Overall hybrid car sales are up 20% for the year so far to 122,917 units sold this year. U.S. light vehicle sales are down 7.7%.

http://hybridreview.blogspot.com/


Despite FEH sales being down due to lack of product, and of course GM once again failed to break out their hybrid numbers. I can only imagine what these numbers could potentially be if there was more product.

 

I was surprised to find a report on GM numbers. It seems like the Tahoe and Yukon numbers didn't increase this month. I thought they would if they hope to sell 10,000 by the end of the year.

I've gotten used to not being able to report on the GM numbers though. Now it's just frustrating when I think about the Mazda Tribute.

 

At current fuel prices I could envision a scenario where within 5 years hybrids represent 15% or more of all new car sales.

However most of these hybrids will be small ones tweaked for fuel efficiency. Not those that offer a marginal 1-2mpg improvement for auto-shutoff.

Small car sales are soaring. The larger segment (trucks/SUVs) are tanking.

At $4.50 gas a consumer may very well consider ultimate MPG over anything else: even a Prius looks superior to a Camry HCH at $4.50 gas if they're used to commuting 15k miles/year.

Goldman Sachs, the only brokerage firm that predicted $100/bbl oil correctly over a year ago, is now predicting $200/bbl oil within 2-5 years. I really hope they're wrong, but..