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Florida clearly has shades of blue and red when it comes to politics, but the Sunshine State goes green for cars and trucks.
For starters, a new survey from the Diesel Technology Forum says Florida reported 122,912 registrations for hybrid cars, SUVs, trucks and vans in 2012, the second highest tally in the country. The overwhelming leader in that category is California, with 548,199 total hybrid vehicle registrations in 2012, according to the DTF, a Frederick, Md.-based nonprofit educational organization.
Florida is also one of the top states in the country for clean diesel vehicle ownership, the survey reports. For instance, the state is third nationwide with 292,692 diesel passenger vehicle registrations through 2012, a category that includes cars, SUVs, trucks and vans. Texas, with 775,395, is first in that category, while California is second with 572,303.
Other states have joined Florida in the diesel and hybrid trend, the survey shows. Clean diesel registrations nationwide, for one, increased 24.3% from 2010 through 2012, reports the DTF. Hybrid car and SUV registrations were up even more during the same period, at 33.5%.
“This new data of total national vehicle registrations coincides with what we've been seeing in the monthly auto sales — clean diesel and hybrid cars are showing consistent and impressive growth patterns in the U.S.,” DTF Executive Director Allen Schaeffer says in a release.
One other nugget to the survey twists the conventional thinking for hybrid cars. Consider: The states with the fastest-growing hybrid car and SUV registration rates from 2010-2012 are all in the traditional Old South, where pickup trucks normally rule the roads. Those states, according to the DTF, are South Carolina, up 50%; Tennessee, up 48%; Kentucky, up 46%; and Mississippi, also up 46%.
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