Hybrid passenger cars offer the lowest average TCO of any segment. Once again, hybrids are winners in TCO while delivering meaningful CO2 savings.
For most corporate fleet managers, balancing sustainability initiatives while keeping fleet costs in check is a top priority. Yet sourcing vehicles’ carbon emissions, matching them to vehicle routes, defining ownership costs, and then performing the cost-benefit analysis is a time and resource-consuming endeavor.
This study may help overcome these initial hurdles. We asked the lifecycle cost experts at Vincentric to provide total cost of ownership (TCO) data for 2024 model-year vehicles driven 20,000 miles per year for five years in these categories: half-ton pickups, cargo vans, passenger cars, compact SUVs, and luxury vehicles.
The resulting list produced close to 1,300 total vehicle configurations with gas and diesel (ICE), battery electric (BEV), hybrid electric (HEV), and plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) powertrains.
As usual, Vincentric calculated its standard eight cost elements: depreciation, financing, fees and taxes, fuel, insurance, maintenance, opportunity cost, and repairs. This time, Vincentric also provided annual in-use carbon (CO2) emissions for each vehicle.
We divided the analysis by segment. We’ve already published results for compact SUVs, pickups, cargo vans, and mid-size luxury sedans. We now turn to our final analysis, passenger cars. But first:
How Emissions Are Calculated
Vincentric broke out four sets of CO2 emissions by metric tons per year:
- Electric generated (BEVs and PHEVs): Defined by the amount of CO2 emissions produced by power plants needed to power these vehicles.
- Tank-to-wheel (ICE & HEV): Defined by the amount of CO2 emissions produced from burning fuel within a vehicle while the vehicle is in motion.
- Well-to-tank (ICE & HEV): CO2 emissions produced from extracting, refining, and delivering fuel to the vehicle.
- Annual in-use CO2 emissions: Totals the above three values for all vehicles in a single value demonstrating the yearly release of CO2 and Nitrous Oxide.
With this data, Automotive Fleet calculated the average annual in-use CO2 emissions and TCO for every vehicle configuration, sorted by vehicle segment. We then calculated the average percentage improvement in CO2 emissions when switching from an ICE engine to a BEV, HEV, BEV, or PHEV. (Note: for BEVs, the analysis does not include charging infrastructure costs.)
AF also included the top 5 TCO performers in each segment.
On to the analysis of the passenger cars category:
Passenger Cars
In this analysis, we did not divide the passenger car segment into subsegments. Subcompact, compact, and mid-size models are included together.
ICE: 101 configurations
- 5-Yr TCO Average: $60,631
- Average yearly CO2 output (metric tons): 7.03
The top ICE models are the subcompact and compact Mitsubishi Mirage, Toyota Corolla, Nissan Versa, and Honda Civic. While they have low overall costs, they’re not generally found on corporate sales fleets’ selector lists.
The highest-ranking mid-size models on the TCO list are multiple versions of the Subaru Legacy and Toyota Camry.
The top ICE models are subcompact and compacts. While they have low overall costs, corporate sales fleets’ selector lists favor larger models.
BEV: 13 configurations
- 5-Yr TCO Average: $73,271
- Average yearly premium BEV over ICE: $12,640
- Average yearly CO2 output (metric tons): 2.34
- Average yearly CO2 savings by switching from ICE to HEV: 67%
BEV sedans offer the lowest CO2 output of any vehicle segment and tremendous CO2 savings over ICE. But again, the savings come at an average premium of over $12,000 in a five-year, 100,000-mile period.
However, the models that dominate the top BEVs in TCO — the Hyundai Ioniq 6 and Tesla Model 3 — compare favorably with versions of popular ICE models like the Chevrolet Malibu, Nissan Altima, Subaru Legacy, and Toyota Camry. (Note: Malibu was discontinued after the 2024 MY.)
BEV sedans offer the lowest CO2 output of any vehicle segment, but the savings come at an average premium of over $12,000 in a five-year, 100,000-mile period.
HEV: 26 configurations
- 5-Yr TCO Average: $57,244
- Average yearly premium HEV over ICE: -$3,387
- Average yearly CO2 output (metric tons): 4.67
- Average yearly premium HEV over ICE: -$16,027
- Average yearly CO2 savings by switching from ICE to HEV: 33.6%
Like compact SUVs, hybrid passenger car models offer TCO savings over ICE siblings and a substantial 33.6% average carbon emissions savings.
Toyota models dominate the hybrid list. Toyota Corolla Hybrid versions win overall, while fleet staples Toyota Prius and Toyota Camry Hybrid are also TCO champs. (All Camrys are hybrid in 2025.)
Hybrid passenger cars offer the lowest average TCO of any segment. Once again, hybrids are winners in TCO while delivering meaningful CO2 savings.
Toyota models dominate the hybrid list.
Notes & Cautions
This analysis is meant to be directional only. It does not account for nuances in the capacities and capabilities of individual models within a segment.
The overall list includes manufacturers that don’t have a formal fleet program. They were included in the averages but not in our top 5 lists.
Often, one model dominates the top 5 TCO list. We point these cases out in the text. For the list, we include the top model’s best TCO configuration and move on to the next best-performing model.
