DETROIT – Market researchers at R.L. Polk & Co. reported that hybrid vehicle registrations in the United States more than doubled in 2005, rising 139 percent to just under 200,000 vehicles for the year.
That number is still only about 1 percent of the annual U.S. vehicle sales total, but Polk notes that the market for hybrids has grown exponentially since 2000, when only Honda and Toyota were selling gas-electric vehicles in the U.S. Polk?s analysts have backed off from predictions that hybrids would make up as much as 35 percent of all sales by 2015, but note that a slew of new hybrid models could boost registrations again next year.
Toyota Motor Corp. accounted for about 70 percent of all hybrid sales in 2005, with the Prius grabbing 53 percent of all U.S. hybrid sales.
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