In September 2015, the plug-in market was on a power dive, only one plug-in I track increased sales from the previous month (and that one was a doozy!!!):
- Chevy Volt: DOWN 31% (949 vs. 1,380)
- Nissan Leaf: DOWN 11% (1,247 vs. 1,394)
- Plug-in Toyota Prius: DOWN 37% (216 vs. 344)
- Cadillac ELR: DOWN 20% (36 vs. 45)
- BMW i3: UP 117% (1,720 vs. 792) ***HOLY COW! WHAT’S UP WITH THAT?!?!?
- BMW i8: DOWN 13% (182 vs. 210)
- Ford Fusion Energi: DOWN 15% (808 vs. 949)
- Ford C-Max Energi: DOWN 1% (719 vs. 723)
The price of gasoline started a precipitous drop in the first half of the month, and stayed down through the end of the month. The Chevy Volt’s sales ended a three month upswing and fell 31%. The Nissan Leaf experienced an 11% decrease, compared to the previous month. I’m still concerned about the widening gap between the original Prius’ adoption and the current sales performance of the Volt and Leaf.
The Plug-in Prius also showed a significant decrease in sales, falling to its lowest monthly sales volume EVER. In fact, August 2015 had been the worst month of sales for the Prius until September 2015, which showed a 37% decrease from the previous low water mark. This one is circling the drain…
The Cadillac ELR experienced its second-worst month in sales, only selling 36 units. Many Cadillac dealers are not handling these anymore. I’ve done searches for new ELRs, and there are very, very few, within a 250 mile radius around my location. The only lower month for ELR sales was the month it debuted, December 2013, when it sold only 6 units. Although I love the ELR, its price is way out of line.
The big news of the month was the BMW i3, which saw monthly sales spring up 117%, to a high water mark of 1,720 units sold! That’s 38% higher than 2nd place in September, which was the Leaf, at about half the i3’s price. The i8 dropped by only 11% from the previous month’s sales.
Sales, compared to the same month a year ago, are almost all down, and down a lot, with the exception being the two BMWs I track.
- Chevy Volt: DOWN 32% (949 vs. 1,394)
- Nissan Leaf: DOWN 57% (1,247 vs. 2,881) **Last month, this was down 56%
- Plug-in Toyota Prius: DOWN 39% (216 vs. 353)
- Cadillac ELR: DOWN 68% (36 vs. 111))
- BMW i3: UP 68% (1,720 vs. 1,022)
- BMW i8: UP 214% (182 vs. 58) **Last month’s jump was due to it being compared to the very 1st month of i8 availability.
- Ford Fusion Energi: UP 26% (808 vs. 640)
- Ford C-Max Energi: UP 6% (719 vs. 677)
