Featured March 2016 Dashboard

As always, an excellent report from Jeff Cobb:
March 2016 Dashboard

	Model	16_03	16_02	16_01	15_12
1	Prius Liftback	8130	7169	6333	10153
2	Ram Pickup Diesel	4729	4153	3193	4531
3	RAV4	3073	2462	1973	1430
4	Model S	3000	1900	1300	3202
5	Prius C	2607	2263	1763	2861
6	Fusion Hybrid	2057	1764	1373	1960
7	Sonata	1884	1588	964	1138
8	Volt	1865	1126	996	2114
9	Camry Hybrid	1746	1599	1256	1861
10	Model X	1500	500	400	177
11	Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon)	1331	1112	1205	2040
12	Leaf	1246	930	755	1347
13	Fusion Energi	1238	932	581	1058
14	C-Max Hybrid	1092	880	637	837
15	CT200h	972	762	622	1464
16	ES Hybrid	894	633	622	1443
17	RX 400 / 450 h	886	752	790	1493
18	Avalon Hybrid	776	590	583	933
19	C-Max Energi	610	490	350	579
20	MKZ	608	585	491	867
21	Colorado Diesel	578	403	108
22	Highlander Hybrid	492	396	375	516
23	Optima Hybrid	436	386	469	870
24	Range Rover Sport	408	308	272	417
25	500e	373	195	217
26	Grand Cherokee Diesel	370	308	263	420
27	Q50 Hybrid	335	202	175	281
28	A3 Plug In	332	248	327
29	i3*	332	248	182	1422
30	XV Crosstrek Hybrid	329	278	261	425
31	X5	313	345	181	607
32	Sonata Plug In	275	200	175
33	X5 Diesel	263	169	25	207
34	Spark	252	216	139	152
35	NX Hybrid	251	236	245	364
36	Canyon Diesel	244	225	50	0
37	Cayenne S E-Hybrid	244	172	146	137
38	Range Rover	239	301	366	387
39	QX60 Hybrid	195	137	119	249
40	X3 Diesel	192	130	60	186
41	XC90 Plug In	178	176	226	74
42	Civic Hybrid	166	143	161	263
43	CR-Z	163	128	192	316
44	3-Series Diesel	160	119	69	247
45	5-Series Diesel	152	67	51	215
46	GLE-Class Diesel	123	86	117	215
47	GL-Class Diesel	111	146	149	284
48	Focus EV	110	81	66	96
49	ELR	104	91	67	135
50	i8	89	54	32	656
51	Pathfinder Hybrid	87	72	65	84
52	e-Golf	86	198	328	609
53	Lacrosse Hybrid	83	87	118	145
54	Soul EV	79	60	81	96
55	forTwo EV	70	54	48	179
56	E-Class Diesel	69	36	52	82
57	B-Class Electric	66	37	58	97
58	Cruze Diesel	53	35	41	69
59	Accord Hybrid	51	68	71	223
60	Jetta Hybrid	47	39	46	65
61	Promaster Van Diesel	33	30	21	43
62	Panamera S E-Hybrid	23	33	27	16
63	RLX Hybrid	19	12
64	S550 Plug In	12	36	19	35
65	Q70 Hybrid	12	10	10	16
66	GS 450h	8	5	5	3
67	GLK Class Diesel	7	10	11	24
68	Regal Hybrid	7	7	3	8
69	Prius Plug In	7	6	10	22
70	Q5 Hybrid	5	0	3	13
71	Impala Hybrid	4	4	12	12
72	LS 600h	4	2	3	3
73	Insight	2	0	19	22
74	Malibu Hybrid	2
75	i	1	5	2	9
76	ActiveHybrid 5 (535ih)	1	0	1	7
77	E400H	1
78	ML Class Diesel	0	17	5	16
79	Cayenne Diesel	0	0	18	76
80	7-Series Diesel	0	0	2	14
81	Civic (CNG)	0	0	1	25
82	7-Series ActiveHybrid	0	0	1	1

The graphs:

• RAV4 - excellent growth riding the SUV wave
• Model S and X - folks trying to get those $7.5K Federal Tax credits (hummm)
• Prius c - nice recovery
• 2016 Prius - doing well along with the model-end sales of the Gen-3

Bob Wilson

ps. Thx @telmo744. Thx @austingreen, will fix graphs later.

