February 2019 Sales Numbers

I’m trying to figure out what to do next.

This month is the 99th month that I’ve tracked selected plug-in vehicle sales. The tracking started with the introduction of the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf, back in December 2010. In the intervening years, some models have been dropped, due to lack of significant sales volume or discontinuation of the model. The Chevy Volt has now been discontinued. The last one rolled off the assembly line on February 15th and is destined to reside in a museum.

Do I keep on tracking ten vehicles each month? Is month number 100 a good time to stop, just when the Tesla Model 3 is taking off and finally Tesla has announced the availability of the $35K version many people have been waiting for?

Is there any interest in what it’s like to sell plug-in vehicles anymore? Are plug-in vehicles so common, we all know they’ll be around forevermore?

Well, I’ve got a month to ponder these things…

As a reminder: GM will lose the full $7,500 tax credit on April 1st of this year, so if you want to purchase a Volt or Bolt EV, get one before April 1st!!! The floodgates have opened on Bolt EV ordering. Classic Chevrolet now has 41 Bolt EVs on order. Two have been built and we are awaiting their arrival. We have sold out of our Bolt EV inventory (again) and even gotten some, from other dealers, and sold those as well. It appears the 39 Bolt EVs we have on order will arrive after the income tax credit gets cut in half, on April 1st.Another item of interest, for residents of Texas, is the number of plug-in vehicle grants that have been issued. Out of an allowed 2,000 grants, 1,575 have been issued and another 162 are pending. That leaves 263 of the $2,500 grants available. At the rate they’ve been going lately, I expect them to be gone right around the beginning of April. That’s only 13% of the original number of grants remaining!

Notice the high purple line, in the chart below, at the far right side of the graph. That’s the Model 3 sales curve. No other plug-in vehicle has come close to that kind of sales performance. Even with the precipitous (and completely normal) January/February slump, its sales volume last couple months was still higher than any plug-in vehicle ever.

The surge of sales, at the end of the year, is due to the fact that you can apply for the tax credit just a month or two after vehicle purchase, instead of waiting a full year.

However, as can be seen in the chart above, sales in the last two years have been significantly better, in January through March, than in years prior to that. It will take a while before the chart above that one starts to show a change, since it is average sales, over a 6 year period.

Below, are the February 2019 sales figures, compared to the previous month. Their sales were split, with half down and half up.

• Chevy Volt: DOWN 9% (615 vs. 675) **estimated
• Chevy Bolt EV: UP 32% (1,225 vs. 925) **estimated
• Nissan Leaf: DOWN 9% (654 vs. 717)
• Plug-in Toyota Prius:DOWN 4% (1,075 vs. 1,123)
• Tesla Model S: DOWN 9% (800 vs. 875) **estimated
• Tesla Model X: UP 16% (1,100 vs. 950) **estimated
• BMW 530e: UP 10% (414 vs. 376)
• Plug-in Chrysler Pacifica: UP 35% (589 vs. 436)
• Honda Clarity BEV & PHEV: UP 1% (1,281 vs. 1,265)
• Tesla Model 3: DOWN 12% (5,750 vs. 6,500)

Gasoline prices bounced around all month, but in general were trending upward for the second month in a row. It started at $2.272 per gallon, slightly down from January’s ending price of $2.276 per gallon. The price bounced around a little, ending well above the price it started at, at $2.432. The price bouncing is shown in the chart as the red lines. The blue line is the trend and the red lines are actual prices on the date indicated at the bottom of the chart. As you can see, the day-to-day changes were all over the place. However, the average monthly price still rose from the previous month’s average! ($2.333 in February vs. $2.257 in January)My vehicle sales, in February 2019, were above average for February. In fact, this was my second-best February ever. The table to the left of the chart has cells highlighted in red, if my sales were below my historical average for the month and green, if above average. Once again, I was moved at the beginning of March, from the main showroom, to the “Truck” building. I was concerned that this might negatively impact my sales, but that does not seem to have happened. February continued a four month trend, where my monthly sales were above my historical average for that month. The good news from my move, is that I’m back working under Hank, the sales manager who originally hired me, so that’s a plus…My nine February 2019 sales were comprised of three Bolt EVs, two Volts, two Silverados, a Suburban and a Tahoe. So, although I sold a couple Silverados, my Volt and Bolt EV  sales continued to be at or above my Silverado sales, continuing the trend of plug-in sales pulling away from pickup sales (at least for me).My plug-in sales, are continuing well, which is NOT normal for February. In fact, it surpassed the best February EVER for my plug-in sales! The five in February 2019 bested February 2018 by one plug-in. All other Februaries had zero plug-in sales, except for February 2017, when I only sold one…Plug-in sales, compared to the same month a year ago, were mixed, with five dropping and five increasing.

• Chevy Volt: DOWN 37% (615 vs. 983)
• Chevy Bolt EV: DOWN 14% (1,225 vs. 1,424)
• Nissan Leaf: DOWN 27% (654 vs. 895)
• Plug-in Toyota Prius: DOWN 48% (1,075 vs. 2,050)
• Tesla Model S: DOWN 29% (800 vs. 1,125)
• Tesla Model X: UP 13% (1,100 vs. 975)
• BMW 530e: UNCHANGED (414 vs. 413)
• Plug-in Chrysler Pacifica: UP 31% (589 vs. 450)
• Honda Clarity BEV & PHEV: UP 30% (1,281 vs. 985)
• Tesla Model 3: UP 131% (5,750 vs. 2,485) **Model 3 debuted in July 2017 and struggled with “production hell” for 10 months or so.

On a final note, a comment on Facebook asked me to comment on where I obtain my sales figures. I use several sources, including InsideEVs, GoodCarBadCar, CarSalesBase and hybridCars.