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Hybrid Car Sales to Peak in 2010 February 2005
Fuel-saving hybrid vehicles will probably peak at roughly 3 percent of the total U.S. market by 2010, says a new study from the forecasting arm of J.D. Power and Associates.
Roughly 88,000 hybrids were sold in the United States in 2004, accounting for about one-half of 1 percent of total vehicle sales.
J.D. Power expects the number of models to expand to 38 by 2011 -- 17 cars and 21 trucks and sport utility vehicles -- but that sales will plateau that year at about 535,000, or roughly 3 percent of the U.S. market, largely because the vehicles cost $3,000 to $4,000 more than comparable nonhybrid vehicles.
Another factor will be competing technologies such as more fuel-efficient gasoline and diesel options that will be available after 2006.
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