USA 8 months 2012 Hybrid and Electric cars: Toyota sovereign

US sales of Toyota Camry Hybrid have gone up 5-fold

* See the Top 45 All-models Ranking by clicking on the title! *

After looking at the overall market, for the first time on BSCB we have a very close look at sales of Hybrid and Electric cars in the USA, and this over the first 8 months of the year. So many new models have been launched in the last 12 months in this category that this is a fast moving and indeed fascinating ranking. Sales of the 45 models listed in the table below the jump add up to 322,960, a 79% increase over the same period in 2011. No surprises on top: the Toyota Prius is in pole position, with sales up 62% year-on-year to 135,596 units, including the MPV version but excluding the Plug-in variant appearing at #13 with 6,068 sales.

Toyota Prius Plug-in

In fact Toyota monopolises the podium, with the Toyota Camry hybrid lodging a very impressive performance: at 30,587 units year-to-date it multiplies its sales by five compared to last year, meaning 1 in 10 Camrys sold in the country are now hybrids… The Camry hybrid therefore becomes the best-selling hybrid version of any passenger car, a title that was held by the Hyundai Sonata hybrid last year (now #4). In third place we welcome the Toyota Prius c with an excellent 22,744 sales.

Chevrolet Volt

The Chevrolet Volt improves vastly, up 8 spots and 326% year-on-year to #5 with 13,497 sales and is followed by the Lexus CT200h up 68% but stable at #6 and 12,417 units and the Chevrolet Malibu hybrid at a robust 11,320 sales, a new entrant in the Top 10 at #7. That’s 7 hybrid/electric cars selling more than 10,000 units compared to just 3 last year!

Buick LaCrosse

Even though the eAssist technology is not as radical, it still qualifies as hybrid and the Buick LaCrosse eAssist lands directly at #8 with 8,649 sales or an impressive 21% of total LaCrosse sales. At #9, the Lexus RX450h accounts for a high 13% of all Lexus RX sales. Notice also the Kia Optima Hybrid at #11, up a massive 1638%, the Lincoln MKZ at a shiny 20% HR ratio and the Porsche Cayenne at a very respectable 9% HR.

Nearly 1 in 10 Porsche Cayenne sold in the US is a hybrid

There are not just good news in the Hybrid/Electric world, with the Honda Insight down from #2 to #14, the Nissan LEAF down from #9 to #15 and the Honda CR-Z down from #4 to #18. Finally, looking at this ranking it is no surprise that General Motors has decided to cancel its next generation hybrid truck/SUV program: the Chevrolet Silverado hybrid is down 43%, the Tahoe down 17% and both the GMC Yukon and Sierra are down 32%.

Overall 8 months 2012 US post: USA 8 months 2012: Discover the Top 273 All-models ranking!

Overall August 2012 US post: USA August 2012: Chevrolet Cruze, Sonic, Volt and Spark all set monthly records in market up 20%

Full 8 months 2012 Top 45 Ranking Table below.