Think Hybrids Are The Future? Think Again, Study Shows They Peaked Two Years Ago

Not to mention the fact that gas prices will continue to rise in the medium to long term.

As long as gas stays fairly low in the US, hybrid vehicle sales will remain consistently lower than the regular gas models. If (clean)diesel-electric hybrids start to increase in the UK & Europe, I can see hybrid sales jumping quite a bit. Diesel-electric hybrids would do well in the US if there was more demand, more options.

In the US, consumers reacted just as the oil companies expected:
1. 1st they're upset at the constant increase in fuel prices,
2. then they start to accept the high(er) prices to a point which is basically double what they were just 10 years ago.
3. make consumers expect higher prices during busy shopping seasons

Yes it's still the future, beacuse even 3 series will have hybrid, no matter how BMW call it.

Looking at that CNN chart, Prius sales are predicted to be up a tick this year, while the overalll hybrid market dips only slightly, despite the tsunami.

The problem on the whole, as correctly pointed out, is that nobody else seems to understand hybrids as much as Toyota. Hybrid sales will rebound next year with several new Toyotas, including new Prii (ugh, it should be Priuses) and the comparatively inexpensive Camry hybrid. But the rest of the mfrs will continue to be also-rans until they figure out what Toyota already knows, how to build and market a good hybrid. (BTW, even Lexus has had teething issues. To date, only the RX450h has sold in any substantial numbers. But they seem to finally have figured things out with the the CT200h. Hopefully this continues in 2013 with the GS hybrid and rumored ES hybrid.)

Ford had the best chance with a system very close to Toyota's but they've purposely constrained production. Why not add $5000 to the price of a Fusion? I'm sure they still every one they make. They just don't make many. A quarter of MKZs are hybrids, so there is obviously an interest in Ford hybrids, proving if you build them and price them right, people will buy them.

Honda can't seem to figure it out. Their hybrid system is inferior to HSD, and they'ver priced their only decent one (the new Civic) too high. It is $9000 more than the base model.

No other mfr is even worth mentioning. Yet. One or two of them may figure it out.

http://www.hybridcars.com/hybrid-clean-diesel-sales-dashboard/august-2011.html

http://www.hybridcars.com/hybrid-clean-diesel-sales-dashboard/july-2011.html

Just ignore the bottom 16 on both charts for now, but note that in the post tsunami world, hybrids as a whole are growing substantially. In 2012, maybe Honda can figure out how to sell some of its vastly improved Civics. The Camry hybrid will return with a vengeance. Prius will continue its post tsunami resurgence. And market share will inevitably grow once again.

I'm not trying to be misleading, and I fully understand that hybrids often have many features added on that increase their price. That, unfortunately, is part of the problem. Honda is trying to offset the hybrid cost by making profit on other features. Today, with myriad hybrid choices, maybe they should just consider selling a hybrid Civic stripper. Granted Toyota has effectively done away with the Prius stripper. But then, they have the cachet of being the Prius. And they also have a smaller, presumably lower cost variant coming out this spring. Once again, Honda proves they completely do not understand the hybrid market. They've gotten it wrong every time, with only the previous gen Civic coming close.

For Fusion Hybrid continues to be sold out.

Ford Fusion, that is

I agree with both statements, huu and quizz, to a point.

Huu, Toyota SELLS the hybrids people wants. But as quizz points out, Ford actually BUILDS several good ones. They just choose not to build many, market at all, and thus they sell few of them. It's the same problem the diesels folks used to have until the new Jetta came along. Now VW builds and ships over as many as they can. I'm not gonna go all cray cray and say that Ford could come close to the Prius or Toyota's numbers. But with a little effort, they could at least easily double their hybrid sales and become strong player in the segment. Ford has the hybrid experience now. There's no more excuses for their toe dipping in the pool. Build more, lower the prices, market the hell out of them. They may be the only one other then Toyota in the position to do so. Hell Taxi fleets and gov't agencies will buy them if nothing else.