DETROIT – The nation’s major automakers have published their October sales reports, and there is mixed news in the hybrid market. While the Toyota Prius remains the nation’s bestselling hybrid, Prius sales in October were down 9.9 percent from October 2009.
In October 2010 Toyota sold 11,731 vehicles, down from 13,496 a year ago. Sales of the Toyota Prius are also down year-to-date, with 115,065 units sold in 2010, down 2 percent from 2009 figures.
Sales of the Lexus HS 250h, Lexus’ first dedicated hybrid model, decreased by 46.2% to 792 units in October. Toyota Motor Sales sold 15,913 hybrids in October–13,681 Toyota hybrids and 2,232 Lexus hybrids. This is a 12 percent decrease in TMS hybrids when compared to last year’s October sales. Overall Toyota’s sales were down by 0.9 percent in October on a daily selling rate basis, and down 4.4 percent when not adjusting for the additional selling day in October 2009.
On the other hand Honda hybrid sales had another good month, with 662 Civic Hybrids sold (187.2 percent increase), 1,965 Insights sold (17.2 percent increase) and 1,419 Honda CR-Z Hybrids sold. The CR-Z wasn’t available in 2009, but sales of Honda’s newest hybrid increased from the 1,236 units sold in September 2010. Overall Honda’s sales increased by 19.8 percent for the month across all models.
Toyota’s decreasing sales at a time when many other automakers are posting increases may be of concern to some consumers. The majority of eco-friendly motoring news is focused on the upcoming release of the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf, and it might be affecting Toyota hybrid sales a bit.
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