Hybrid Sales To Comprise Bigger Market Share In 2012

Research by RL Polk and Co., reported at a symposium organized by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute shows that only about five percent of new cars sold in 2010 in the US and Canada will have a hybrid power train. While the overall percentage of the vehicle market is small, that represents a rise from 2.9% in 2008. The report is based on new vehicle registrations and also predicts that five percent of new vehicles sold in Western Europe will also be hybrids. Polk predicts that hybrid vehicle sales will remain strong, despite the sluggish worldwide economy.

According to the research company, five major trends are emerging for hybrid vehicle sales. The trends include increased hybrid vehicle sales; insulation from the economic downturn; broader acceptance of hybrids in the worldwide automotive buying markets; high customer loyalty rates and an increase in consumer acceptance of hybrid vehicles.

Polk's research did note that many consumers do not distinguish true hybrid automotive technologies from non-hybrid alternatives, like clean diesel and high-efficiency gasoline engines. According to Polk, consumers don't understand the various technologies and tend to put all alternative vehicle technologies into a "hybrid" category.