USA September 2012 Hybrid & Electric cars: Lexus ES shoots up
One in 4 Lexus ES sold in the US this month is a hybrid
* Now including Ford C-Max sales figures *
* See the Top 44 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *
After looking at overall September and 9 months 2012 US models ranking, let’s get into sales of Hybrid and Electric cars as this segment is the fastest growing in the country: up 79% year-on-year in September to 40,943 registrations, which brings the year-to-date total to 352,672 units, up 74% on 2011 and now reaching 3.2% of the total market. In other words, if all Hybrid and Electric car sales were one model it would rank #2 behind only the Ford F-Series… Note Toyota/Lexus holds a huge 67% market share in this segment…
Toyota Prius Plug-in
The Top 4 best-sellers are unchanged vs. the 2012 year-to-date ranking: the Toyota Prius Hybrid leads the way by far with 13,914 sales, followed by the Toyota Camry hybrid up a huge 1517% year-on-year to 3,704 units, the Toyota Prius C at 3,366 sales and the Chevrolet Volt up 294% to 2,851 units. It’s below that the ranking gets a little crazy. The Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid is up to #7 with 1,656 sales or a 15% Hybrid ratio (vs. 7% year-to-date), ahead of the Toyota Prius Plug-in up to 1,652 units.
Ford C-Max
The Lexus ES300h delivers the performance of the month: it lodges 1,414 sales or 63% of its 2012 total, making it nearly one in 4 ES sold this month in the country (22% Hybrid ratio vs. 6% year-to-date!). The Lexus CT200h is down to #9 while the Nissan Leaf seems to have slowed down its decline at just -5% year-on-year and up 4 spots on its ytd ranking to #10.
A significant newcomer appears in the ranking this month: the Ford C-Max, used to ranking high in Europe but only launched now in the USA as a hybrid-only vehicle. It sells 969 units in September, landing directly at #11.
Nearly 1 in 3 Lincoln MKZ sold in the US this month is a hybrid
The Lincoln MKZ delivers the highest Hybrid ratio of all traditional models: 30% thanks to 781 units sold at #15, vs. 21% ytd. The Buick Regal eAssist follows at 25% and #17 while the Lexus GS450h is up 294% to #22 and the Porsche Panamera reaches an exceptional 14% Hybrid ratio. There are no less than 3 newcomers in the ranking this month: the Toyota RAV4 EV lands #26 with 61 sales, the Audi Q5 Hybrid is #31 at 25 units and the BMW 3 Series ActiveHybrid is #37 with 13 sales.
Previous post: USA 8 months 2012 Hybrid & Electric cars: Toyota sovereign
Overall September 2012 post: USA September 2012: Kia Optima at highest ever
Overall 9 months 2012 post: USA 9 months 2012: Discover the Top 277 All-models ranking!
Full September 2012 Top 44 Ranking Table below.
Toyota RAV4 EV
USA Hybrid and Electric cars September 2012:
| Pos | Model | Sep-12 | HR | /11 | 9m 2012 | Pos | 2011 |
| 1 | Toyota Prius | 13,914 | 100% | 49% | 149,510 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Toyota Camry Hybrid | 3,704 | 11% | 1517% | 34,291 | 2 | 10 |
| 3 | Toyota Prius c | 3,366 | 100% | new | 26,110 | 3 | - |
| 4 | Chevrolet Volt | 2,851 | 100% | 294% | 16,348 | 4 | 12 |
| 5 | Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid | 1,656 | 15% | new | 12,976 | 7 | 33 |
| 6 | Toyota Prius Plug-in | 1,652 | 100% | new | 7,720 | 12 | - |
| 7 | Hyundai Sonata Hybrid | 1,560 | 9% | -22% | 15,781 | 5 | 2 |
| 8 | Lexus ES300h | 1,414 | 22% | new | 2,231 | 19 | - |
| 9 | Lexus CT200h | 1,195 | 100% | -17% | 13,612 | 6 | 5 |
| 10 | Nissan LEAF | 984 | 100% | -5% | 5,212 | 14 | 9 |
| 11 | Ford C-Max | 969 | 100% | new | 969 | 22 | - |
| 12 | Lexus RX450h | 944 | 13% | 45% | 8,861 | 9 | 7 |
| 13 | Kia Optima Hybrid | 902 | 6% | new | 7,907 | 11 | 22 |
| 14 | Ford Fusion Hybrid | 898 | 7% | 63% | 8,066 | 10 | 6 |
