July 2010 Dashboard: Sales of Popular Hybrids Hold Firm | Hybrid Cars Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 Column 5 Column 6 Column 7 Column 8 Column 9 Column 10 0 Model Units vs. last month vs. July 2009 CYTD vs. CYTD 2009 1 Toyota Prius 14 102 28.2% -26.4% 80 141 7.0% 2 Honda Insight 1 858 24.6% -19.0 12 115 23.4% 3 Ford Fusion 1 586 -21.1% -38.7% 11 594 44.9% 4 Lexus RX450h 1 356 4.0% -0.9% 8 401 17.2% 5 Toyota Camry 1 276 16.3% -49.1% 8 910 -42.5% 6 Ford Escape 1 134 -10.0% -51.3% 7 255 -23.7% 7 . . . 8 All hybrids 23 841 10.0% -33.0% 154 752 -4.8% 9 All vehicles 1 050 101 6.7% 5.2% 6 664 124 14.8% Hybrid sales 2.22% The reason this is important are the number of new hybrid models going on sale next year. We are seeing 2 out of every 100 buyers getting a hybrid. The best months I've seen have been 3% and those were helped by fuel price hikes. I'm not feeling very good about the January-March 2011 numbers. Too many fuel efficient vehicles chasing too few customers. Bob Wilson
The "vs. July 2009" number is not good. Let's be aware it was "Cash for Clunkers" months last year, July and August. Ken@Japan
Something I picked up from Autoline Daily, a problem with the yen-dollar exchange rate: 91 - Jan 90 - Feb 90 - Mar 94 - Apr 92 - May 91 - Jun 87 - Jul 86 - Aug They reported in the podcast that Toyota can not make a profit on the Yaris and Corolla exported from Japan to the USA. They also reported Honda expanding USA production for similar reasons. Toyota: Building economy cars in Japan not feasible as yen climbs | detnews.com | The Detroit News They also reported 'dealer shortages' for GM and Ford dealers. http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...as-automakers-new-discipline-curbs-sales.html This implies there is more demand than inventory . . . almost a perfect storm. The Yen-based manufacturers have an exchange rate problem while the USA manufacturers are a little short on supply. This suggests prices of new cars are going up, soon. Bob Wilson
