It’s January and the 2010 car season is officially in full swing now that the doors have opened at the North American International Auto Show. Manufacturers have long since made their plans for the vehicles we will see this year and they are now testing the waters with several new concepts including hybrids and electrics. Roughly 700 vehicles are on display in Detroit this week, many of which are being seen by the public for the very first time.
As many car makers have told us in the past, one difficulty in bringing new vehicles to market is in trying to figure out what consumers will want to buy in the next 2-3 years. Judging from some of the new entries we’re seeing this year, it appears their best guess is that smaller, more practical, high tech cars are the near future. Granted, much of this is driven by increasing CAFE standards for fleet average fuel economy which will reach 35.5 miles per gallon in 2016. But even with gas prices now at their highest level in 15 months, are smaller more fuel efficient cars what people really want?
According to recent statistics from NADAguides.com, none of the five most researched vehicles last year were small or exceptionally fuel efficient (in part because gas prices were lower for much of the year). According to NADA the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro, 2009 Lexus ES 350, 2009 Nissan Altima, 2009 Honda Accord, and 2010 Lexus RX 350 were what people were looking for the most.
While no hybrids or hybrid sport utility vehicles made the NADA list, it got me thinking that our readers might be interested in learning about the most researched hybrid SUVs during 2009. Based on searches and page views from HybridSUV.com, the 2009 Toyota Highlander hybrid was the most researched vehicle on our site, followed very closely by the 2009 Ford Escape hybrid and the Mazda Tribute hybrid. Rounding out the list were the Saturn Vue hybrid and the Mercury Mariner hybrid.
Several auto-related websites will be releasing their year-end data this month, including Kelley Blue Book. Their recent press release showed just one “hybrid only vehicle” in the top 10 (the 2009 Prius was #8). In order, the KBB.com top 20 were the Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Toyota Camry, Honda CR-V, Toyota Corolla, Toyota RAV4, Toyota Highlander, Toyota Prius, Nissan Altima, Honda Pilot, Ford Escape, Chevrolet Camaro, Honda Odyssey, Ford Fusion, Mazda3, Ford Mustang, Volkswagen Jetta, Toyota Sienna, Lexus RX 350, and the Chevrolet Equinox.
