Despite a slumping economy, sales of hybrid vehicles — which are typically a few thousand dollars more than their non-hybrid counterparts — are on the rise. And with gas prices continually on the rise, it doesn’t appear as though hybrid sales will slow down anytime soon.
According to Toyota , the Japanese automaker only has about a 25-day supply of Prius hybrid vehicles in inventory. 60 days is considered a normal inventory with 30 days being on the thin side. According to Cars.com, Toyota sold 180,000 Prius hybrids in 2007 and plans to top that number in 2008.
Inventory of Toyota ’s Highlander Hybrid is even lower, thanks to strong demand and a planned production run of only about 24,000 units.
Honda is also seeing a similar spike in demand for its Civic Hybrid. Civic Hybrid sales have climbed 14 percent this year — when compared to the same time period last year — and sales shot up 44 percent in March.
Ford spokesman Jim Cain told Cars.com that the company’s Escape Hybrid is selling extremely well. In fact, Cain says Ford dealers can sell every Escape Hybrid built, but Ford’s capacity is actually being limited by the number of hybrid systems the automaker can get from suppliers.
Saturn, on the other hand, is struggling somewhat in the hybrid market. The brand released its Vue Hybrid in 2007, but General Motors had to recall it last month due to some battery issues (they weren’t properly holding a charge). Later this year, Saturn will release its Vue two-mode hybrid — which gets 23 percent better fuel economy than the standard BAS Vue Hybrid — which should help bolster Saturn’s hybrid image.
Even as government tax credits on hybrids run out — credits are only given on the first 60,000 hybrids a marque sells — it seems that rising gas prices will continue to fuel hybrid sales.
