US Hybrid Sales Picking Up

By Anthony Fontanelle

With the increasing price of gasoline and the awareness to the growing threat of global warming growing, more and more automakers are developing eco-friendly vehicles. Unlike in the past when green vehicles are only developed and not mass produced, automakers today are marketing hybrid vehicles. The demand for these hybrid vehicles is increasing according to a study conducted by R.L. Polk & Co. The report showed that for the first seven months of the year, new hybrid sales increased by 49 percent on the United States.

According to the study, the increase in hybrid vehicle sales in the country is fueled by the demand for fuel efficient cars in the Midwest. R.L. Polk & Co reported that of all the fifty states, Oklahoma has the largest increase in new hybrid vehicle sales. The auto information and marketing company reported further that 143 percent more hybrid vehicles were sold in the state of Oklahoma for the first seven months of 2007 compared to the same period last year. The state of Hawaii though declined to provide hybrid sales data for the study.

Overall, the study reported that from January to July this year, 215,997 new hybrid vehicles were sold in the United States auto market. For the same period, the number of these green vehicles sold totaled 144,721. This increase is surely good news to environmentalists who are lobbying for automakers to revamp their lineup to include more environment friendly vehicles such as hybrids.

This study will also be additional ammo for groups calling for more models of green vehicles. The fact that the demand for green vehicles is sharply increasing means they can lobby automakers to create more green cars. On the part of automakers, this will show them that the demand for hybrid is increasing and if they want to capitalize on this trend, they should develop more hybrid vehicles. The increase in hybrid sales also means that wholesale auto parts for such vehicles will also increase.

In the Midwest region, R.L. Polk & Co. reported that sales for the first seven months of 2007 is 57 percent higher than hybrid sales figure for the same period last year. The iconic Toyota Prius and the Toyota Camry Hybrid are the best selling hybrid vehicles in the region according to the report. In the Western region of the United States, new hybrid sales increased by 52 percent from January to July this year. In the Northeast, sales increased by 49 percent. And in the South, sales jumped by 42 percent.

Lonnie Miller, the director of industry analysis for R.L. Polk said that hybrid vehicle sales are one bright spot in the United States auto industry. While demand for new vehicles is down as a whole, hybrid sales are still going up. In fact, Miller expects that more than 300,000 units of hybrid vehicles will be sold this year in the country to compose more than 2 percent of the total vehicle sales in the country. Last year, R.L. Polk reported that 254,545 hybrid vehicles were sold.