Wow.
As usual, we won’t have Tesla Model S numbers for a couple of weeks, but I’ll update this when they announce their results.
The numbers are in, and the Nissan Leaf has taken off! The Leaf’s sales have increased 76% over the previous month (2,507 vs. 1,425). Year-over-year, it’s much less dramatic, showing an increase of 12% over March 2013 (2,507 vs. 2,236).
The Chevrolet Volt showed a modest increase of 22% from the previous month (1,478 vs.1,210). Year-over-year, the change was 0.0000000% (1,478 vs. 1,478). Odd, eh? I thought my source might have goofed up, but I have verified this from multiple sources (unless someone at Chevrolet goofed…). Makes me wonder what happened in March 1478… Well, other than the Treaty of Brno, that is. 😉 The Volt has less than a 10,581 unit advantage over the Leaf in total U.S. sales. If Leaf beats Volt every month by this amount, Leaf would take the lead in February 2015!
The Plug-in Prius posted a 39% increase over the previous month (1,452 vs. 1,041) and a whopping 85% increase year-over-year (1,452 vs. 786)!
The ELR is picking up momentum. Compared to the previous month, its sales increased 40% (81 vs 58). Last month also had the first Canadian ELR sale!
Finally, the Corvette increased its sales over the previous month by 43% (3,480 vs. 2,438) and year-over-year, it increased an amazing 330% (3,480 vs. 1,053)!
The interesting thing to me is that every single vehicle increased sales over February and year-over-year (okay, the Volt stayed steady year-over-year, but none of these vehicles decreased in sales). The monthly thing I could possibly attribute to people starting to receive their income tax refunds and those checks spontaneously combusting in their pockets. But the year-over-year thing is different. All of the vehicles I track had been available a minimum of 8 months before March 2013, so it’s not new models ramping up quickly. Perhaps we are approaching that tipping point. More and more people are asking about the Volt at my dealership. Perhaps that is happening at all dealerships where plug-in vehicles are sold. Gasoline hasn’t increased much in the last 6 months. Compared to November of last year, gas has only increased about 9%. Due to that, I’m not sure it was a contributing factor at all.
And the eye candy you’ve all been waiting for: The Graphs! As you can see, the original Prius began waning around the 33rd month of its availability. The Volt appears to still have strong demand and the Leaf is slowly closing the gap. The ELR is in the bottom-right corner, only recently becoming available, but its little curve is rising as well. The Plug-in Prius is definitely starting to wane and I can’t wait to see the numbers from Tesla, later this month.
