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

[EmersonHart13]

The first two plug-in vehicles from major automakers in the US were the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf. Ever since they went on sale to much fanfare in late 2010, we've been tracking the monthly sales with great interest (and, of course, other green vehicle sales as well). After a big initial lead by the Volt – the Volt outsold the Leaf 23,461 to 9,819 in 2012 – the Leaf has been chugging along and outsold the Volt every month since November 2013. We knew that the cumulative totals would soon tip in favor of the Leaf, but for at least one more month, the Volt is going to be able to say its the most popular plug-in vehicle in the US. Overall, for all officially reported sales of the Leaf and the Volt, things are almost exactly tied. Since the vehicles went on sale in the end of 2010 until the end of February 2015, the Volt has sold 74,592 units and the Leaf has sold ... drumroll please ... 74,590 units.

For February, Leaf sales totaled 1,198 units, a 17-percent drop from the 1,425 Leafs sold last February. Brendan Jones, Nissan's director of Electric Vehicle Sales and Infrastructure, said in a statement that, "Tough winter weather in several key markets held EV sales back in February. As we head into spring, we look forward to seeing more dealership traffic so shoppers can experience firsthand the benefits of the all-electric Nissan Leaf." Of course, it was cold in the US last February, too, but we're sure that the nasty weather did indeed play a role last month.

Things were even worse for the Chevy Volt, which dropped to just 693 copies sold, down 47 percent from the 1,210 sold last year. That's just barely enough for Chevy to keep talking about its plug-in sales leadership, but we expect the message to change once the March numbers come out next month.

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

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[Stink Star]

Well of course they aren't selling many anymore, the new model is coming out soon. It would be like buying an iPhone 5S a week before the iphone 6 came out

 

[EmersonHart13]

But you get good deals on the old iPhone... Maybe good deals on the old Volt too?

 

[Lead Pipe]

The volt is another stupid idea by GM that went to shit....

 

[Kaeghl]

They needed to take the tesla route. Get some small two seater, like a resurrected fiero or something, something good looking, and then sell THAT e-car.
Lots more interest.

 

[Aircal]

I would think that's not bad considering how many people out there would never look at buying a GM product.

 

[Xfirez51]

Considering the price difference... One is a car u can travel in, the other an overgrown golf cart.

 

[Grabber]

Volt > Leaf.

/Thread

 

[EmersonHart13]

I like golf carts, would drive one off a sweet jump.

 

[Jbhess]

why would anyone want to drive an electric car. Id feel like I playing a video game with no volume.

 

[Xfirez51]

why would anyone want to drive an electric car. Id feel like I playing a video game with no volume.

Seriously, test a Tesla S. The acceleration and the car are terribly impressive.

 

[Stink Star]

Man... Lot of volt hate in here. You guys should seriously drive an electric car sometime. It's hard to describe- there are no gear changes.... It's literally hit the gas and instantly it goes. I mean besides the tesla p85d electric cares aren't very fast but not every car in the world needs to be a 1000hp drag car. Sometimes it's nice being able to just relax and drive a nice quiet car.

I think another big thing is that the volt has a specific purpose, and many people don't understand. It is NOT a full electric car, therefore it doesn't need a 200 mile all electric range. It does however work like an electric car for ~50 miles which is about enough to get 70% of the public to and from work without using gasoline. It would be pointless to have a huge electric range AND have all the complications of the gasoline engine as most people would never need to use the gasoline at that point and they are just paying for the extra parts and lugging around 500 extra pounds of engine and gasoline. But of course the nice thing about the volt is that you never have to plug it in if you don't feel like it. I could literally drive to Florida right now if I wanted to. Try that in a leaf.... Or even a tesla. Granted a tesla has the superchargers, but your route has to be carefully planned to be able to reach them, and they don't cover the entire USA yet, not to mention they still take 30-45 minutes to charge.

 

[Stink Star]

They needed to take the tesla route. Get some small two seater, like a resurrected fiero or something, something good looking, and then sell THAT e-car.
Lots more interest.

They did that in the early 90s with the EV1 and it was a disaster that set full electric cars back until just now.

