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Hybrid Sales Set Record, Prius Tops List

Gas prices shoot past $3.50, climbing fast towards $4

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

April 22, 2008

• Latest Gas Price Round-Up • Gas Prices Headed Up Again • Truckers Bemoan Burden of High Diesel Costs • Gas Prices Biting into Worker Productivity • Consumers Warned About Gas-Saving Schemes • Is Tony Soprano Controlling Gas Prices? • Oil & Gas: The New Bubble • Critics: New Federal Gas Mileage Standard Falls Short • Consumers Feeling Pain of Skyrocketing Gas Prices • New Gas Price Record Forecasts Expensive Summer Driving Season --- • More ...

New hybrid vehicle sales are setting records along with gasoline prices and the Toyota Prius remains the top-selling hybrid, capturing 51 percent of the market.

Hybrid sales were up 38 percent in 2007 over 2006 to more than 350,000 vehicles.

California is the No. 1 state for hybrid sales in 2007. Twenty-six percent of all hybrid registrations were in California, with 91,417 registrations. Florida came in second with 5.5 percent or 19,283 new registrations. New York ranked third, with 5 percent of all new registrations, which totaled 17,385.

Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City were the top three metropolitan markets for hybrid cars last year. The Washington, D.C. area came in fourth with 12,744 hybrid cars registered in the area.

The Toyota Prius leads the midsize car hybrid segment. The Toyota Highlander and Ford Escape lead the SUV hybrid segment, according to automotive industry analysts.

Despite the increase in sales, hybrids still represent a small percentage of all vehicles sold in the U.S. In 2007, hybrids accounted for 2.6 percent of all sales.

Meanwhile a new survey finds that consumers are alarmed by skyrocketing gas prices and increasingly concerned by automakers' delays in providing more fuel-efficient cars. Read more ...

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