Clarity sales for April 2019

American Honda reports 1,079 Clarity sales in April 2019.

https://hondanews.com/releases/american-honda-announces-april-sales-results

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PHEV - 981
FC - 10
BEV - 88

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I actually don't want gas prices to go up because it hurts a lot of low-income folks, but it seems with general public, the perceived price of gas has much to do with interest in hybrids of all sorts.

I think too, that the initiated do tell their friends and family, and just the experience of driving an electric car is such a good one, it's hard to argue with once you've had it.

And impossible to avoid but environmental politics have taken a huge hit. Government can (and in my opinion should) push us toward more sustainable options.

Anyway, my hope is that in the long run, whether Honda Clarity lives on or not, that we see an increasing set of "green" options. To me, the Clarity is a no-compromise, no brainer. But I'm lucky enough to afford one.

 

Well, on the bright side there is a 189% increase YOY for Honda's electrified vehicles.

And led by China, global EV sales are picking up steam.

But none of this is cause for genuine optimism- because in a healthy global society and economy, carbon pricing, refective of environmental costs, would force a tectonic shift away from fossil fuels.


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Really none (ignoring model 3) impress with high numbers. Yes there are 400 or so more Prius Primes sold than Clarity but I would not brag about 1,399 either, and the Prime is just below Model 3. Electric vehicle sales are still in it's infancy.

 

But I think most of the incentives had ended except for California and Oregon.

 

I'd like to see oil prices spike, but that's because I have relatives holding a lot of mineral rights in western Oklahoma where fracking is booming.

 

Low gasoline prices have a long history of stimulating sales of larger vehicles and a corresponding drop in sales of everything else. This is a perfect storm - low gas prices and government policies that discourage environmental considerations. Plus we're still early in the game in terms of price - and the general public has cost of ownership high on the list for choosing a vehicle, so the cost premium of an EV is a big factor. Then there's the whole fear of new technology, which much of the discussion on this forum illustrates is justified.

Over time we will doubtless see more options. Question is, over what time. Government policy is key here since it essentially sets the cost of gasoline and the price structure via incentives. With the current power of the fossil-fuel lobby and the attitude of the current political administration, I am not optimistic in the short term. But this too will pass.

 

Sales are down for ALL EVs in April. Looking at the April 2018 numbers, the same happened last year as well. I also think auto sales overall have been slipping.

I think the interesting part is that outside of Tesla, the U.S. has never had any EV be a sales success. And this is despite having many economic incentives. I agree with MNSteve, more EVs will come, but it will take time. I think the cost of batteries needs to come down significantly so that EVs are more cost competitive up front. I think the big sticker price of EVs scares off many people.

 

It didn't help that Consumer Reports declared that the Clarity is the worst new vehicle in two vehicle groups! It's a wonderful car if you know how it works. Under conditions that you can avoid (like driving on a depleted battery), it can be pretty unsettling but that's how they mostly tested the car.

 

And the jury's still out on that, depending on your definition of "success". In the grand scheme of car companies, it's too early to conclude that Tesla will be a long-term success.

Here's some food for thought. The biggest sweeping societal change in recent history has been the amazingly fast turnaround on smoking. One day, smoking was the norm. The next day, in terms of the expected speed of this kind of change, smoking was rare and was prohibited in the workplace and most public spaces. We need a similar shift in general public attitude towards cars. What could happen to trigger this? A gas scare on the scale of what we saw in the 70s? Information that actually penetrated the brain of the general public like "If you continue to smoke you will die?" I don't know, and maybe we will just see a very slow migration away from traditional gasmobiles.

 

The numbers for Clarity should have been a lot higher considering you can get a Touring 2018 new all day for about $28-$29K plus taxes. And you get the $7500 federal credit.

 

One definition of success is enough sales that it makes other automakers want to make EVs. Tesla has had the sales numbers certainly, but it's not certain whether they can do it profitably. The numbers just have not been there to cause automakers to get serious about EVs. I think the Kona/E-Niro is a great example of it. They look like great cars that a reasonable number of people would want, but Hyundai/Kia does not intend to make very many of them. The only reason I can see for that is that they can't make enough money selling them, and they would rather focus on vehicles they make more money on.

 

I don't think you can make that statement with any certainty, considering the stock and price in different areas of the country. I don't know how many areas still had/have stock of 2018s, but there are definitely some areas where you could not have gotten them all day long, regardless of price. Other areas were not seeing discounts that deep.

 

April sales are also down due to people not getting a large tax return. Deals are there but people don't have the expected down payment.

Still working on a deal myself. But worried about pulling the trigger.

 

@the compdude, You said it with perfect clarity: "They sold only 981 Phev claritys in April,. . . "

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Just to put things in context:
A total of 1.36 million light weight vehicles are sold in April. light weight = all non-commercial/ non-Heavy vehicles. The report is beyond depressing. Even if one does not choose electric, hybrid vehicle sales itself are around 300k. This is not an era of just Prius but there is Rav4 hybrid to more than 20 hybrids of popular vehicles and most of them are 1-2k higher.
I do not understand <our species>