In the past six months, Ford has seen a decline in sales of its greenest cars. This is following a growth in large vehicle sales boosted by cheap gasoline across the United States. Seven hundred workers responsible for building the C-Max and Focus hybrids at Ford’s Wayne, Michigan, plant will be sacked. This is according to Associated Press Reports. The laying off was the first of its kind by the automaker since 2009. Further hints of the uncertainty of standard hybrid cars’ future on the United States market are being felt.

Some of the models produced by the Wayne plant employees include the C-Max hybrid, Focus ST, C-Max Energi, and Focus Electric. The automaker’s most efficient vehicles include C-Max Energi, Focus Electric and the Focus. Despite being termed efficient, U.S. consumers are yet to gain intense interest in them. The sales of C-Max hybrid have gone down by 31 % year-over-year in the first quarter of 2015. Over the same time period there was a 9% drop by the low-volume Focus electric car. While the Ford Focus sales have stagnated, with 2% gains in 2015, Toyota Corolla sales have increased by 17%. Explorer is Ford’s biggest winner with a sales increase of 27% in the year 2015. Similarly, the massive sales total of Ford’s F-150 pickup has improved with a total of 177,312 consumers in 2015. Sales of trucks remain high for United States automakers offering full-size pickups as the construction market continues to become strong. Yet, a problem is created for automakers when gas prices decline as the demand for cars like the C-Max hybrid remains low.

Ford’s Wayne plant situation necessitates a thorough view of the state of standard hybrid cars in the United States market. There was a decline across the board for vehicles ranging from the vaunted Toyota Prius to the Honda Accord Hybrid, according to the sales statistics compiled by Autoblog Green. When the prices of gas do not justify the short-term investment needed to upgrade from a standard gas model, there is little appeal for a more costly hybrid model. On the contrary, superior efficiency at much lower cost is offered by plug-in cars offering pure electric range, regardless of the gas prices’ trend. Studies show that most of the trips last for less than twenty miles and this has provided a cheap market for models such as the C-Max Energi. Compared to late April 2014 prices, gasoline remains over $1.20 cheaper in the United States.