Though many Americans aren’t exactly fans of all-electric vehicles, that hasn’t stopped EVs from enjoying a tremendous growth in sales over the past couple of years. In fact, in 2023, nationwide EV sales reached their highest total ever at 1.2 million units, all while Ford enjoyed its best EV sales year to date as well. However, the same can be said of hybrids, which continue to enjoy tremendous popularity among new vehicle shoppers. The Ford Maverick and Ford F-150 PowerBoost (which will be a no-cost upgrade over the standard 3.5L V6 EcoBoost for 2024) were the top two best-selling hybrid pickups in 2023, and FoMoCo remains committed to building and selling hybrids for the foreseeable future, which it expects to be quite profitable for years to come. Now, according to data from S&P Global Mobility, it seems as if more ICE owners switched to hybrids versus EVs last year as well.
S&P identified this trend by looking at return-to-market vehicle registration data, after which it discovered that U.S. households with ICE vehicles were more likely to migrate to hybrid models versus pure EVs last year. Between January and October 2023, 8.3 percent of those households purchased a hybrid vehicle (a number that reached 9.9 percent in October) versus 5.7 percent that opted to go all-electric. Both numbers increased year-over-year, however, from 6.1 percent for hybrids and from 4.6 percent for EVs.
Of course, this doesn’t come as a massive surprise given the fact that many Americans remain a bit hesitant when it comes to EVs, as S&P notes. Hybrids represent a solid middle-ground option between ICE vehicles and fully electric ones, eliminating some of the biggest concepts most have – range anxiety, as well as longer refueling times and the ability to utilize gasoline for longer trips.
“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,” said Tom Libby, associate director for loyalty solutions and industry analysis for S&P Global Mobility. “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.”
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Comment
I really hope the upcoming GT500 is a V8 hybrid similar to the Corvette E-Ray, but more attainable and affordable. To me, that would be the sweet spot.
For a daily driver, just throw a standard Coyote hybrid setup into a Raptor.