February Sales of the Volt and the Leaf are in. Volt – 281, Leaf – 67. This is in a month that GM and Toyota did extremely well in vehicle sales, compared to last year. GM sales were 207,000 for the month up 49% from last year and Toyota was 141,000 up 41%. You can read the data here
As autobloggreen says:
Ouch. The big questions, of course, revolve around one word: “Why?” Is ramping up production and deliveries still a problem? Is demand weak? Are unscrupulous dealers to blame? When will sales start to climb? And what are these numbers doing to plug-in vehicle work at other automakers?
JVH
4 Responses
I believe JVH wrote a few days ago that he does not like Electic Vehicles. That could be the reason why this post is written so poorly. First of all, Leaf and Volt are not yet available in all 50 states. In fact, Volt is available in only six states and only by pre-order. Secondly, the post compares Leaf and Volt numbers with huge increases in GM and Toyota’s vast line of models under different categories. An honest comparison would be company versus company (Nissan (Leaf manufacturer) with GM or Toyota – and NOT Leaf with GM!
When you read these blog, use caution and do your homework prior to using the data that is “cooked” and served.
p.s. Don’t bother checking if Toyota makes Leaf as reported in this blog few days ago! Nissan makes Leaf.
Interesting. This begs a question. Highly popular Toyota Camry was introduced in early 1980s. If Toyota sold only few Camry in the second or third month after the launch, was it destined to failure?
Of course you are right in much you said above — Nissan makes the Leaf — Toyota it appears has elected not to make an EV, except perhaps in concert with Telsa. You are almost right when you said I do not like Electric Vehicles.
I have never said I don’t “like” electric vehicles, I said that they don’t make sense. If you are green and so inclined, you can purchase a hybrid (even the Volt is a hybrid) and not have to worry about where and when you have to recharge. And recharging is an issue.
It seems the Volt is being offered in Texas, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Michigan, and Washington, D.C. These are rather large states so it would seem that the test markets were selected to see just how well the sales would go. It would seem to me, and of course I have no personal knowledge of this, that the initial ‘launch’ and all the hype for the Volt would have generated an initial surge even if the car isn’t readily available to drive off the lot.
My point above is that cars of all types are selling. All manufacturers are up 10 to 40 percent in February. However, the Volt and Leaf don’t seem to be.
You are correct, there are factual errors here from time to time. Stuff happens. Thanks for keeping me somewhat honest. That’s what blogs are all about. JVH
Two items:
1. I’m told that the Nissan Leaf (built in Japan) is currently being sold there almost exclusively due to a government subsidy of the purchase price, due to expire in March 2011. Our city is one where Leaf is supposed to be introduce early (if not first), so availability may improve.
2. Our local Chevy dealer told me that the Volt wouldn’t be availabie in our area until the thir quarter of 2011.
From these reports, it would appear that you can’t buy what isn’t available. Let’s see what happens when folks can buy all they want.