America’s car thieves prefer standard cars (i.e., Honda Accord, Honda Civic, and others) than hybrid cars (i.e., Toyota Prius, Honda Insight)

Aside of reducing gasoline cost due to economy turmoil in the last few years, car buyers in America have not found a real good reason to buy an electric or hybrid car such as GM Volt, Nissan Leaf, Honda Insight, or Toyota Prius. However, a study published early this week by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) may change those car buyers decision soon.

While hybrid cars ownership continue to skyrocketing in America, such as in sunshine states California and Florida, car thieves do not like to steal Prius as much as the standard model cars such as Honda Accord or Honda Civic, or other brands.

According to NICB, during 2008-2010, only one Prius was reported stolen among every 606 stolen vehicles during the period. While during the same period, burglary occurred on one standard car (such as Honda Accord, Honda Civic, and others) for every 78 similar cars.

NICB also reported that between September 4, 2000 to June 30, 2012, there were totaled 2,439 units of Prius had been reported stolen. Top states for reporting stolen Prius are California, Florida, New York, Washington, and Texas.

Prius was introduced in 1997 in its homeland in Japan where sales reached one million units in August 2011. The first Prius was shipped to car showrooms in America and some other countries in 2000. The entire Prius family car sales had finally reached one million units in May 2008. Prius global sales reached 2.8 million units in October 2012. As economy turmoil in the western nations continued worsen, gasoline prices had reached all-time high level in recent months, especially in the state of California. More car buyers opted to get Prius than other type of cars. In America, Prius sales reached 1 million units in April 2011. One year after that it reached 1.2 million units. While Toyota is working hard to design the fourth-generation Prius, the current model (third-generation) Prius was launched in mid-2009. The third-generation global sales reached 1 million units in September 2011.

(Image: Toyota Prius)