Washington, D.C. – The reported sales of hybrid vehicles in the U.S. rose 42 per cent in December 2009 compared with December 2008, while conventional light-duty sales only rose 15.1 per cent in the same month, according to the Green Car Congress.

Hybrid sales for all twelve months of 2009 decreased 7.5 per cent, to 290,280 units, versus a drop of 21.2 per cent of conventional vehicles. Hybrids had a 2.8 per cent market share in calendar-year 2009. The figures include sales of 42 hybrids reported by Chrysler in January 2009, but do not include sales of the new Mercedes-Benz S400 hybrid, as the company does not break out sales by powertrain type, or the new BMW ActiveHybrid X6, which began reaching dealers in December.

Toyota reported sales of 17,964 hybrids in December, up 47.2 per cent over December 2008. The company sold a total of 187,860 vehicles in December, an increase of 32.3 per cent. The Prius posted 11,775 units, up 49.8 per cent. The Camry Hybrid sold 1,513 units, a decrease of 19.9 per cent, and representing 4.3 per cent of all Camry models sold. The Highlander Hybrid sold 1,029 units, an increase of 15.6 per cent, representing 10.9 per cent of all Highlander models sold.

The Lexus RX hybrid sold 1,598 units, up 9.2 per cent, representing 13.5 per cent of all RX models. The GS hybrid sold 54 units, up 5.9 per cent, for 5.1 per cent of all GS sales. The LS hybrid sold 15 units, down 70.0 per cent and representing 0.7 per cent of all LS models sold, while the dedicated hybrid HS250 sold 1,980 units.

For all of 2009, Toyota sold 195,545 hybrids, down 19 per cent for the year. Sales of all vehicles were 1,770,149 vehicles, a decrease of 20.2 per cent.

Ford reported 2,843 hybrid sales in December, up 147.4 per cent from December 2008. Total Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales increased 33.5 per cent to 170,017 units in December. Sales of the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner hybrids totalled 1,157 units in December, up 0.7 per cent, for 5.2 per cent of all Escape and Mariner sales. The Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan hybrid sedans sold 1,686 units, representing 8.0 per cent of all Fusion and Milan sales.

The company also sold 1,662 EcoBoost-equipped models, bringing the total to 4,973 since introduction. For all of 2009, Ford sold 33,502 hybrids, a new record and up 72 per cent from 2008. Total Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales were 1,620,888 units, a drop of 15.4 per cent.

Honda reported 2,110 hybrid sales, an increase of 103.5 per cent. Total December sales increased 24.5 per cent to 107,143 units. The Civic Hybrid sold 471 units, down 54.5 per cent, representing 2.1 per cent of total Civic sales. The dedicated Insight sold 1,639 units.

For all of 2009, Honda sold 35,692 hybrids, up 13 per cent. Total vehicle sales were 1,150,784 units, a drop of 19.5 per cent.

GM reported sales of 1,408 hybrids in December, a decrease of 45.9 per cent. Overall December sales were 208,511, a decline of six per cent. For the year, GM hybrid sales increased 30 per cent to 16,142 vehicles.

Nissan reported sales of 842 Altima hybrids in December, an increase of 18.6 per cent, representing 4.5 per cent of all Altima sales. Total December sales for Nissan were 73,404 units, an increase of 18.2 per cent.

For 2009, Nissan sold 9,357 Altima hybrids, a 6.1 per cent increase. Total combined Nissan and Infiniti sales for 2009 were 770,103 vehicles, a decline of 19.1 per cent. The Altima hybrid is only available in eight states.

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