Ford has already beaten its best year for hybrid sales
Ford Motor Co. said that it has sold 37,000 hybrid vehicles nationwide this year, already topping its full year record for hybrid sales of 35,496, set in 2010.
Ford said that the 37,000 sales figure also represents a 375% increase over the numbers of hybrids it had sold in the first five months of 2012.
The Ford hybrid sales figures include the automaker’s Ford C-MAX Hybrid, Ford C-MAX Energi, Ford Fusion Hybrid and Ford Fusion Energi, as well as Lincoln MKZ.
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The automaker also said that it had begun to make a dent in the ultra-competitive California market.
In California, the Toyota Prius remained the overall sales leader in the state during the first quarter among all vehicles types, including conventionally powered gasoline and diesel cars, trucks and SUVs.
Toyota posted Prius hybrid sales of 15,661 during the first three months of the year in California, narrowly beating out the Honda Accord’s sales of 15,369 cars.
New car registration data showed that Ford sold 3,000 Fusion hybrids in California in the first four months of the year, up from 400 during the same period in 2012.
“We have a great selection of hybrid vehicles to choose from,” Erich Merkle, Ford U.S. sales analyst, said in an interview. “The success we are experiencing with hybrids is energizing the whole company.”
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