As GM Authority recently covered, sales of electric vehicles hit a new record high over the course of the 2023 calendar year, with nearly 1.2 million units sold for a 7.6 percent share of the entire U.S. market. Despite this growth, it appears as though more American households are making the transition to hybrids as opposed to their all-electric counterparts.
According to a report from S&P Global Mobility, U.S. households that currently possess ICE vehicles are more likely to move into a hybrid vehicle rather than an EV. More specifically, from January 2023 to October 2023, 8.3 percent of gasoline households purchased a new hybrid model, with figures peaking in October 2023 to almost 10 percent. In comparison, 5.7 percent of ICE-powered households moved into electric vehicles.
It’s worth noting that the vast majority of those transitioning to an all-electric vehicle choose Tesla over other brands.
“The automotive industry’s transformation to fully electric may not be as rapid as EV advocates are hoping, as US consumers increasingly opt for more sustainable and energy-efficient vehicles,” S&P Global Mobility Associate Director for Loyalty Solutions and Industry Analysis Tom Libby stated. “This consumer trend of taking a half-step by choosing a hybrid instead of moving directly to an EV may be a sign of tentativeness to fully embrace electricity as the means of propulsion.”
Interestingly, General Motors only offers a single hybrid vehicle in the United States, the Corvette C8 E-Ray. Of course, the electrified Vette takes this route for performance reasons, rather than the fuel economy benefits most other hybrids enjoy. For now, The General has not openly committed to bringing more hybrid vehicles to U.S. shores, going so far as to claim that the best way to make the transition to a fully-electric future is to completely bypass hybrid vehicles altogether, and bring EV models directly to market.
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Comments
Only because pricier hybrids are in greater supply and some manufacturers force you into one, stupidly.
No, hybrid allows potential cost/gas savings for 90% of most driving needs, and prevents all the electric anxiety, for a persons longer trips.
I can definitely relate to this article, and I fall into the demographic discussed. I just traded in an ICE SUV for a Lincoln Corsair PHEV (plug-in hybrid). I will not purchase an EV until the range doubles and the cost is in line with ICE. That probably won’t happen until solid-state batteries are mainstream, which is still several years away. I was looking for an all-wheel drive SUV with ADAS (BlueCruise or SuperCruise) that can tow at least 2500 pounds with gas mileage in the 30’s and decent performance (not too slow). I think GM is missing the boat with their EV-only strategy, and not producing any hybrids. I would have preferred buying a GM vehicle with my employee discount. GM doesn’t offer any all-wheel drive SUVs that can tow at least 2500 pounds and get over 30 mpg. I would have waited for the new Acadia if it offered a hybrid option. I wouldn’t even care if it was hybrid if the gas mileage target was hit, which probably isn’t possible with ICE. My AWD Corsair can tow 3000 pounds and is rated for 34 mpg city and 32 mpg highway, with 28 miles of all-electric range, and can do 0-60 in 6.3 seconds. In my opinion GM needs to alter their strategy or lose market share.
GM better get their act together and start building hybrid powertrains, How poorly run is this company not to recognize that going straight from ICE vehicles to EV’s is shortsighted? You first start off with hybrid powertrains then you make the eventual transition to EV’s!
Doubling and tripling down on a failed strategy…… the GM way!
I’m staying with ICE.
Along with many others, I share a reluctance to buy an EV. I rent so don’t have a secure way to plug in at home. The prices and ranges of EV’s are not as much of a concern, but they’re not zero, either. As a long-term member of the GM family, I find their current approach of leap-frogging hybrids to only building EV’s as completely misguided. Meanwhile, Toyota sells hybrid everything and sells them all. Hyundai / KIA offer the full range (ICE’s EV’s, hybrids and plug-ins). GM’s strategy depends on funding from the sales of V-8 trucks and body-on-frame SUV’s which can hardly be considered an environmentally sound approach, let alone what those monsters mean for vehicle and pedestrian safety. Bad move, GM.
If you want to buy a hybrid, get a Ford! Don’t buy any foreign brand imports, even if it cost less! Ford has the best hybrids and the only hybrid trucks in the U.S. such as tbe F-150 and the Mavetick. Soon the Ranger will be tbe third hybrid truck.
Mary stupidly said no hybrids. Quite possibly one of the greatest corporate errors/CEO mistakes in the last 50 years.
But the automotive press adores her, and GM hires by diversity, so at least GM has those covered.
