SANTA MONICA, CA - Edmunds.com, a resource for automotive information, forecasts that in 2010, approximately 11.5 million cars and light trucks will be sold in the United States.

The industry is currently on track to sell approximately 10.3 million cars and light trucks this year.

“Most car shoppers will focus on value and fuel economy as the economy continues to recover,” says Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. “It has already become trendy to make sensible choices, and we expect that this will be a theme for 2010 sales.”

Edmunds.com analysts predict that about 3.2% of 2010 sales will be hybrids, about 2.2% will be diesel and less than 1% will be electric.

In 2009, hybrid market share will be approximately 2.8%. Edmunds.com anticipates a continued increase at the rate of about half a percentage per year for the foreseeable future.

In 2009, diesel market share will be approximately 2.1% of sales. In the past decade diesel’s highest market share, 4.1%, was reached in 2006.

“Given historical alternative fuel trends, the ‘early adopters’ will boost electric car market share upon launch, but it will take some time before significant market share builds for the segment,” says Edmunds.com Senior Statistician Zhenwei Zhou, PhD.

Edmunds Inc. publishes four Web sites that empower, engage and educate automotive consumers, enthusiasts and insiders. Edmunds.com, an online resource for automotive consumer information, launched in 1995. Its most popular feature, the Edmunds.com True Market Value, is relied upon by millions of people seeking current transaction prices for new and used vehicles. Edmunds.com was named "Best Car Research Site" by Forbes ASAP, has been selected by consumers as the "Most Useful Web Site" according to every J.D. Power and Associates New Autoshopper.com Study, was ranked first in the Survey of Car-Shopping Web sites by The Wall Street Journal and was rated "#1" in Keynote's study of third-party automotive Web sites. Edmunds Inc. is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, and maintains a satellite office in suburban Detroit.