Some car shoppers fear hybrid could mean “weeny” performance, he said. “There might be a little bit of a stigma with the word ‘hybrid,’” said Bill Visnic, editorial director at the Society of Automotive Engineers. The differences in how hybrid vehicles are marketed – sometimes with a chrome “Hybrid” badge on the back and sometimes with barely any mention – can come down to how the technology is perceived by different types customers. That means that a Toyota Rav4 Hybrid might be counted while a Toyota Tundra i-Force Max pick-up, which is also a hybrid, might not. Often, carmakers don’t specifically call out hybrid systems any more than they would another engine or transmission feature. It’s impossible to know exactly how many hybrid trucks, cars and SUVs are being sold because they’re only counted as hybrids in industry statistics when the manufacturer, itself, calls it a hybrid, or gives it a separate model name, said Drury. But that doesn’t capture all hybrid vehicles, analyst Ivan Drury said. Hybrid market share has more than doubled from 2017, going from 2.0% of the market to 5.1% of the market, according to data from the automotive web site. The Toyota Tundra iForce Max hybrid system offers V8 power from a 6-cylinder engine. While many hybrids are proudly billed as such – the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid and Ford Escape Hybrid, for instance – others, often vehicles with mild hybrid systems, include that information only in technical documents or the owner’s manual. And, while fully electric vehicles carry a certain cultural cache, carmakers are often cautious about calling out their gasoline-electric hybrids. In 2019, that number shrank to just over 69,000.īut at the same time, hybrid technology has become more common. Toyota Prius sales peaked in the United States in 2012, with over 230,000 sold. But those Prius waitlists eased over the years as more hybrids entered the market. The Toyota Prius sent car shoppers racing to dealerships in the early 2000s, as gasoline price spiked and a recession had them looking for fuel-efficient alternatives. And customers are purchasing hybrids in high numbers, even if they don’t always recognize they’re buying one. But high fuel costs and the relatively high prices of fully electric cars have meant that hybrids can still help drivers save money. Hybrid technology is finding its way into all sorts of vehicles that aren’t advertised as such.įor automakers, that’s often part of the point.Įlectric vehicle sales continue to grow every year, and more companies announce plans to ditch gasoline engines altogether. In fact, many owners of newer vehicles could already be driving a hybrid and not even know it. With gas prices passing $5 a gallon in many places, drivers may wish that they had a hybrid vehicle.
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