Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Sales Summary (May 2013)

Note: these sales stats are for the US only.

First of all, apologies for the long delay on this one! Unfortunately, I was unable to work for about a week (very not fun stuff), and this was hence delayed. But it’s ready now! Following the table, I’ll add my personal notes/reflections regarding May’s electric and hybrid vehicle sales numbers, as well as regarding electric and hybrid vehicle sales numbers for the year to date (compared to last year).

Ford

The first thing that stands out to me is that Ford has seen a massive surge in hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) growth in 2013. Basically, that’s due to the relative youth of the Ford C-Max Hybrid, Ford C-Max Energi PHEV, Ford Fusion Hybrid, and the Ford Fusion Energi PHEV. Of course, it’s also important that these vehicles be competitive with leaders in their niche, which they are.

With over 400% positive change YTD compared to 2012 and over 500% positive change May 2013 over May 2012, I think Ford is doing pretty darn well… at least as far as any major auto companies go.

Overall Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Sales

It’s also quite uplifting that overall sales of conventional hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are up by a strong degree, and that sales of 100% electric vehicles (led by the Leaf) are up by a great degree.

 

Nissan Leaf

Naturally, the Leaf’s sales have been amazing since manufacturing was moved to the US and the price of the vehicle dropped several thousand dollars to a very affordable $28,800 before incentives. Aside from perhaps the Tesla Model S (which doesn’t release sales numbers), it is now the best selling 100% electric of plugin hybrid electric vehicle on the market. With sales up about 319% in May 2013 compared to May 2012, this could well be the EV or hybrid sales story of the month. Kudos to Nissan!

Chevy Volt

It’s noticeable that the Volt is down a bit for the year (down from 9146 to 7544, compared to January–May 2012) and especially in the month of May (down from 1903 to 1781, compared to May 2012). However, I think that this is primarily a testament to the strong competition on the market (i.e. from Ford and from the Nissan Leaf — I know some people contend the Leaf and Volt don’t compete, but I think they very much do). We’ll see what GM does about that.

In any case, the Volt is still the best-selling PHEV on the market, even in the month of May.

Honda

Despite being an early hybrid electric vehicle leader with the Honda Insight and other hybrids, it’s clear that Honda hasn’t innovated enough to compete much with today’s hybrid, PHEV, and 100% electric offerings. The Honda Fit EV and Honda Accord PHEV are the lowest-selling vehicles in their respective categories. (Note that these vehicles are not yet broadly available, but the point remains.)

Toyota

Similarly, while Toyota has dominated the hybrid scene for years, and its various Prius models are still doing quite well, it has not been a leader in the PHEV and 100% EV space. However, it is offering the Toyota RAV4 EV now, and hopefully sales of that vehicle will pick up. And the Toyota Prius PHEV (678 sales) did at least come in second behind the Volt (1607) in PHEV sales last month, ahead of the above-mentioned Ford C-Max Energi PHEV (450), Ford Fusion Energi PHEV (416), and Honda Accord PHEV (58).

Thoughts?