At a time when gasoline topped $4 a gallon in many cities, it's hard to imagine that road-eating big American muscle cars would top hybrids when it comes to sales. But that was the case last month.  The combined sales of Ford Mustang, Dodge Challenger and Chevrolet Camaro -- all American-made, midsize, fun cars -- topped the total of environment-loving hybrids. Americans scarfed up 19,476 of the pony cars, Autodata figures show, compared with 17,852 hybrids, as totaled by Edmunds.com.  Yes, gas prices remain sky high. But one reason for this perverse sales trend was loss of auto production due to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that cut deeply into the availability of Japanese cars. And many of those cars are hybrids, especially the Toyotas and Hondas. Sales of Toyota's 50-miles-per-gallon Prius, the most popular hybrid, were down by 51.4% compared with the same month last year because not enough were imported. Ford makes popular hybrids, such as the Ford Fusion Hybrid sedan and Ford Escape hybrid small SUV, but never on the scale of Toyota or Honda. On Escape, for instance, Ford sold 1,118 in the hybrid version for the month, compared with 23,140 conventional and hybrid Escapes overall.  On the other hand, American sport cars have gotten more fuel efficient. Ford boasts that its Mustang is the first car to achieve more than 300 horsepower in a V-6 while topping 30 mpg on the highway. Never mind, however, that all three also have big V-8 versions that aren't exactly thrifty at the pump. Chevy's Camaro was the best seller of the three with 9,451 cars crossing sales lots for the month. That's a Challenger pictured at top.  So, for Detroit and its comeback, American muscle vs. hybrids is a good-news story.  See photos of: Ford Mustang  To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor  . For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to  . Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to
American muscle cars outselling fuel-thrifty hybrids despite $4 gas - Drive On: A conversation about the cars and trucks we drive - USATODAY.com