General Motors sold 1,849 units of the Chevy Volt this past July, a 125 percent improvement over July 2011 and an increase of almost 100 units over June 2012. By comparison, the Nissan Leaf moved a measly 395 Leafs in July, a 58 percent decrease compared to July 2011.
In addition, the Volt sold 10,666 Volts in the first seven months of 2012, a 270 percent increase over the same time period last year. The Leaf moved 3,543 units year to date, down 26.3 percent in the same time period.
Recently, Volt sales have seen a boost from California customers, who are now granted solo access to carpool lanes when driving the Volt. In fact, about 1 in 3 Volts are now sold in the Golden State. And to make things even better, only 55 Volts were sold to fleets in July, or 3 percent of all Volts sold. At the end of July, GM had a 52-day supply of the Volt nationwide and a 34-day supply in California.
And to think that this is only the second year of the Volt’s existence…
Comments
I’ve been seeing a lot of Volts around. And when I say a lot it’s relative. I’ve seen probably 15 different ones, but compared to the Leaf, zero, 15 is a lot. And I’ve seen and talked to the owner of a ZL1 coupe!
I’m not in Cali, not even US, up in Waterloo, Ontario.
It is a good looking car, especially for an aero-concious electric-hybrid-plugin-extended range-MPGe vehicle.
40k sales a year was a pipe dream, but they are getting close to that 20k a year mark. It’s going to take time to break into the strong Prius tradition for this segment. By gen2 Voltec is can see them getting into the 60-100k sales mark a year. Add on the ELR, Ampera, and a destined to be Buick model (come on small CUV!!) they should be able to get 120000 annual sales by 2016. But then again I don’t care about, nor do I follow this niche part of the automotive market so my ass is making the [plausible] assumptions
Correction:
“In addition, the Volt sold 10,666 Volts in the first seven months of 2011”
Its 2012.
In L.A, I still see more leafs than volts, but that may be a coincidence, a result of more leafs on the road at this point because the leaf sold better earlier, or maybe because the leafs stand out more. Whatever the case, GM has invested in the volt far, far more that Nissan has in the leaf, both in monetary and symbolic terms, the future of range extended electric car, and the future of GM electric cars rest on the volt and its success. The leaf seems almost as an afterthought to Nissan, so the volt must be judged much more harshly than the leaf.
Thanks for the correction Babersher. Fixed and fixed!
Look at that beautiful rear-end. Just begging for a third electric motor to make the Volt a performance car with few peers.
The Volt is clearly breaking into the mainstream. It is proving to be near bullet proof and has weather a multi million dollar politically driven slander campaign to sell 20,000+ units in North America.
With new EVs on the horizon it can only get better with more freedom of choice! And to think its GM that is doing it… how the world changes!
I’ve seen a few volts being plugged in at the mall of America’s parking complex. I’ve also seen just one leaf, black, and it’s really not that bad looking in person!
People want electric cars they just don’t want limited range electric cars like the LEAF. The Volt gives consumers the option of driving electric without the range anxiety and distance limitations. Plug- in hybrid technology will be found in most cars in the future as battery costs come down as they are expected to. The Volt is making electric cars appealing.
Just got back from San Diego. Saw quite a few EV’s; mainly LEAFs. About 3 to 1 in favor of LEAFs. Did see 1 FFE. Meanwhile back in Philly: Have only seen a LEAF once. That was a nearby dealer test drive. Have seen 3 or 4 VOLTS. Not taking sides as I believe both are valuable cars…I would be thrilled to drive either. Not a good time for my family to take on a car payment.
I don’t blame you. BOTH cars are important. As I’ve said before, full EV’s are the future; just that the Volt is great for the period of time before then and the Leaf is a bit early.
As for sight-seeing, I’ve seen about 5 Leaf’s, 1 of which was parked and charging in front of the local power company branch office (figures). The Volt’s, only one on the highway, one in a lot, and one in a showroom (that I accidentlly locked myself out of).
I live in Oklahoma and I’ve seen infinitely more Volts than Leafs on the road.
Full disclosure – I’ve seen one Volt (at a gas station ironically) and Zero Leafs (Leaves?)
It’s Leafs. Leaf is a proper noun.
Ha, I live in Oklahoma too and I’ve never seen any Leaves but just 1 White Diamond Tricoat Volt. When I was in Hawaii for a few weeks where the car I drove was a 2012 Camaro 2SS conv. I saw about 15 Leaves compared to just a few Volts. They even had electric vehicle parking which I’ve never seen.
Where abouts? I work in the Tulsa area and live about 45 miles east. Who knows, we may have seen the same one… hehe
I live in around Moore. I saw the Volt going by 104th and Penn, while sitting in the Z06, of course.