I wish Honda would break out the sales of the 3 types of Clarity instead of lumping them all together as a single model.
A commenter at the bottom of the page says that since the numbers shown are sales only they must not include the FCV and the BEV which are only leased. However that would mean the numbers don't include leased PHEVs either.
If you are really interested in sales figures you can subscribe to Automotive News. But you better be very interested. A one year subscription cost $159. https://www.autonews.com/section/data-center Tim
The Honda-centric site, Temple of VTEC, shows the monthly reports issued by Honda and those reports don't separate out the Clarity models. I guess it's possible that Automotive News has a relationship with every Honda dealer in the country and can get the info that way. InsideEVs won't say how they come up with the Clarity PHEV numbers--I believe they're making an educated guess. When Automotive News provides temporary free access to lure potential subscribers, I always check it out, but I never see any news that doesn't eventually show up on other websites.
Let me make it easy for you: literally nobody buys the FCEV so its sales are zero. Just subtract zero from the figure to get the sales of the other kinds.
And, as noted above, literally nobody buys the BEV either--like the FCEV, it's lease-only. Also, many Clarity PHEVs are leased, not bought. There are so few dealers who lease the FCEV (CA only) and the BEV (CA and OR only), that making an accurate educated guess on how many Claritys Honda delivers in the US may require just the canvassing the Honda dealers in CA and OR and subtracting the actual number of leased FCEVs and BEVs from the total Honda indicates in their monthly report.
A leased vehicle is sold to the leasing company (the finance company is named as the owner on the title), and thus will be counted as a sale in the reports being referenced.
So it's actually easy because all Claritys are "sold." Evidently, Honda doesn't want to reveal the tiny "sales" of the FCEV and BEV, instead preferring to state the sales of the "Clarity" in its monthly reports. That grouping improves casual comparisons with the sales numbers for other PHEVs.
Yes, leased or financed, they are considered sold by the automotive world. I leased my Clarity PHEV and will buy her at lease end from Honda Financial - if at the end of the lease should it prove to be a reliable car - and so far yes it has!
If anyone here ever actually considered getting a Clarity fuel cell vehicle (FCV or FCEV), we would love to interview you for our study on how people make their decisions to get or not get a FCV. We are not for or against any of the options, but we are definitely finding it harder to connect with people who considered getting an FCV but didn't. So if you know anyone who looked into getting a Clarity (or other) FCV but chose not to for whatever reason, please send them this link or share this with them: http://www.public.asu.edu/~mikekuby/H2FCV_Adoption_Study/.
I thought the electric and FCEV leases are through Honda and the cars are not available for purchase at the end of the lease? If so then I don't think they would be considered as sold.
I think "sold" means that is has left the dealer. Every dealer that I have encountered considers a vehicle sold whether it is leased, financed, traded for, paid for with cash, check, credit card, or exchanged for chickens, horses, motorcycles, golf carts, snow mobiles, etc. If it leaves the lot where the dealer no longer "owns" it, then it is considered sold. Someone gets paid a commission at the dealer and it gets reported to AHC as a sale.
I don't think the dealer ever owns the electric or FCEV vehicles, they are owned by HMC. My guess is it is similar to the EV1, which was leased through Saturn dealerships but never available for sale and ownership always remained with GM. I am not saying I know that is the case with Clarity electric and FCEV but I wouldn't be surprised.
