued to decline with gas prices above or near the $3.50 gallon mark.

“In fact, the share declined for 4 consecutive months from May to September 2014 when gas prices were near historically high levels,” she said. “Further, that was against the backdrop of strong total vehicle sales and a flurry of new hybrid and EV introductions.”
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