| 15 | Buick LaCrosse eAssist | 840 | 18% | new | 9,489 | 8 | - |
| 16 | Lincoln MKZ Hybrid | 781 | 30% | 72% | 4,999 | 16 | 11 |
| 17 | Honda Civic Hybrid | 493 | 2% | 62% | 5,661 | 13 | 14 |
| 18 | Buick Regal eAssist | 463 | 25% | new | 1,885 | 20 | - |
| 19 | Toyota Highlander Hybrid | 413 | 4% | 89% | 4,382 | 17 | 13 |
| 20 | Honda CR-Z | 335 | 100% | -38% | 3,461 | 18 | 4 |
| 21 | Honda Insight | 246 | 100% | -52% | 5,047 | 15 | 3 |
| 22 | Acura ILX Hybrid | 140 | 8% | new | 535 | 25 | - |
| 23 | Lexus GS450h | 89 | 6% | 394% | 427 | 29 | 28 |
| 24 | Porsche Panamera S Hybrid | 86 | 14% | new | 409 | 30 | - |
| 25 | Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid | 84 | 6% | -25% | 882 | 23 | 17 |
| 26 | Ford Escape Hybrid | 81 | 0% | -86% | 1,329 | 21 | 8 |
| 27 | Toyota RAV4 EV | 61 | 0% | new | 61 | 43 | - |
| 28 | Ford Focus Electric | 59 | 0% | new | 228 | 34 | - |
| 29 | Cadillac Escalade Hybrid | 52 | 3% | -32% | 471 | 27 | 19 |
| 30 | Infiniti M Hybrid | 45 | 9% | 0% | 478 | 26 | 26 |
| 31 | GMC Yukon Hybrid | 39 | 2% | 144% | 372 | 33 | 20 |
| 32 | Mitsubishi i-MiEV | 36 | 100% | new | 439 | 28 | - |
| 33 | Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid | 28 | 1% | 2700% | 374 | 32 | 21 |
| 34 | BMW 5 Series ActiveHybrid | 28 | 1% | new | 65 | 42 | - |
| 35 | Audi Q5 Hybrid | 25 | 1% | new | 25 | 46 | - |
| 36 | Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid | 21 | 0% | -72% | 388 | 31 | 18 |
| 37 | Honda Fit EV | 16 | 0% | new | 32 | 45 | - |
| 38 | BMW 3 Series ActiveHybrid | 13 | 0% | new | 13 | 48 | - |
| 39 | Nissan Altima Hybrid | 10 | 0% | -100% | 99 | 39 | 15 |
| 40 | Mercedes S400 Hybrid | 9 | 1% | -59% | 97 | 40 | 27 |
| 41 | Lexus HS250h | 8 | 100% | -97% | 641 | 24 | 16 |
| 42 | GMC Sierra Hybrid | 8 | 0% | 14% | 100 | 38 | 29 |
| 43 | VW Touareg Hybrid | 5 | 1% | -64% | 177 | 36 | 24 |
| 44 | Lexus LS600h | 1 | 0% | -88% | 41 | 44 | 31 |
Source: Manufacturers, Goodcarbadcar
HR: Hybrid/Electric ratio
I thought sales of the Tesla Model S started in late July – didn’t any get sold in September?
Or are they not counted on this list for some reason?
D
I don’t see the Prius V in the list Matt. Do you know why?
Hi Craig,
Yep that is correct – for the month of September Toyota didn’t split sales of the Prius V so they are counted within the Prius figure. Hopefully we’ll get the full detail for the next couple of months’ results…
cheers
Matt
@matgasnier
In the US, all C-Max cars are hybrids. They just launched the standard hybrid at the end of last month and will start selling a plug-in hybrid, “C-Max Energi”, in the next couple of months.
http://www.ford.com/cars/cmax/
http://media.ford.com/images/10031/September12sales.pdf
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2013-ford-c-max-hybrid-first-drive-review
“In Europe, Ford sells the C-Max—it’s basically a tall wagon version of the Ford Focus—with a choice of two gasoline engines and two diesels. But Ford wants Americans to associate the C-Max exclusively with hybrid technology, so the C-Max will come to these shores only as a hybrid, with fuel-economy ratings of 47 mpg in the city and 47 mpg on the highway.”
Car and Driver article, second paragraph
Hope that helps. Also it seems the C-Max and Fusion hybrids are coming to Europe too according to Ford of UK. Don’t know when though. Hopefully they do better than the Prius over there, for Ford’s sake.
Great thanks for this Jesse.
cheers
Matt
Where is the Ford C-Max? It sold 969 units in September.
Hi Jesse,
Could you please confirm that all C-Max sold in the US are hybrids?
cheers
Matt
I don’t think the MKX has a hybrid version, I think it should be the MKZ
Thanks for picking this up Alex, the table did say MKZ so you are right – article now amended!
cheers
Matt