 

Source: Autoline Daily

THE SHRINKING GREEN CAR SEGMENT

Even though automakers must sell a higher mix of hybrids and plug-ins to meet fuel efficiency and emissions regulations, fewer car buyers are interested in buying them. Sales of those vehicles are down nearly 12% for the first quarter in the American market. Hybrid sales fell 13%, mainly due to a 30% drop of the Toyota Prius. EV sales fell 36% mainly caused by declines at Tesla, and big drops with the BMW i3, Nissan Leaf and VW Golf electric. And yet, sales of plug-in hybrids posted a big 56% increase. That was mainly due to more models coming into the segment, including the Mercedes S-Class and C-Class, the Hyundai Sonata, Audi A3, BMW X5 and Volvo XC90. Even so, sales of “green cars” only account for a little more than 2% of the overall market which has to worry automakers because they continue to lose market share.

U.S. Green Car Sales Q1, 2016

	Segment	2015	2016	Change
1	Hybrid	84993	73713	-13%
2	EV	16214	10366	-36%
3	Plug-In	7727	12104	+56%

​

So I posted back:

Kudos for including numbers in the Green Car table as percentages can be misleading. So my Web page link is to a table with all the raw numbers for the past four months. However, a lump of coal for “. . . mainly due to a 30% drop of the Toyota Prius.”

The reason is the RAV4 hybrid came out this past quarter and has seen sales skyrocket:
1430 – Dec 2015
1973 – Jan 2016
2462 – Feb 2016
3073 – Mar 2016 (now third highest in list)

We think the RAV4 cannibalized Prius v (the big one) sales.

Two other observations, this past quarter saw the end of the Gen-3 Prius and initial sales of the Gen-4. So we’re seeing a transition between models with the sales numbers:

10153 – Dec 2015
6333 – Jan 2016
7169 – Feb 2016
8130 – Mar 2016

There was the steel plant explosion in Japan that halted Prius production for a week.

The 2016 Prius in North America is not perfect. Some of the six bundles did not include desirable options (i.e., 110 VAC inverter, e-rear wheel drive, automatic braking for all of them.) Best of all, the small sun visors and styling ensures we don’t have to worry about the lead-footed taking our Prius away and driving up the cost.
​

Thanks to @UsedToLoveCars who gave us a 'heads up' on the snark '30%' quote. We'd vivisected it well before Autoline Daily walked into it.

Bob Wilson

 

I don't follow the EVs closely so I try not to defend EV sales . . . ignorance not malice. However, comments are open at AutoLine daily and does not require anything but an e-mail address . . . no registration or SPAM. Regardless, the discussion continued.

Without quoting the source comments, this is my latest posting:

#13 – The false ‘green-ness’ challenges trace back to a discredited and withdrawn, Sunday Mail article. It used 1970s photos to claim the Prius traction batteries caused the Sudbury nickel mine to look like the moon, 30 years earlier. It also neglected that 1% of the nickel went into Prius batteries with the vast majority going into high temperature metals. After the Sudbury lawyers contacted the Sunday Mail, the lie was withdrawn to be replaced by rumors used to fool the unwary. (FYI, I still have my shovel looking for landfills full of Prius batteries because they have so much recycle value!)


#15 – exactly, MPG is another car feature like paint color, seat covers, or the audio system … car ‘bling’. Wanting better fuel efficiency is different from buying it. So when someone criticizes the ‘styling’, it is cover like saying,’I don’t like you and you’re ugly.’


We are seeing early 2016 Prius buyers whose styling skepticism evaporates when filling the tank saves the cost of dinner … stimulus–response.​

Posting Prius 'fan-boy' comments is not meant to persuade as much as stand up to the anti-Prius bullies who lie like a cheap rug. When they see their nonsense is punctured so easily, the scruff lightens up and we can discuss facts and data. Funnily enough, I find more quality engineering in car advocacy forums because they understand the terminology.

Bob Wilson