Top 5 Hybrid Cars In 2012

Hybrid cars have exploded in popularity over the past decade. Hollywood celebrities have endorsed them and even bought them for their own personal use. Publicity like this has made the average person want to own one, along with the fact that it is supposedly better for the environment. Let’s look at the most popular hybrid cars for 2012:

1. Toyota Prius

The Prius is still the best selling hybrid alternative fuel vehicle. Sales in the United States were over 100,000 in only the first six months of 2012. The Prius V, the Prius C, the standard version and a plug-in electric are the four versions of the Prius currently available. If you took each one of these vehicles separately, they would still be the best selling hybrid. That should give you some sense of how Toyota is dominating this market. It gets a combined 50 mpg.

2. Toyota Camry Hybrid

There were over 40,000 Camry Hybrids sold in the U.S. in 2012. This equals more than twice the amount of any non-Toyota hybrid. The Hybrid XLE and the Hybrid LE are the two Camry hybrids available. Both are priced under $30,000 and both get over 40 mpg.

3. Lexus CT Hybrid

This is the best-selling luxury hybrid. It has 2012 sales of 17,000 with a starting price that only exceeds the Chevy Volt by $200. It is the least expensive Lexus hybrid. This car also boasts excellent safety ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety as one of their top safety picks. It gets a combined 42 mpg.

4. Chevy Volt

The biggest selling plug-in hybrid is still the Chevy Volt. It doubled its sales from the previous year to an impressive 12,000. When using only electricity, the range of the Volt is only 38 miles. However, the range increases to 380 miles when using gasoline and electricity together. Based on a study conducted by the Bureau of Energy, the average annual fuel cost of a Volt is just under $1,000. Just like the Lexus, the Volt was also an ‘Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’ top safety pick. It gets a combined 37 mpg and the equivalent of 98 mpg using only electricity.

5. Hyundai Sonata Hybrid

Checking in at 10,500 units sold in 2012, the Sonata Hybrid exceeded its 2011 sales. It is currently the only hybrid made by Hyundai. The fact that the hybrid is $5,000 more than the regular Sonata has not scared many people away. Obviously, drivers can make up the savings on the back end. This is because the hybrid model gets 37 mpg and the regular model only gets 28mpg. There have been unconfirmed reports that Hyundai has a second hybrid model in development.

Author Bio:
The team at Fleetcare came up the list. What do you think? Any you disagree with? Let us know at Fleetcare.com.au or contact Fleetcare's auto expert, Rory Deegan on Google +.