Hybrid Vehicle Sales Up 8 Percent in April

Total U.S. vehicle sales jumped 20% in April as several carmakers posted sizable gains. Auto makers sold 982,131 vehicles last month, up from the depressed level of 819,540 in April a year ago.

Hybrids as a whole accounted for 2.4 percent of the entire car market.

The big seller was once again Toyota’s Prius which sold 12,555 units, an increase of 6.5% from last month and 50% increase compared with April 2009.

The include sales of the Mercedes-Benz S400 hybrid, Mercedes-Benz ML450 Hybrid and 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6 which went on sale earlier this year.

Toyotareported overall sales of 17,242 hybrids in April. The Prius Hybrid sold 12,555 units; the Camry Hybrid sold 1,655 units; the Highlander Hybrid sold 692 units; the Lexus RX450h sold 1,232 units; the GS450h sold 25 units; the LS600h sold 7 units. The new HS250 sold 1,076 units.

Ford sold 2,726 hybrids last month. The Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan hybrids sold 1,516 and 91 units respectively. The Ford Escape sold 1048 and Mercury Mariner sold 71.

Honda sold 2,501 hybrids. The new Honda Insight Hybrid sold 1,880 units while the Civic Hybrid sold 621 hybrids.

General Motors sold a total of 538 hybrids. The Cadillac Escalade Hybrid sold 21 units; the  Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid sold 67units; the  Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid sold 107 units; the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid sold 141 units; the GMC Yukon Hybrid sold 144 units; the GMC Sierra Hybrid sold 54 units and the Saturn VUE Hybrid sold only 4 units.

Nissan reported total sales of 330 Altima Hybrids during the month, while Mazda sold 58 Tribute Hybrid SUVs.

Mercedes-Benz sold 145 hybrids in April. The new Mercedes S400 Hybrid sold 108, while the Mercedes ML450 Hybrid sold 37 hybrid SUVs.

Other German carmaker, BMW reported total sales of 21 BMW X6 xDrive ActiveHybrid units.

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