Toyota Prius sales appear to have peaked for the time being, with the four variants of that hybrid line combining to move 15,051 units, 19 percent less than in June 2014. Camry Hybrid and Avalon Hybrid sales dropped 29 percent and 32 percent, respectively, while Lexus hybrid sales were down 28 percent.
GM did worse, with its green-car sales dropping 30 percent from a year earlier to 2,279 units. The primary culprit was the Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in, whose sales of 1,225 vehicles fell 31 percent from a year earlier.
Ford? The Blue Oval’s green-car sales plunged 35 percent from a year earlier to 5,751 units, with the Fusion and C-Max Energi Plug-in Hybrid models seeing a 63 percent and 32 percent drop, respectively.
Honda did well by comparison, but green-car sales still fell 13 percent from a year earlier as declining demand for the CR-Z and Insight more than offset improved numbers for the Accord Hybrid.
And while Nissan’s Leaf electric-vehicle sales pattern marked an improvement from year-to-date, sales still fell 12 percent to 2,074 vehicles.
The culprit may be US gas prices, which haven’t experienced the price surge that often accompanies summer. Americans are paying an average of about $2.77 a gallon, which is even with a month ago but way down from the $3.67 we were paying a year ago, according to AAA.
The bright spot last month was BMW, largely because of low 2014 figures from its nascent i sub-brand. Bimmer moved 688 i3 and i8 plug-ins, almost twice as much as it did last year. Volkswagen also did relatively well, as higher diesel demand pushed green-car sales up 16 percent from a year earlier to 7,699 units.
Through the first half of the year, green-car sales were down 16 percent from a year earlier to about 257,00 vehicles. Breaking out plug-in vehicles, sales declined 8.9 percent to almost 49,000 units.
