It was a good month for both Toyota and Ford, despite safety concerns surrounding their vehicles, as both reported strong gains in hybrid sales in March 2010 year-on-year.
In the case of Toyota, hybrid sales rose by 21.6 per cent by volume to 16,714 units; while Ford enjoyed sales of 3,050 units – an increase of 69.3 per cent compared to the same month in the previous year. Ford’s hybrid sales gains actually outweighed its sales increases overall – Ford saw overall sales increase by 42.7 per cent; while Toyota’s light duty vehicle sales rose by 40.7 per cent.
The news means that Toyota is once again the leading hybrid car seller in the US with its products lead by the Prius which saw sales rise by 32.1 per cent in March to 11,786 units. The Camry Hybrid did not enjoy the same success however, with sales down 39.4 per cent to 1,549 units; while the Highlander Hybrid saw sales drop by 42.7 per cent to 594 units.
Toyota’s luxury brand Lexus also contributed to its success with the Lexus RX Hybrid reporting 7.4 per cent growth to 1,251 units; although the GS Hybrid dropped 26.2 per cent to 31 units and LS600h sales fell by 64 per cent to nine units. Sales were boosted by the arrival of the Lexus HS250 Hybrid, which sold 1,494 models.
As for Ford, much of its success can be pinned to sales of the Fusion and Milan hybrids which were up 295.6 per cent to 1,784 units – the two cars only went on sale in March of the previous year. The Escape and Mariner crossover hybrids did suffer sales falls however, posting 1,266 units – down 6.3 per cent year on year.
There was no good news for Honda however, which saw hybrid sales fall by 22.2 per cent year on year to 2,231 units. The Honda Civic Hybrid sold just 579 units – down 79.8 per cent; while the Honda Insight climbed 190.3 per cent to 1,652 units.
There has been no breakdown of hybrid sales thus far from BMW, GM, Nissan or Mercedes-Benz.