Oh and BTW they do sell a full electric car right now. The spark EV. Small, maybe not good looking, but people still don't want it because of range anxiety

 

[Stink Star]

But you get good deals on the old iPhone... Maybe good deals on the old Volt too?

I got a good deal. The msrp was $38k and I leased mine for well under what I could get any other $38k car for. And since I leased I dont get the tax breaks, so that's not why it was cheap

 

[Xfirez51]

They did that in the early 90s with the EV1 and it was a disaster that set full electric cars back until just now.

Oh and BTW they do sell a full electric car right now. The spark EV. Small, maybe not good looking, but people still don't want it because of range anxiety

SS,

Do you own a Volt? It's definitely on my list of Next cars, especially the 2nd Gen.
If you do own one, what have been the downsides ie, heater in winter etc?

 

[P40E]

I don't follow hybrid car shit much , but the volts were pretty damn ugly and too expensive in opinion . The Leaf is gonna sell no matter what . Nissan has a large following . When kia and hyundai copy other companies ideas and sell for cheaper it will be game over you will see millions on the road .

 

[Stink Star]

Well I'm leasing, but essentially yes I own one. I guess the downside is that the heater really does kill the EV range. I went from over 50 miles to just under 30 on a charge. But at a certain point the vehicle will just turn on the engine to create heat because the electric heater cannot keep up. It is user adjustable, but the lowest outside temp it will let you go is about 15-18* before it will kick on the engine. Kind of a bummer because I don't really want to waste the gas, but I guess they do it to make the defrost work properly so they consider it a safety feature. Apparently the heater in the gen2 is much improved so perhaps that will be better.

As far as range is concerned, the EPA says I'm only supposed to get 36 miles EV but that's bullshit in all but the coldest temps. I'm flirting with 60 miles if I can get the proper city/highway mix so the gen 2 rated at 50 EPA EV miles will surely get much much better than that quote. I'm betting people will get over 75 miles. Just to put it in perspective I got the car in August 2014 and just about 2 weeks ago filled it for the 2nd time, and that includes a 300 mile trip to Dubuque Iowa, and it's only a 9 gallon tank so I'd say it'll definetly impact your fuel bill if you ever decided to get one. My fiancé pays the electric bill but she's a big stickler for the numbers and says if the electric bill did go up, it's by such a small amount that she didn't notice so it's almost a non-factor.

 

[Stink Star]

I don't follow hybrid car shit much , but the volts were pretty damn ugly and too expensive in opinion . The Leaf is gonna sell no matter what . Nissan has a large following . When kia and hyundai copy other companies ideas and sell for cheaper it will be game over you will see millions on the road .

Gotta keep in mind as well as having everything the leaf does, the volt also has a complete gasoline engine, so there some more cost. Not to mention the volt is a much nicer car inside than the leaf. I mean I have goddamn cameras that warn me if I'm following too close or if im drifting from my lane.

 

[EmersonHart13]

GM Is Sitting On Seven Months' Worth Of Volts

1st Gear: That’s A Lot Of Volts

GM Is Sitting On Seven Months' Worth Of Volts

GM has announced that they will be halting production of the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid this May in order to “prepare for the new model generation.” Yes, that is one reason why they are stopping production, but there is another, more important reason.

Chevy currently has a 210 day supply of Volts waiting to be sold. The ideal supply for an automaker is 60 days. This is 3.5 times that, which will be a burden on dealers to move through before the new car goes on sale. That means that a lot of incentives and discounts will probably be coming to the current Volt before the 2016 model goes on sale.

Sales of the Volt have declined every year since 2012, and are down 48 percent for the year so far. Not ideal.

Of course, these falling sales have a lot to do with the sudden drop in gas prices that has made consumers want more SUVs and fewer small hybrids.

 

[Xfirez51]

GM Is Sitting On Seven Months' Worth Of Volts

Typical stuff in the car business. With the C7 coming out, Corvette C6 days supply increased. I'm sure they are still new C6s to be had. As they say in the car biz, "there's an ass for every seat".
They'll find a way of selling them all. Make for some pretty good deals in the next few months.

 

[Blood on Blood]

They needed to take the tesla route. Get some small two seater, like a resurrected fiero or something, something good looking, and then sell THAT e-car.
Lots more interest.

Yep - Fiero with a manual tranny was a fun driver.