Car buyers warm to hybrid-only Camry, buoying Toyota’s US sales

LOS ANGELES: Toyota Motor Corp.’s decision last year to make America’s best-selling sedan only available as a hybrid was provocative at the time, but its latest monthly sales numbers make it seem like a no-brainer.

The Japanese company sold 25,087 Camry sedans in the US in August, all but 107 of which were hybrid gas-electric models.

That was a 51% jump in Camry volumes from a year ago, and an all-time high for the hybrid version.

Toyota is riding a wave of demand for vehicles with gas-electric powertrains, with several vehicles only offered as hybrids, including the Sienna minivan and, of course, Prius models.

Camry has been the top-selling passenger car in the US for the past 22 years, and Toyota’s decision to end production of gasoline-only versions is something of a litmus test of hybrid demand from car buyers.

Last year, the carmaker delivered 290,649 Camry models in the US, but only 35,445 of those were hybrids.

In August, Toyota sold 198,383 vehicles in the US, a 1.9% gain from the same month a year ago, with sales of electrified models - including hybrid, all-electric and hydrogen vehicles - accounting for a record 48% of total volume.