Thanks to Cash for Clunkers, Hybrid Sales Rises 31.8% in July; New Vehicle Sales Up 3.55%

August 5, 2009 at 11:52 am

This post is sponsored by LemonFree.com

Buoyed by the US government’s CARS (“Cash for Clunkers”) program, US auto sales slowed their decline in the US in July, dropping on 12.1% to 997,824 units, accordingto summary figures from AutoData. Passenger car sales dropped 10.6% to 554, 527 units, while light truck sales dropped 14.1% to 443, 297 units. All comparisons are by volume. As a result, the SAAR for July surged to 11.24 million units; US SAAR had been below 10 million since January.

Hybrids had an especially good month, with reported sales jumping 31.8% year-on-year to 35,429 units, representing a 3.55% new vehicle sales market share for the month—the highest monthly share yet. Hybrid gains were largely due to an increase in Prius sales (up 29.7% to 19,173 units) and Ford hybrids (up 323% to 5,353 units).

Image Courtesy: Green Car Congress - Hybrid sales rise, thanks to Cash for Clunkers

According to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, CARS sales reflected demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles:

Ford reported a 9 mpg increase from trade-in vehicle to new vehicle purchase;
GM reported a 54% increase in small car sales since the CARS program was launched;
57% of Mazdas sold so far under the program were fuel-efficient Mazda 3’s;
78% of Toyota’s CARS sales volume consists of Corolla, Prius, Camry, RAV 4 and Tacoma, which average a combined 30 mpg;
Volkswagen reports more than 60% of its CARS sales are clean diesel Jetta TDIs which get an EPA combined 34 mpg.

Image Courtesy: Green Car Congress - Total Reported Monhtly Sales of Hybrid Vehicles in US

Here is a quick snapshot of sales volume by manufacturer (in the hybrid category):

GM delivered a total of 1,487 hybrid vehicles were delivered in the month, up 36.3% year-on-year.
Ford’s fuel-efficient vehicles pace July sales results. Ford had an exceptionally strong month with hybrid sales, up 323% year-on-year to 5,353 units.
Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) posted July sales of 24,295 hybrid vehicles, up 19.3% from the same period last year.
Total sales of the fuel-efficient Honda Civic increased 3.1% to 30,037. Sales of the Civic Hybrid, however, plunged 71.8% to 969 units year-on-year. The new Honda Insight hybrid posted 2,295 units.
Nissan sold 1,030 units of the Altima hybrid, up 44.1% year-on year.

Our friends at Jalopnik yesterday published a revised list of ten most purchased vehicles under the Cash for Clunkers program:

1. Ford Focus

3. Honda Civic

9. Honda Fit

Click here to read the entire report.