2015 Feb Plugin Sales Discussion : Leaf 1198 - Total 6753

I guess a little better than Jan ...

evnow said:

I guess a little better than Jan ...

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I wonder if Volt sales will continue to tail off as people wait for the new model. That assumes that the typical Volt buyer is more aware of future developments than the average new car buyer, and while that was the case with the earlier adopters I'm not sure that it still is. OTOH, my corner gas station's prices have gone up from $2.40 to $3.30 in the past month, including a $0.20 jump yesterday, so at least here in California prospects may be brighter for PHEVs than in the past few months. That and the end of availability of green HOV stickers in the next few months may positively impact PHEV sales, until the stickers are gone. Once they are, I expect PHEV sales to fall off a cliff here, and only the arrival of the new Volt (or a huge jump in gas prices) is likely to restore them somewhat.

I think the disappearance of green strikers will have a significant impact even on the new Volt... I know too many people who drive a PHEV only for the stickers...

GRA said:

Once they are, I expect PHEV sales to fall off a cliff here, and only the arrival of the new Volt (or a huge jump in gas prices) is likely to restore them somewhat.

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TomT said:

GRA said:

Once they are, I expect PHEV sales to fall off a cliff here, and only the arrival of the new Volt (or a huge jump in gas prices) is likely to restore them somewhat.

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I think the disappearance of green strikers will have a significant impact even on the new Volt... I know too many people who drive a PHEV only for the stickers...

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I agree, which is why I mentioned "or a huge jump in gas prices". The HOV stickers are worth thousands of dollars a year to anyone who commutes during rush hour on HOV-lane freeways, far more than the California rebate. The new Volt will cause PHEV sales to rebound somewhat, but I don't think they'll return to the level they were before unless we start seeing that long anticipated $5.00/gal. gas.

Leaf 1,350

Volt 788

Ian B

MrIanB said:

Leaf 1,350

Volt 788

Ian B

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Are those official numbers, or just your speculation ?

GRA said:

I wonder Volt sales will continue to tail off as people wait for the new model. That assumes that the typical Volt buyer is more aware of future developments than the average new car buyer, and while that was the case with the earlier adopters I'm not sure that it still is.

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I think there is very little Volt inventory left. So even if buyers still wanted the old version, there aren't a lot to be had.

It looks like the number is 1198.

http://insideevs.com/nissan-leaf-sales-february-2015-america/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://nissannews.com/en-US/nissan/usa/releases/nissan-group-reports-february-2015-u-s-sales" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BMW i3 almost matched LEAF last month: 1089

Volt: 693

http://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Since 2010, Chevy Volt has outsold Nissan Leaf by just two units

Volt: 74,592
LEAF: 74,590

dgpcolorado said:

Since 2010, Chevy Volt has outsold Nissan Leaf by just two units

Volt: 74,592
LEAF: 74,590

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It looks like the last month when the Chevy Volt outsold the Nissan LEAF was August 2013:

GRA said:

OTOH, my corner gas station's prices have gone up from $2.40 to $3.30 in the past month, including a $0.20 jump yesterday, so at least here in California prospects may be brighter for PHEVs than in the past few months. That and the end of availability of green HOV stickers in the next few months may positively impact PHEV sales, until the stickers are gone. Once they are, I expect PHEV sales to fall off a cliff here, and only the arrival of the new Volt (or a huge jump in gas prices) is likely to restore them somewhat.

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The corner station jumped to $3.36 for a couple of days, then up to $3.44 yesterday. How much of this is due to the changeover to summer gas, how much due to the refinery fire in Torrance and the strike at the Tesoro refinery in Martinez, and how much to increased oil prices I won't guess, although the big jump last week has been attributed by people who are better qualified than I am to the refinery issues. Higher gas prices can only help HEV and PHEV sales, but we won't see the effect unless they're sustained for a while. And this is a California-only thing, as our special blend requirements for gasoline mean we can't just import from outside the state.

The i3 continues to impress me as a relative newcomer.
I suspect their marketing of the Fun of an EV is paying off.

Zythryn said:

The i3 continues to impress me as a relative newcomer.
I suspect their marketing of the Fun of an EV is paying off.

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I continue to be baffled by its sales success, given its price/value ratio, but then I'm not someone who's willing to pay an extra $10 grand just for the propeller and kidneys.

I thought the same until I had one for four days at which point both I and my wife came away disliking it strongly, for different reasons...

Zythryn said:

The i3 continues to impress me as a relative newcomer.
I suspect their marketing of the Fun of an EV is paying off.

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i3 is still on its honeymoon.

smkettner said:

i3 is still on its honeymoon.

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For almost a full year now?
BMW actually advertises it as something cool, fun to drive, incredibly quiet.

The only Leaf commercials I have seen have been extreme environmentally angled, and that's it.

i enjoyed it quite a bit and would be driving one now rather than our Leaf if it were not more expensive.

Zythryn said:

i enjoyed it quite a bit and would be driving one now rather than our Leaf if it were not more expensive.

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I haven't seen/tested it myself, but I do know my boss has wanted to go electric and was psyched about the i3.
He just recently went up to Portland to see/drive one and came away disappointed.
Said it reminded him more of a smart car...

Again, I haven't seen it/tested it. His reaction surprised me. Not sure what he was expecting and what experience he had.
Just listing it as an example of someone's reaction. ;-)

As for the long honeymoon phase, that might be possible. EVs are slow to roll out when first released.. ;-)

I would agree about the commercials, but I don't watch TV.
The only Nissan ads I've seen are on youtube. ;-)

They did garner a LOT of press (based on google news and youtube searches) recently with that glowing car.
I think it's great they did that, but if they leave it at that, it's just a "that was neat, next" thing.
They need to capitalize on that..

I do wonder how much of these sales numbers being low are related to the "hey, 200 mile cars are coming!" effect.
Impressive to see BMWs numbers, either way tho..

desiv

GRA said:

GRA said:

OTOH, my corner gas station's prices have gone up from $2.40 to $3.30 in the past month, including a $0.20 jump yesterday, so at least here in California prospects may be brighter for PHEVs than in the past few months. That and the end of availability of green HOV stickers in the next few months may positively impact PHEV sales, until the stickers are gone. Once they are, I expect PHEV sales to fall off a cliff here, and only the arrival of the new Volt (or a huge jump in gas prices) is likely to restore them somewhat.

Click to expand...

The corner station jumped to $3.36 for a couple of days, then up to $3.44 yesterday. How much of this is due to the changeover to summer gas, how much due to the refinery fire in Torrance and the strike at the Tesoro refinery in Martinez, and how much to increased oil prices I won't guess, although the big jump last week has been attributed by people who are better qualified than I am to the refinery issues. Higher gas prices can only help HEV and PHEV sales, but we won't see the effect unless they're sustained for a while. And this is a California-only thing, as our special blend requirements for gasoline mean we can't just import from outside the state.

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guessing Summer gas has nothing to do with it. We had 44 cent rise in Feb, but March has seen 41 cents so far and we all know what the date is... BTW; despite unseasonably warm weather in the Pacific NW, we are a long way from the formulation change which generally happens in Mid May...

**edit** oh looks like GCC has struck. Looks like is now May 1st...