So, I was looking to compare Honda hybrid to Prius sales for last month and I noticed that they barely sold any HCHs. Only 152 were sold last month in the US vs. 2020 the same period last year. What happened? Did the Insight cannibalize their own sales + Prius eat into it too or was there limited supply?

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...-63136022.html
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...01/479945.html

Not that sales should normally be compared month to month but in August 09, 717 HCHs were sold in the US per http://automobiles.honda.com/news/pr...x?Article=5167.

If those sales levels of the HCH stay that way, I wouldn't be surprised if it goes the way of the 1st gen Insight and the HAH.

 

Not many Insights sold as well. Honda was down 23% . Hal

 

I blame the people.

 

The full list is here:

http://hybridreview.blogspot.com/200...mber-2009.html

Total hybrid sales and prius sales are virtually unchanged from Sept 2008.

Total HCH and Insight sales -- taken as a sum -- are virtually unchanged from Sept 2008 (with Insight taking no sales obviously in 2008, but most all sales in 2009).

Ford fusion took sales from Toyota Camry Hybrid.

I think the HCH sales are so poor since none (or few) were available and dealers were pushing the Insight so hard. And since HCH and Insight are built in the same factory, few new 2009 HCHs (or none) have been built for a long time.

What is too bad is that so many people chose not to save gas and buy hybrid.

Mark

 

Wow, that's amazing that the HCH sales are now below that of the Altima Hybrid which is only available in 9 states.

That's not so bad considering US car sales were down 16% for Sept 09 vs. Sept 08 per http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/pag...autosales.html. Toyota was down 12.65% and Honda was down 20.07% per http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/01/b...l-alright-edi/.

If you look back at charts from before the Insight II existed vs. afterward, it seems that Insight has cannibalized HCH sales.

 

There are so many hybrid on the used car lots that are not moving it has caused the value of all hybrids to drop.

Many folks cannot drive the way a hybrid needs to be driven to get great mileage. Many civic owner of the manual transmission can do as well as the hybrid owners that do not understand that they have to stay stopped at a stoplight to keep the engine off. Most of the tradings a those that expected magic and it does not happen. Of last months trade-in at the local dealer - 3 prius and 2 HCH II came in for non hybrid cars. Almost all were traded for thinks like the Civic SI.

Some like me - my wife hated the hybrid - to keep my marriage I trade back to a Ridgeline ( the smallest thing she will ride in ). Which I had before I got the two HCH II's. I figured out how to drive and get in the 50's mpg and 46 in town. I have taken other owners here that complain about the mileage and we go for a drive - 10 miles and we reset the trip b - once with them driving and once with me. I generally get an extra 10 -15 mpg because I understand the IMA and use it to my advantage - I shift to S on big downhills to get more charge. If you don't help the Hybrid, it does not get the cost savings needed to justify the greater cost.

When gas was above $4.00 a gallon there were over 100 people on the waiting list for a Hybrid. Now the local dealer has more Hybrids than regular Civics ( mostly due to Cash for Clunkers wiping out the 100 non Hybrid Civics on the lot.)

Last year a one year old HCH II was about $21,500 today it is $17,900. They are not moving off the lots even used.

The sad part is if you removed all the IMA stuff off the 1.3L engine it would get almost the same mileage. As most drivers fail to stay stopped in stop and go traffic - the auto stop does nothing for them so IMA is a waste for most commuters. Traffic rarely goes fast enough for the auto stop to kick in and if you get it - you run out of battery before your commute is done and have no boost when you really need it.

 

The bolded part to me outlines the real flaw in the IMA implementation.

With the Prius and its power split device w/two motor/generators you can be on electric only w/o any drag or pumping loss from the ICE at up to ~41 mph. I have ScanGauge and can observe when the ICE isn and isn't running. At very low speeds w/the windows down, you can easily confirm when the ICE is and isn't running. It will not kick in on light acceleration at low speeds unless the HV batt is low. Creeping along in stop and go in a Prius doesn't cause the ICE cycle on/off until the HV battery is too low (down to ~40% SOC).

I'm sure a lot of people didn't want to buy used hybrids when C4C was still going since it didn't apply towards buying used cars.

FWIW, I think it's good that the Insight has the changing colors and the 2010 Prius w/the HSI as aids to help drivers get better mileage.

I wonder how many of those people who traded in for non-hybrid will be pissed how low their mileage turns out to be, esp. if they do a lot of city driving and stop and go.