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The HybridCars.com monthly sales dashboard is a collaboration of HybridCars.com and Baum & Associates, a Michigan-based market research firm focusing on automotive issues including the hybrid and electric vehicle market.

Hybrid Market Commentary

Calendar year 2013 hybrid market sales saw the Prius “family” (including the Liftback, the c, and the v) decline from 2012 totals. This was presumably due to new competition, particularly from Ford.

Toyota remains the hybrid market leader by far, but December sales for Toyota’s hybrids were down significantly from the previous December – for example, the Liftback sold 12,536 in December 2012, compared to 9,881 in December 2012. The Camry Hybrid’s sales of almost 45,000 were significant, if not equal to 45,656 sales in calendar year 2012.

Sales of the Lexus ES 300h and Toyota Avalon Hybrid (each over 16,000) may have contributed to the slight decline in Camry Hybrid sales.

As mentioned, Toyota’s hybrid market share has declined with the arrival of new products from Ford, although issues related to EPA mileage and perceived real-world fuel economy from reviews have hurt Ford in recent months. We would expect the Blue Oval will attempt to address these issues in the new year.

In general, sales of hybrids to the U.S. in December were below the norm, equating to 2.7 percent of the market, the lowest share since January 2012. The rate for the year was 3.2 percent as compared to 3.0 percent for 2012. For the last four months, the rate has been below 3 percent, due both to growth in the truck market (where hybridization is very low) and lower gas prices.

The termination of the Malibu mild hybrid (replaced with a stop start vehicle that is now standard on the Malibu) is reducing hybrid volumes. A similar strategy may eventually be implemented on the Buick Lacrosse and Regal which remain available for now. Even with these changes, almost 500,000 units were sold in 2013 in the hybrid category.

A new hybrid model to begin recording sales is the Pathfinder hybrid. Nissan is considering also at least two or three more full hybrid models over the next year or two.

Plug-in Commentary

We wrote a nearly comprehensive plug-in sales year in review piece Friday, but briefly, notable events include the Cadillac ELR began selling before the January official dealer start, and chalked up six sales.

The three dominating plug-in vehicles – the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, and Tesla Model S, which constitute two-thirds of the market share – all fared well in December, showing strong increases from November and with the exception of the Volt from December 2012.

For the year, sales of the Volt were flat (due to production issues and increased competition), whereas the Model S and Leaf both grew strongly in 2013.

The Volt does remain the top-selling U.S. plug-in with over 55,000 sales. The Nissan Leaf lags with just over 42,000 U.S. sales, but tops all with over 90,000 globally. Later to the market, the Model S has sold perhaps close to 22,000 in the U.S. and over 25,000 globally.

We expect continued growth in these vehicles in the new year. Plug-in vehicle share in December was consistent with higher levels attained since August, and new products should drive this share higher in the coming year. Almost 100,000 plug in vehicles were sold in 2013, which of course was an all-time high.

Clean Diesel Commentary

Diesel volume has been consistent the past few months, although we are not yet reporting volumes of the Grand Cherokee (which is available) and the Ram (which will be available soon) because these numbers are not yet available. Cruze diesel numbers are still modest, which we believe is due to a high price premium for the model.

In anticipation for its German-engineered clean diesel, GM has highlighted comparisons to the VW, but VW has a huge head start and many loyal fans.

GM’s pricing strategy is not one to enable it to quickly sweep in and establish dominance.

We’ll be driving and evaluating the Cruze Diesel this week, and will have a full review as soon as possible after the Detroit Auto Show starts next week.