A HAVEN FOR HYBRIDS

A HAVEN FOR HYBRIDS
May 5, 2005
LA Car Blog

Nationwide registrations for new hybrid vehicles rose to 83,153 in 2004—an 81 percent increase from 2003, according to R. L. Polk & Co. The Toyota Prius recorded 53,761 new hybrid-vehicle registrations in 2004, a 33 percent increase over 2003. The Prius occupies 64 percent of the hybrid market, a sizeable lead over the Honda Civic, which had 25,586 registrations and 31 percent market share. Since the introduction of hybrid vehicles in 2000, the market has grown by more than 960 percent.

California strongly outpaces all other states in new hybrid-vehicle registrations. In 2004, there were 25,021 new hybrid-vehicle registrations in California, about 4.5 times that of second-place Virginia with 5,613. Washington came in third with 3,441; Florida came in fourth with 3,272; and Maryland rounds out the top five with 3,238 new hybrid-vehicle registrations in 2004.

Similarly, Los Angeles remains the top metropolitan area for hybrid vehicles with 10,399 new hybrid-vehicle registrations in 2004, more than doubling the total from 2003. San Francisco came in second at 8,051, followed by Washington, D.C., with 6,473 new hybrid-vehicle registrations. New York came in fourth at 3,779, followed by Seattle with 2,857 new hybrid-vehicle registrations in 2004. Each of these markets experienced significant growth in the number of new hybrid-vehicle registrations compared with the previous year, a confirmation of the robust strength of this new vehicle segment.

While hybrid registrations have shot up last year, and knowing where these vehicles are registered provides some insight into the dynamics of the market, there is something to keep in mind here: total vehicle sales. There were 83,153 hybrids registered in 2004, but total vehicles sales last year amounted to 16.8 million vehicles. Also, hybrids have been on sale since mid-2000, and all of those hybrids registered were sold sometime in the past five years. So as one looks at the tremendous growth experienced by the hybrid market, keep in mind that it is still a relatively small market. One question still remains: if gas prices remain stable or even drop, will hybrid sales slow down? It seems that for now, and until the end of summer, gas prices will remain high, so a slow down in the growing hybrid market will probably not happen in the near future.

Source: SEMA Research and Information Center