Ford makes an Escape hybrid that Consumer Reports rates higher than the regular Escape. GM should have an Equinox Hybrid and a GMC Terrain hybrid to better compete in the marketplace.
Hybrids should have been the obvious move for GM but stupid is as stupid does and you can’t fix stupid.
Nailed it.
The Chevrolet Volt and Cadillac ELR were the best idea and GM blew it. They are the best combination for economy and ability to travel distance. Unless you live in a city and never leave it, all electric is useless. Mary gets chauffer driven everywhere she wants to go or if a distance, she flies. Maybe, some day, she’ll figure out how the rest of us live. (don’t count on it). This is not Europe or Japan, where everything is a short trip.
Got to admit that the GM strategy was/is bold but looks like it may have been wrong. No doubt they may have a full line up of EV’s before too long, however the consumer has the final say. A few more years and we will all know the answer. Hope it’s not too late.
I find it amazing that when hybrids were coming out everyone was dissing them for not having enough power and now all of a sudden everyone wants one. Maybe GM would have made them if the public wanted them years ago but things take time to develop and GM moves slower than a grandma. And to make it worse they are now delaying their Evs cause “people don’t want Evs” is what I keep hearing. Yet Tesla just overtook Subaru, VW, BMW, and Mazda, in sales in the USA with ease. No hybrids or EVs is what GM wants. So in 5 years, GM goes from 1st to 5th in sales and we all say we want Evs cause they go 1000 miles per charge and 0-60 in 3 seconds. GM will blame everyone else but go bankrupt cause the other options are simply better in every way and too little too late. No bailouts this time.
Back then the most well-known hybrid was the Toyota Prius and it had a 0-60 of 13 seconds. Now a good example is the Rav4 Prime and it has a 0-60 of 5.5 seconds. It’s not that people are fickle. It’s that car companies finally produced what people wanted.
Wolfy, this is GM’s constant dilemma – they are reactionary and always chasing the market. They should have kept the Volt and expanded that tech throughout their line up. They should have kept the Bolt and made one truck and one SUV BEV rather than near identical competitors on the same platform – Blazer EV / Lyriq. While this article is espousing an anti-BEV narrative, the fact is BEVs nearly overtook traditional hybrids (HEVs) in 2023 (50% of the market owned by Toyota) and will easily surpass them by Q1 or Q2 in 2024. The plug in market is dominated by BEVs (80% of the 1.41M units sold in 2023) vs PHEVs (plug in Prius/RAV4). PHEVs make sense and will increase in 2024, but more at the expense of ICE and HEVs than BEVs. Regardless, GM is reducing BEV production and basically has no PHEVs in a rapidly growing market, but they have over 450k in inventory on dealer lots. GM has no long term plan and by the time they start to make PHEVs, the market will be saturated.
If GM had decided to come out with a PHEV or HEV version of the Yukon, I’d have been first in line to get it. Full EV doesn’t work with my use case, but HEV and PHEV do. I would bet a good chunk of money that there are way more people like me who’d get a HEV/PHEV over an EV version of a GM vehicle.
I’ll admit 10 years ago I never thought I’d say this but I would absolutely love a PHEV right now with ~30-50 miles of range. I would rarely use the gas motor and would enjoy all of the benefits of EVs right now. But since that’s not happening at GM, I’m looking at gasoline only.
The problem with the hybrid is the same with the EV, the cost of the battery and replacement. Now with my 2014 Impala Limited, I do have concerns of things breaking (nothing has needed replacing yet), but not a $4000 hybrid battery.
When it comes to hybrids, plug ins are far superior to the original passive hybrid in terms of lowering carbon emissions from the vehicle. Most people can drive locally on electric day to day with a PHEV, but they do need daily charging so a 110 V plug at your parking spot is a must to achieve electric only driving every day. Where as an all electric may only need charging once a week at a charging station at your local mall. For apartment dwellers with no plug-in option an all electric high range is the better choice.
The current Malibu had a hybrid model and was relevant in 2016. GM discontinued it after three years. GM used the same non existent marketing strategy that failed with the Volt. I really liked my 2012 Volt, it handled better than my 2023 Bolt. I’m disillusioned my Bolt won’t charge below freezing, it’s worthless in colder temperatures. The dealer doesn’t have a clue, this is clearly a problem that most people aren’t aware of! It’s bad enough to deal with the 30% loss of battery range in colder temperatures, but when it won’t even charge that’s unacceptable. I really have enjoyed my Bolt, but realizing it won’t charge below freezing is a deal breaker!