Toyota and Ford See Hybrid Gains in March, While Honda Hybrids Drop

The top two vendors of hybrids in the US, Toyota and Ford, each reported strong gains in hybrid sales in March 2010 year-on-year. Toyota saw its overall hybrid sales grow 21.6% by volume (not day sales rate) to 16,714 units. Ford reported hybrid sales of 3,050 units, up 69.3% from March 2009. Honda, however, reported a decrease in hybrid sales of 22.2% year-on-year to 2,231 units.

Overall, Toyota reported an increase in total light duty vehicle sales of 40.7% on a volume basis; Ford saw its sales jump 42.7%; and Honda reported an increase of 22.5%. According to Autodata, total light-duty vehicle sales in the US grew 24.3% year-on-year in March 2010 to 1,066,205 units.

Toyota remains the leading seller of hybrids in the US, lead by the Prius, the sales of which jumped up 32.1% in March to 11,786 units. Sales of the Camry Hybrid were down 39.4% to 1,549 units, while sales of the Highlander Hybrid were down 42.7% to 594 units.

The Lexus RX hybrid saw a 7.4% growth to 1,251 units, while the GS hybrid dropped 26.2% to 31 units and the LS 600h dropped 64% to 9 units. The new dedicated Lexus HS 250 hybrid sold 1,494 units.

Ford posted 1,266 units of the Escape and Mariner crossover hybrids, down 6.3% year-on-year. Sales of the Fusion and Milan sedan hybrids were up 295.6% to 1,784 units; the two went on sale in March 2009.

Sales of the Honda Civic Hybrid dropped 79.8% in March to 579 units. However, sales of the Honda Insight climbed 190.3% to 1,652 units.

GM, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and BMW have not yet provided breakouts of hybrid sales in their portfolios.