CarSeekBlog

According to an article posted early last month at Edmunds.com”, the auto industry is currently on track to sell roughly 1.2 million more cars and light trucks in 2010 than in 2009.

At the time of the article, December 8th, available data put the 2009 total units sold in the United States on track for 10.3 million by the end of the year, with projected sales of 11.5 million units in 2010.

According to an Edmunds.com senior analyst, Jessica Caldwell, value and fuel economy are still the order of the day, for most shoppers. “It has already become trendy to make sensible choices, and we expect that this will be a theme for 2010 sales,” she said.

For a significant number of car shoppers, “fuel economy and value” are roughly equal to “hybrid technology.” If the numbers are correct, rougly 3.2 percent of 2010 car and truck sales will be hybrid cars, an increase over the 2009 hybrid market share of 2.8 percent, while 2.2 percent of sales will be diesel.

What about 2010 electric cars? Edmunds.com’s numbers don’t address all electrics – new plug-ins are generally excluded, for example, but they predict less than one percent of units sold will be electric, while roughly 2.2 percent will be diesel powered.

Does this mean an overall grim future for electrics and hybrids? Not necessarily. According to Edmunds.com senior statistician Zhenwei Zhou, PhD, “Given historical alternative fuel trends, the ‘early adopters’ will boost electric car market share upon launch, but it will take some time before significant market share builds for the segment.”

Filed under: Buying Trends, Going Green by Mel