Hybrid car sales plummeted in November

DETROIT, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. hybrid car sales plummeted in November, falling faster than sales of conventional, gasoline-powered cars, an industry research group said.

Just as automakers were scrambling to turn their production over to smaller cars after gasoline prices spiked in the summer, the falling price of gasoline threatens to dampen new initiatives.

Autodata said hybrid gas and electric car sales fell 53 percent in November from a year ago, compared with a 37 decline in vehicle sales overall, the Financial Times reported Friday.

The sales figures put Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally in line with environmentalists asking for increased gasoline taxes to encourage sales of small cars, the Times reported.

In November, sales of the Toyota Prius fell almost 50 percent and Camry sales dropped 57 percent. Sales of Ford's crossover car, the Escape, fell 35 percent. Sales of a larger hybrid, the Lexus RX 400 fell to about a third of its sales figures from November 2007.

Falling prices at the pump mean the extra cost of a Prius, compared with the price of a similar gasoline-powered car, takes eight years to recoup based its energy savings, Edmunds.com estimated.