Survey: Interest in Hybrid and Electric Vehicles Growing, While Actual Sales Decline
A surprising new survey has just revealed that consumer interest in hybrid and electric vehicles is on the rise, despite recent reports that sales of such vehicles has been on a steady decline for the past three years.
According to a new Consumer Reports poll, 39 percent of new car buyers are looking at either a hybrid or an electric vehicle, with the majority of those shoppers (60%) looking at a standard hybrid. A total of 16 percent are interested in a plug-in hybrid while 14 percent are interested in an electric car.
The fact that sales of hybrids continue to decline is backed up by the fact that 94 percent of consumer still find these vehicles lacking due to a number of reasons, including purchase price and range anxiety.
Hybrids are still well ahead of diesels, with just 14 percent of new car buyers saying they are looking to purchase a diesel-powered car.
And as though you needed a warning to take these surveys with a grain of salt, the Consumer Reports survey of 1,713 new car buyers also shows that 16 percent are considering a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, despite the fact that such vehicles are only available in small test quantities in certain regions with limited infrastructure.
Of those surveyed consumers believed electric cars to be the “greenest” vehicles, while the number one reason given for switching to a green car wasn’t environmental concerns, but reducing dependence on foreign oil, with a 26 percent response rate compared to 21 percent.
[Source: Consumer Reports]
With AutoGuide from its launch, Colum previously acted as Editor-in-Chief of Modified Luxury & Exotics magazine where he became a certifiable car snob driving supercars like the Koenigsegg CCX and racing down the autobahn in anything over 500 hp. He has won numerous automotive journalism awards including the Best Video Journalism Award in 2014 and 2015 from the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Colum founded Geared Content Studios, VerticalScope's in-house branded content division and works to find ways to integrate brands organically into content.
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