If you look at Kelley Blue Book’s graphs, you will see that the monthly movement in auction retention values for used hybrids has resembled waves the past two years.

In 2013, however, it has looked more like a ski slope (albeit, a bunny slope, not a double black diamond).

“2013 has been a year of steady declines for the used-car hybrid market,” said Alec Gutierrez, senior market analyst of automotive insights at KBB.

“Unlike 2012 and 2011, when the market saw fuel prices spike in Q1 and Q2, which subsequently led to spikes in the hybrid market, the ramp-up in fuel prices in 2013 has not been as strong; thus, hybrid prices have not appreciated,” he added.

This was just a few of the nuggets of used-car analysis contained in the Blue Book Used-Car Market Report for May, which KBB released this week.

The report also goes into overall auction values, specific trends in luxury vehicle values, a snapshot of midsize vehicle trends at auction, the used-vehicle models generating the most traction with consumers and much more.

Stay tuned to Auto Remarketing for more on those stories.

As for the section of the report analyzing retained auction values, KBB provided the following graph, which looks at the auction retention values of hybrids in 2011, 2012 and thus far in 2013.
 

KBB’s analysis went on to note what may be in store for the rest of 2013 for hybrid value retention.

Given the fact that the first two quarters of 2013 haven’t shown the escalation that occurred in the same periods of earlier years, auction retention values for hybrids will likely remain on a gradual downward slope for the duration of the year, KBB indicated.

This would result in year-end values for hybrids closely resembling levels from year-end 2011 and 2012.

Electric Vehicle Retention

Next up, KBB looked at retained values of 2012 model-year electric vehicles, which haven’t held as strong as the rest of the industry.

Specifically, for model-year 2012 units, their auction value as a percentage of original MSRP was at 54.7 percent. As the chart below indicates, this trails the industry average of 68.2 percent, as well as the hybrid/alternative energy car, which is commanding 74.4 percent retention.

(This is for 2012 model-year units only; the previous charts and analysis included other model years, as well).
 

**Note from KBB: This chart only includes vehicles that have been published on KBB.com for at least five weeks. Electric vehicle category contains Chevrolet Volt, Nissan LEAF and Mitsubishi i-MiEV.
 

In its analysis, KBB explained this dichotomy between the retention of 2012 hybrids and electrics: “The hybrid market will continue to outperform the electric vehicle segment for quite some time, as the infrastructure for electric vehicles remains in its early stages, and consumers still need to grow accustomed to the idea of a purely electric vehicle.

“Unless a consumer’s commute is short and consistent, the jump from a combustion vehicle to a fully electric vehicle is not an easy choice for drivers, especially in cases where the model is priced higher than the hybrid counterparts.”

Gutierrez also gave more background to the electric vehicle retention trend, offering a caveat, of sorts:  “It is important to note that while the electric vehicle segment maintains the lowest retained value, these vehicles often have a much higher MSRP than their gas-powered competitors.

“With an average retained value of nearly 55 percent, this actually brings the value of electric vehicles within a comparable price range to their gas-powered counterparts from a dollar perspective,” he added. “Electric vehicles often have federal and state tax incentives to aid in the purchase of the vehicle when new; however, these incentives do not exist on the used-car side.”

Joe Overby can be reached at joverby@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.