January 2012 Hybrid Vehicle Sales

Hybrid vehicle sales in January were off almost 30 percent compared to December 2011 and 11 percent up compared to a year ago.

Hybrid Vehicle sales fell from 31,100 from December 2011 to 21,778 last month, accounting 2.39 percent of the entire vehicle market.

Toyota-Lexus posted January sales of 16,065 hybrid vehicles, an increase of 19.8 percent. Toyota Division posted sales of 14,102 hybrids for the month, up 15.7 percent year-over-year. Lexus Division reported monthly sales of 1,963 hybrids, an increase of 60.2 percent compared to the same period last year.

The Toyota Prius sold 11,555 units in January; the Camry Hybrid sold 2,116 units; the Highlander Hybrid sold 362 units; the Lexus CT 200h sold 1,025 units; the Lexus RX450h sold 753 units; the GS450h sold 25 units; the LS600h sold 8 units, and the Lexus HS250 sold 152 units.

Honda sold 1,304 hybrids. The Honda Insight Hybrid sold 492 units; the Civic Hybrid sold 449 hybrids, while Honda CR-Z hybrid sold 363 units.

Ford sold 898 hybrids last month. The Ford Fusion sold 611 hybrids; the Ford Escape hybrid sold 34 units. Ford sold 253 units of the Lincoln MKZ hybrid.

Hyundai sold 1,304 Sonata hybrids; while the Kia sold 705 Optima Hybrid units last month.

General Motors sold a total of 945 hybrids last month. The Buick LaCrosse eAssist sold 781 units; the Buick Regal eAssist sold 63 units; the Cadillac Escalade Hybrid sold 34 units; the Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid sold 21 units; the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid sold 18 unit; the GMC Yukon Hybrid sold 24 units; the GMC Sierra Hybrid sold 4 units and the Chevrolet Malibu Eco sold 1 unit.

Nissan reported total sales of 27 Altima Hybrids during the month, while Infiniti sold 35 M35h hybrids.

Mazda sold 24 Tribute Hybrid SUVs.

Mercedes-Benz sold 11 Mercedes S400 Hybrid units, while other German carmaker, BMW reported total sales of 30 units of its ActiveHybrid 7.

Porsche sold 112 units of its new Porsche Cayenne Hybrid and 39 units of the Panamera S Hybrid, while Volkswagen sold 36 Touareg Hybrid SUVs.

PLUG-IN VEHICLES SALES

Sales of the Chevrolet Volt dropped to just 603 in January, far below GM's best-ever sales month in December, when the carmaker sold 1,529 Volts.

Last week, GM North America President Mark Reuss said sales of the Chevrolet Volt have been hurt by bad publicity.

“Bad publicity from the government's investigation into fire risks of post-crash Volts is definitely a component" of the decline in sales, “Reuss said.

On Jan. 20, NHTSA closed its investigation into potential fire risk in the Volt’s battery pack, concluding that it doesn’t appear to outweigh the risk of fire in gasoline-powered cars.

Deliveries of the all-electric Nissan LEAF totaled 676 in January, less than the 954 LEAFs sold in December.

GM sold about 7,700 Chevrolet Volts in 2011, below GM's target of 10,000, while Nissan sold 10,369 LEAFs since the December 2010 launch.

[source: Hybrid Cars]