Not An Electric Car, This Type Of Car Dominates Sales In The US

Toyota's hybrid car sales continue to rise in the US. (photo; doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA - Pure electric cars have been making headlines for the past few years. But car industry data shows its rival, gasoline-electric hybrids, quietly hit record sales in the United States last year.

Public interest in Tesla Inc and Ford Motor Co has been driving sales of electric vehicles. But Asian automakers are steadily increasing their lineup of hybrid vehicles, as many customers still shun EVs due to higher prices, limited driving range or lack of charging stations.

Sales of hybrid vehicles in the US jumped 76% to 801,550 vehicles last year. This amount accounts for 5% of US light vehicle sales, according to data from analytics firm Wards Intelligence. EV sales also jumped 83% to 434,879, but represented only a tiny 3% of the market.

Toyota Motor Corp. recorded record hybrid car sales for the US market, prompting the Japanese automaker to overtake General Motors Co. as the top-selling US automaker.

Toyota increased sales of hybrids, plug-ins and fuel cells by 73% to 583,697, with the majority coming from hybrid technology cars. GM alone sells fewer than 25,000 electric vehicles, as it is recalling the Bolt EV model due to the risk of a battery fire.

"Hybrids offer a very attractive blend of fuel economy performance without some of the big drawbacks that electric vehicles present," said Brett Smith, director of technology at the Center for Automotive Research, as quoted by Reuters.

Pure EVs run on electricity only and require a charging infrastructure, whereas hybrid EVs combine a conventional combustion engine with an electric propulsion system. This is called easier to use.

Honda Motor Co., the No. 2 in the United States, also boosted hybrid car sales by 67% compared to 2020 to a record 107,060 last year.

"We expect to increase sales of our core hybrid products, the CR-V and Accord, substantially in the coming years as we prepare for fully battery electric vehicles," Dave Gardner, executive vice president at Honda, told Reuters.

Honda, which plans to launch its first EV for the US market in 2024, expects the market to have already taken off thanks to a series of new model launches by the automaker and policy support by the Joe Biden administration.

"It's just a matter of time, but I think consumer acceptance is going to take a while to catch up," Gardner said.

Hyundai Motor Co sees hybrid cars and plug-in hybrids as "enablers" that will help accelerate sales of EV batteries, said its head of global operations, Jose Munoz.

“Some of our competitors, they just jump into EV batteries… We still see many consumers who are hesitant to go into EV batteries only,” said Munoz.