Posted on 04/05/2024 10:09:15 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
DETROIT (Reuters) - As U.S. sales of gas-electric hybrid vehicles surge and electric-vehicle sales cool, automakers and suppliers are betting consumer demand for a compromise between all-combustion and all-electric is a durable trend.
Automakers and suppliers are adding capacity to build gasoline-electric hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles for the U.S. market, responding to increased consumer demand for technology that General Motors and other automakers once planned to phase out in favor of all-electric fleets, industry executives and analysts said.
U.S. sales of hybrids grew five times faster than EV sales in February, Morgan Stanley said. A plug-in hybrid version of the Jeep Wrangler SUV accounted for half of total U.S. Wrangler sales in the second half of 2023, up from 37% in the first half of the year, Stellantis said.
Sales of Ford Motor hybrids rose nearly 37% during the first two months of the year, driven by demand for the hybrid Maverick compact truck that starts at $25,315.
"The hottest car on our lot right now is the Maverick hybrid," said Scott Simmers, general manager at Palm Springs Motors in Cathedral City, California.
The hybrid Maverick now accounts for about half the model's sales and dealers said they could sell more if Ford could build them.
"We had to rush to add capacity for Maverick," Jim Baumbick, Ford vice president for product development, told Reuters. "We added a whole third shift to respond to demand."
The industry shift toward hybrids challenges the Biden administration's pro-EV climate policies, and environmental groups that want automakers to phase out CO2-emitting internal combustion engines as quickly as possible.
The White House is expected this month to issue vehicle CO2 emissions standards designed to force automakers to increase the share of fully electric vehicles they sell to as much as 60% by 2030.
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...
Think Edsels. Lots of Edsels rusting on showroom floors.
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