June just flew by and here we are in July, with last month’s sales numbers! It’s been interesting this month, so let’s get started.
The Chevrolet Volt showed an increase of 6%, over the previous month (1,777 vs. 1,684), posting their highest monthly sales level so far, in 2014. That was the good news. Compared to the previous June, sales have plummeted 37% (1,777 vs. 2,698). There have been rumors about the 2016 Volt’s changes and I’ve met people who are already discussing this, so perhaps part of the issue has to do with buyers holding off for the 2016 model year.
The news in the Nissan Leaf world isn’t quite as good. In June 2014, its monthly sales fell by 25%, compared to the previous month (2,347 vs. 3,117). Compared to June 2013 however, it showed a 5% increase in monthly sales (2,347 vs. 2,225). Even the precipitous drop, from the previous month didn’t keep the Leaf from being the best selling plug-in, in June 2014, besting the Volt by 570 units. I recently competed for a customer who was looking at Volts and Leafs. The Leaf lease deal was pretty incredible and the client went with it. He said he thinks Nissan is “betting the company” on the Leaf.
The Toyota Prius Plug-in also showed a large 42% drop from the previous month (1,571 vs. 2,692). Compared to a year ago, its sales increased by 169% (1,571 vs. 584) as the first seven month’s of its availability were marked by sales of less than 900 units per month.
As usual, I have no Tesla numbers, but the rumor has it that the Model S is experiencing a slowdown in sales. The reason, I’ve heard, is they’ve burned through all the preorders and now are just making incremental sales each month. We shall see…
The Cadillac ELR, which I got to drive for two days, increased 87% over the previous month (97 vs. 52). It is in only its 8th month of availability, so there is no figure for the previous June. I was very impressed by the ELR and shot a test drive video with a good friend, Charles Mills. Charles is editing the video now, so I’ll post it here, with a detailed written evaluation, when the video is completed. Stay tuned!
The benchmark ICE vehicle, the Corvette Stingray outsold all plug-in vehicles in June but posted an 18% decline in monthly sales (2,723 vs. 3,328). Again, like the Volt, people are starting to look to the next year’s model, as production will begin on it next month.
The price of gasoline continued its slow, steady rise, increasing by 4 cents per gallon ($3.67 vs. $3.63). So far, gas has increased 44 cents since last November! Are you non-EV drivers feeling the pinch yet?
