Sales of hybrids in the US rose 24% in December 2006 compared to the prior year, with 22,625 units sold. That was sufficient to push the total number of hybrids sold in the US in 2006 past the quarter million mark to more than 251,000 units—an increase of 22% compared to 2005.
That figure does not include sales of GM’s Saturn VUE Green Line hybrid.
Overall, the light duty vehicle market in the US shrank 3.6% in December 2006 from the year before, and declined 2.6% for the year to 16,556,433 units, according to Autodata. Hybrids thus represented 1.58% of the total light duty vehicle market in December, an increase from 1.2% in December 2005. For the year, hybrids represented 1.5% of the light duty vehicle market, up from 1.2% in 2005.
Toyota—which closed out the year as a member of the “Big Three”, having bumped DaimlerChrysler to fourth place—led with 9,291 units of the Prius sold in December, up 2.9% from December 2006. The Camry hybrid had a strong December showing of 4,005 units sold, representing 10.1% of all Camrys sold. And the Highlander Hybrid closed out the year with 2,354 units sold, up 7.1% from December 2005, and representing 20.1% of all Highlanders.
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