All major automakers posted March sales numbers for plug-in electric vehicles.
The big news in plug-in car sales for March was Tesla’s announcement that Model S sales exceeded 4,750 units from January through March and LEAF’s all-time monthly sales record.
Nissan LEAF has set all-time monthly sales record with 2,236 U.S. deliveries in March, 528 units over its previous best monthly record of 1,708 set in June 2011.
In terms of year-to-date results in 2013, sales of the Nissan LEAF now stand at 3,539 units.
With the new plant in Smyrna, Tennessee now shipping Leafs, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn says that they are providing big financial savings, cutting the cost by $6,000. Nissan enters the month with over 2,300 cars at the dealership level, with more on the way. The Japanese carmaker expects inventory to be optimized by the end of next month. We expect more record-breaking monthly sales in the future.
Deliveries of the Chevrolet Volt electric range extended vehicle totaled 1,478, down from 1,620 units in February 2013, and up from 1,140 Volts sold in January 2013. In terms of year-to-date results in 2013, sales of the Chevrolet Volt now stand at 4,244 units, decisively below the Tesla total.
UPDATE
Deliveries of the Toyota Prius Plug-In, were 786 units in March. In terms of year-to-date results in 2013, sales of the Toyota Prius Plug-in now stand at 2,353 units, up 158% year-on-year. Toyota company also sold 212 units of the RAV4 EV in Q1, 133 of those in March.
Ford sold 494 C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrids in March, up from 334 units in February, and 338 units in January. In terms of year-to-date results in 2013, sales of the C-MAX Energi now stand at 1,166 units. Ford sold 295 units of the Ford Fusion Energi and 180 Focus Electric EVs in March. In terms of year-to-date results in 2013, sales of the Ford Fusion Energi stand at 414 units and 419 units of the Focus Electric EV.
Honda reported selling 23 units of the Fit EV in March. The 2014 Honda Accord Plug-In Hybrid logged 26 units this month. In terms of year-to-date results in 2013, sales of the Fit EV stand at 46 units and 45 units of the 2014 Honda Accord Plug-In Hybrid.
Sales of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car in March were 31 units, which brings the year-to-date total to 525 units.
Taken altogether, plug-in sales in the US reached about 17,800 units in the first quarter of 2013 (the uncertainty surrounding the number of non-US Model S sales included in the 4,750 number). Of that figure, Tesla had about a 27% share, GM a 24% share, Nissan a 20% share and Toyota a 14% share.
