2012 Oct Plugin Sales Discussion : Volt 2,961 ; Leaf 1,579

Here we go ...

Volt : 2,961
PlugInPrius : 1,889
Leaf : 1,579
Model S : 290 (est)
Energi : 144
Karma : 75 (est)
FFE : 112
Mitsu I : 30

CA Only
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Honda Fit : 16
RAV 4 EV : 47

Boooooooooooyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! I knew with the lease prices we would break 1200.

Awesome news, now lets keep it going for November.

Ian B

Terrific!

evnow said:

Here we go ...

Volt : 2,961
Leaf : 1,579
Model S : 290 (est)
Karma : 75 (est)

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Just added Honda Fit EV to my list evnow, another exciting month of 16 sales, (=

Imagine what it would be if they actually tried. At my local dealer yesterday they had a grand total of one new leaf on the lot, plus the demo, which is starting to look a little long in the tooth.

Chatting with a sales guy, we was asking me how they drive, and some other basic questions about the car. I said to him I was surprised he hadn't taken the demo out for a spin. If I were king, effective immediately, put a plan in place to make sure every sales guy has driven the car, is armed with a few basic facts about it, and knows who the resident expert is to refer the lead. Also a small spiff for whoever makes first customer contact with someone who ultimately leases or buys a Leaf.

Hopefully the numbers will justify it but now that Ford did quite well in their first full month of the 'regular' C-Max hybrid, the plug-in Energi may be worth adding once they get them in the pipeline; C-Max hybrid sold 3,182 in October (Energi wasn't yet available in any significant quantities)!

http://investing.businessweek.com/r...er||ACQUIREMEDIA||bridgesymbol||US;F&ticker=F

LTLFTcomposite said:

Imagine what it would be if they actually tried. At my local dealer yesterday they had a grand total of one new leaf on the lot, plus the demo, which is starting to look a little long in the tooth.

Chatting with a sales guy, we was asking me how they drive, and some other basic questions about the car. I said to him I was surprised he hadn't taken the demo out for a spin. If I were king, effective immediately, put a plan in place to make sure every sales guy has driven the car, is armed with a few basic facts about it, and knows who the resident expert is to refer the lead. Also a small spiff for whoever makes first customer contact with someone who ultimately leases or buys a Leaf.

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I went to a Chevy dealer last weekend to test drive a Volt, and the attitude of the sales staff was like night and day compared to the Nissan dealers. No having to wait around for their "Volt Specialist". The sales rep I talked to was energetic and seemed genuinely interested in the car. We had a lot of fun for a couple of hours just tinkering around with stuff on the half dozen models they had in stock. Apparently one of the sales reps (who was not present that day) is a very proud owner. He keeps the car plugged in all day at the dealer, so not only does he get a free charge but also maintains a nice cool battery.

About the only thing I didn't like about the Volt was the air dam below the front bumper. It is so low it scrapes on everything. I can imagine that getting significantly damaged very quickly.

Based on my experience at the Chevy dealer, I can see why the Volt is selling so well.

LTLFTcomposite said:

Imagine what it would be if they actually tried. At my local dealer yesterday they had a grand total of one new leaf on the lot, plus the demo, which is starting to look a little long in the tooth.

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I was at my local Nissan dealer a few days ago to order some wiper blades. They told me they did not have any Leafs on the lot. They had sold all of theirs quite some time ago and Nissan had not sent them any more.

I'm starting to get some hope that the Leaf will survive and thrive. After the past 6 months of a few hundred sales, I was beginning to get seriously worried about the continuation of the Leaf. I just hope that Nissan can sustain sales over 1000 per month

PIP 1,889 from conference call.

For it to be successful, they need worldwide sales at least 5 times that amount...

GetOffYourGas said:

I'm starting to get some hope that the Leaf will survive and thrive. After the past 6 months of a few hundred sales, I was beginning to get seriously worried about the continuation of the Leaf. I just hope that Nissan can sustain sales over 1000 per month

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Mitsu - 30 i-MiEvs

Statik said:

PIP 1,889 from conference call.

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Thanks. OTOH, sounds pretty good considering it's not available in that many states.

Toyota's been putting on incentives on them (e.g. 0% financing AND (NOT or) cash back, ranging from $1500 to $3000 or $3500). The incentives are quite big in some states where there's no state tax incentive/rebates. In some cases, buying a PiP is about the same or cheaper than buying a similarly equipped regular Prius.

Weatherman said:

I went to a Chevy dealer last weekend to test drive a Volt.....
About the only thing I didn't like about the Volt was the air dam below the front bumper. It is so low it scrapes on everything. I can imagine that getting significantly damaged very quickly.

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The air dam is soft and very flexible. I've had my Volt for 22 months and the original air dam is still in good shape although I regularly hear it scrape/brush on steep driveways.

You can have an alternative shorter air dam installed for free but it might marginally lower your high speed efficiency.

Isn't the Volt outselling some other Chevy models now? E.g. how many corvettes did they sell last month?

LTLFTcomposite said:

Isn't the Volt outselling some other Chevy models now? E.g. how many corvettes did they sell last month?

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Yes. See http://media.gm.com/content/dam/Media/gmcom/investor/2012/Oct2012%20Deliveries.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

A good way to find the link to GM's sales is by Googling for site:gm.com gm reports sales.

Also, a good way to find US sales of most automakers is by Googling for [automaker name] reports sales [month name] [year]. On this note, http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-autosales.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.autoblog.com/category/by-the-numbers/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; are two good places to find overall US auto industry sales figures.

cwerdna said:

LTLFTcomposite said:

Isn't the Volt outselling some other Chevy models now? E.g. how many corvettes did they sell last month?

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Yes. See http://media.gm.com/content/dam/Media/gmcom/investor/2012/Oct2012%20Deliveries.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

A good way to find the link to GM's sales is by Googling for site:gm.com gm reports sales.

Also, a good way to find US sales of most automakers is by Googling for [automaker name] reports sales [month name] [year]. On this note, http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-autosales.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.autoblog.com/category/by-the-numbers/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; are two good places to find overall US auto industry sales figures.

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Thanks for the link. I counted 28 GM models the Volt is outselling, although admittedly some of those are discontinued models.

adric22 said:

I was at my local Nissan dealer a few days ago to order some wiper blades. They told me they did not have any Leafs on the lot. They had sold all of theirs quite some time ago and Nissan had not sent them any more.

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Was that Don Davis? I was wondering how they were going to handle the ambient temp / battery issue. I wonder if that's DD's choice of Nissans?

jhm614 said:

Was that Don Davis? I was wondering how they were going to handle the ambient temp / battery issue. I wonder if that's DD's choice of Nissans?

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Yes it was Don Davis.

LTLFTcomposite said:

Thanks for the link. I counted 28 GM models the Volt is outselling, although admittedly some of those are discontinued models.

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I didn't count all the models, but some of their models should be lumped together, IMHO (e.g. all versions of Escalades, all versions of Yukons).