Elon Musk doesn’t think much of hybrid cars, which is why Tesla only produces fully electric cars. Other car companies, however, continue to rely on hybrid models – and obviously rightly so. New statistics prove that producing hybrid cars has been worthwhile in recent months.
• Demand for hybrid cars will skyrocket in 2023
• Toyota produces as many hybrid cars “as possible”
• Tesla boss Musk wants to stimulate sluggish demand with cheaper models
The first hybrid cars came onto the market at the end of the 20th century, with the Toyota Prius starting in 1997. Despite their almost 30-year presence, the popularity of hybrid cars shows no signs of slowing down, as their combination of combustion engines with electric motors enables greater fuel efficiency and lower emissions. Major brands such as Toyota, Honda, Ford and Hyundai have become pioneers in the production of hybrid vehicles.
Sales of hybrid cars are increasing significantly
In recent months, hybrid cars appear to be enjoying a remarkable revival. While the number of global sales of hybrids fell by around six percent between 2021 and 2022, a trend reversal is on the horizon in 2023. The “Wall Street Journal” reports that sales of hybrid cars increased by a whopping 48 percent in the first three quarters of 2023 compared to the same period last year. “It’s a hot market,” emphasized David Christ, sales manager for Toyota’s North American business, to the Wall Street Journal. Toyota is therefore currently producing as many hybrids “as possible”. According to “Ecomento” information, Toyota sold around two million hybrid cars last year alone, making it the clear market leader ahead of Honda and Hyundai.
EV market is no longer growing as fast as it was in 2022
However, a different development can be seen in the latest sales figures for fully electric cars. Demand has slowed in recent months – the EV market continues to grow, but at a slower rate. After growing 63 percent globally in the first half of 2022, it only rose 49 percent in the same period this year.
In response to this, some car companies, such as the traditional US companies Ford and General Motors, are reconsidering their recently increased commitment to the EV segment, as “Fortune” writes. Ford announced that it had increased sales of its hybrid models by 41 percent in the third quarter compared to the same period last year – a significantly higher increase than is the case with Ford’s electric cars. Ford says it wants to quadruple its hybrid sales in the next five years. Given the current hybrid boom, it is little wonder that the Japanese car company’s latest figures were extremely positive.
Former Toyota boss Toyoda feels vindicated
Akio Toyoda, who served as Toyota CEO until March 31, 2023, feels confirmed in his strong focus on hybrid models. Toyoda was skeptical about the hype surrounding electric cars for a long time and continued to rely on hybrid engines. “People are finally seeing reality,” Fortune quoted him as saying. A little more than a year ago, he told dealers gathered in Las Vegas that electric vehicles “are just going to take longer than the media would have us believe […]. Toyota is a department store for all types of powertrains. It’s not right for the department store to say, ‘This is the product you should buy.'” However, because investors strongly demanded that Toyota commit more to the production of fully electric cars, Toyoda resigned. It may have been with some satisfaction EV skeptic Toyoda has consequently been following the new statistics surrounding the hybrid boom.
Musk sees hybrid cars as just a “phase” – that’s how he wants to attract buyers
The opinionated Tesla CEO sees things completely differently Elon Musk the thing. In his opinion, the production of hybrid cars is just a “phase” in the transition between combustion and fully electric cars. Because hybrid cars have no future, Tesla is relying entirely on fully electric cars. So far, the Musk Group has done very well with this strategy, but recently demand has lagged somewhat. The fact that the EV market is no longer growing as strongly as in recent years could probably be due to the fact that the first generation of EV buyers has already snapped up. The next group of potential buyers, on the other hand, is less convinced of electric cars and is also more price sensitive.
“A large number of people live from paycheck to paycheck and are heavily in debt, they have credit card debt, mortgage debt,” Musk emphasized during the conference call on the latest figures. “We have to make our cars more affordable,” is Musk’s response to the weak demand. In fact, Tesla has recently been increasingly reducing the price of its models, especially in China. It remains to be seen whether this will put a stop to the rise of even cheaper hybrid models, especially those from Japanese competitor Toyota.
Editorial team finanzen.net
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