Hybrid cars still not catching on

Sales of hybrid electric vehicles continued to drop last month despite the large tax break on them.

According to industry sources, 591 units of the nine hybrid electric vehicles available on the local market were sold last month, accounting for only 0.53 percent of the 112,000 automobiles registered during the period.

Of last month`s hybrid electric vehicle sales, 474 units were domestic models and 117 units were imported brands.

In January, 772 hybrid electric vehicles were sold here accounting for 0.61 percent of the market.

The sales figures of domestic hybrid electric vehicles -- Hyundai Motor Co.`s Avante LPi hybrid and Kia Motors Corp.`s Forte LPi hybrid -- have been steadily declining since their launch last year.

During the three months following the Avante LPi hybrid`s launch, more than 1,000 units were sold each month, but the figure plummeted to 627 in September and to 485 units in December.



Last month, Avante LPi hybrid sales came in at 266 units, nearly half the number of the previous month.

The Forte LPi hybrid has experienced a much more pronounced sales decline with figures reaching 78 units last month from 615 units recorded in September.

The situation for imported models is no different, with Toyota Prius sales dropping to 54 units in February, from well over 100 units recorded in the final months of last year.

"The changes in Prius sales could be caused by the Japanese carmaker`s recall crisis," an auto industry official said.

"With other models, I think it maybe that the gains from saving fuel may not be enough to attract consumers considering that many think that hybrid cars lack performance compared to normal cars. And with Hyundai planning to bring out a Sonata hybrid soon, some people could be waiting for that."

Hybrid electric cars have only been available to local motorists for a short time. Experts say that a change in perception of such vehicles is needed before they can gain in popularity.

(cheesuk@heraldm.com)





By Choi He-suk