Although the 45th anniversary of Earth Day was marked the other day, so far the hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric carmakers have no reason for celebration. The sales of hybrids such as the Toyota Prius have gone down by 15.6 % for the first quarter of 2015 in comparison to the previous year totals. Sixty-six percent of the United States market for hybrid vehicles is accounted for by the different Toyota Prius models, as well as the Avalon and Camry hybrids. The only hybrid car that showed a slight increase in sales (4.6%) in the first quarter is the Prius V Compact wagon. The worse thing is that the hybrid and electric cars are being traded in at a higher rate as the prices of gasoline remains low. Edmunds claimed that approximately 22 percent of car owners who have chosen to trade in their electric and hybrid cars have bought a novel SUV. This is almost two times the rate seen three years ago (11.9%).
The electric and hybrid car trade-ins that have gone toward the purchase of another alternative fuel car so far are only at 45%. According to Edmunds, the loyalty rates among alternative-fuel car owners for the first time had gone below 50 percent. The story is clearly explained by the math. In October 2012, the average cost of gasoline per gallon was $4.67 and it was projected that it would take five years to recover the price difference between a Camry Hybrid and a gasoline-fueled Camry. The payback period rises to ten years at a national average price of $2.27 per gallon. There is even a greater difference for electric vehicles such as the GM’s Chevy Spark, the Nissan Leaf and Ford Motor’s Ford Focus electric vehicle. For the first three months of 2015, the sales of Nissan Leaf are down 21.2 % year-over-year, while those of Focus electric vehicle are down by about 9 percent. A 31% jump in sales was reported by the Chevy Spark with a total of only 151 units.
Plug-in hybrid cars such as the Ford C-Max Energy and the Chevrolet Volt reported low quarter sales of 1.5% and 48% respectively. The Ford Fusion Energi is the best-selling car in this group with March sales of 837 units. Compared with the first quarter of 2014, the sales have gone down by 15.6%. In the first quarter, GM’s Cadillac ELR plug-in hybrid saw a 73% increase in sales. It sold 311 units compared to 2014’s 180 units.