Ridicule, Recession and Recalls. It would appear that hybrids have survived them all. With Nissan going electric, Ford focusing on hybrids and plug-ins and Toyota getting involved in every “sustainable motoring” project that looks viable, the next 5 years in terms of hybrid car market share will be very interesting indeed.

If the Japanese experience is anything to go by it would appear that hybrids are about to outsell non hybrids in certain categories. Japanese consumers purchased almost twice as many hybrids as their US counterpart in the first two months of 2010. That’s over 70,000 hybrids sold in Japan in January and February compared to approximately 33,000 units sold in the US. The home of the Prius is certainly embracing hybrid technology and with Honda releasing their CR-Z , aka the “sexy hybrid”, on both sides of the Atlantic this summer  consumers are at last getting more “green” motoring choices

Hybrid car sales are holding steady at 2-3 percent of the overall auto market (remember that figure has been obtained, and maintained, despite the difficulties of recent times) and the stage is set for hybrids, plug-ins and EV’s to gain significant market share by 2014. Green incentives, more hybrid car choices, oil spills, pump prices and environmental concerns are all giving the consumer reasons to consider hybrids and other “sustainable motoring” alternatives when choosing their next car. When “slick marketing” gets greener we will see hybrid sales reach new highs.

May 2010 hybrid sales figures are out this week – watch this space.

Mike Brosnan