Q1 2012 Shows Sales of Fuel-Efficient Hybrids and Plug-In Vehicles Soaring

We already know that April was a great month for Toyota Prius hybrid sales, but it turns out that the first quarter of the year produced stellar sales numbers for hybrids in general, as well as plug-in electric cars.
More than 100,000 hybrids and plug-in cars--113,457--were sold in January, February, and March combined, against roughly 79,000 in the same period of 2011.
The vast bulk of those sales--106,207--were hybrids, of course.
The hybrid sales included not only much higher sales of the Toyota Prius, now a lineup of three models plus a plug-in, but also Buicks and Chevrolets fitted with the General Motors eAssist mild-hybrid system.
All varieties of plug-in cars accounted for 7,250, according to data compiled by industry trade journal Automotive News.
Plug-in sales totaled about 17,000 units for all of 2011, the bulk of them either the Nissan Leaf battery-electric vehicle or the Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car.
For 2012, the strong new plug-in entrant is the 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid, whose April sales beat those of both the Volt and the Leaf.
Analysts expect perhaps 30,000 to 40,000 plug-in cars to be sold in the U.S. during calendar 2012, against perhaps 400,000-plus conventional hybrids.
As always, the bulk of the hybrid sales will come from Toyota.



Source: Green Car Reports

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Chevrolet Volt Records Third Best Sales Month

With April Volt sales numbers in, GM reported 1,462 units sold in a month with three fewer selling days than March.
This total is down from the Volt’s second-highest sales figures in December, in which 1,529 were sold, and down also from the March record of 2,289.
Last month we had heard some from GM say they were not expecting April Volt sales to exceed March, although CEO Dan Akerson has been quoted as saying he’d like to see somewhere between 2,000-3,000 month after month going forward.


Some industry watchers have speculated also that GM’s California Volts are still in a transition period of changing over to solo-HOV-lane eligible Electric Advanced Technology Partial Zero-Emissions Vehicle (eAT-PZEV) versions, and this could have put a crimp in the progress.
But if GM sold fewer than some hoped for, Nissan could be said to be looking worse, with just 370 battery electric Leafs sold in April. This is down from 579 units in March and 478 in February. In fact 370 is lower than the 573 Leafs Nissan delivered in April 2011. The Leaf’s best sales month was June, 2011 with 1,708 sold.
Nonetheless, ever-optimistic Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said industry watchers should not let a few mediocre months influence their perspective. He is keeping a long-term view, unwaveringly saying BEVS will comprise 10 percent of the market by decade’s end.
Things ought to pick up also, he said, as Nissan begins building the Leaf in Tennessee in late 2012, and the UK in early 2013.
As for the Volt, it was not a bad month, and being lower than the last month which happened to be a record does not add up to a negative trend.
Indeed, GM is doing what it said it would in building to meet demand, and has been producing them in decent numbers.
Further facts of interest are that for the 2012 calendar year to date, Detroit-Hamtramck has built 5,095 Volts and 3,382 Opel Amperas.
For 2012 model year to date, the assembly plant has so far turned out 16,336 Volts and 5,987 Amperas.
Ampera sales reported for April were 557 total units.



Source: GM-Volt.com

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China getting ready for 5m plug-in vehicles by 2020

Imagine all of the cars and light-duty trucks in Washington and Oregon combined. Then imagine them all being either battery-electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids. That's what Chinese leaders have in mind by the end of the decade.

The China State Council is pushing for a combination of automotive industry production and public acceptance to allow for as many as five million plug-in vehicles to be on the roads in China by 2020, Green Car Congress reports.

The Chinese government is also looking to boost average new-car fuel economy to about 47 miles per gallon in 2020 from about 34 miles per gallon in 2015, when the State Council is targeting for about a half-million vehicles to be electric drive.

China will enact a combination of research and development funding and subsidies that will be used to boost sales of plug-ins. The government will also speed up the development of an electric-vehicle charging infrastructure and will tilt tax policies to be more plug-in friendly.

China was already expected to account for a substantial chunk of the more than 600,000 plug-in vehicles expected to be sold in Asia Pacific by 2017, as forecast by green-technology research firm Pike Research last year. The auto industry is certainly getting ready. This month, General Motors debuted a demonstration fleet of Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in vehicles in China. GM and the China Automotive Technology Research Center (CATARC) will operate and study the fleet for about a year. At the Beijing Motor Show this week, a number of plug-in vehicles were on display, like the CH Auto Lithia and the Venucia E-Concept.


Source: Autoblog Green

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Ampera may outsell Volt in its first year

The Volt’s Euro twin siblings, the Ampera variants, are on track to surpass first-year Volt sales.
This news for the Opel/Vauxhall twins may come as little surprise, but as you’ll recall, GM missed its 10,000-unit target last year after the federal battery investigation and American politics were blamed on slowing momentum to 7,761 units sold.
Well, the Ampera just being introduced has over 7,000 orders, of these a good 60 percent are fleet customers, and the Detroit News reported that Enno Fuchs, e-mobility launch director for Adam Opel AG, said it will be no sweat topping 10,000 Amperas by year’s end.


“We are quite sure that our sales target of 10,000 units (in 2012) is within reach,” Fuchs wrote in an email to the publication.
We’ve been hearing similar things from European GM executives since last year, and even if things for the Volt were off to a rocky start here, the Amperas and European Chevrolet-badged Volts are being comparatively better received.
No doubt it has partly to do with high fuel prices there, and that the Volt has already passed a gauntlet in its home country further proving to progressive Europeans – particularly deeper-pocketed fleet buyers – that the car is a safe bet.
Also not hurting the situation, the Volt/Ampera was recently named the first American car to receive European Car of the Year, and – although priced like a modest luxury car – it is taking sales from competitors, including diesels, even in some countries where no tax credits exist, but a VAT tax does.
Months ago there was some talk of asking GM for more than the first year’s Ampera allocation, so we shall see whether this is deemed feasible in months to come.
The Ampera sells for 41,900 Euros (about $55,300) and it is noteworthy that from the beginning GM has invested in more Voltec variants in Europe than it has in America.
In Europe you can choose between an Ampera or Volt, whereas in the States, we have just the Volt. Perhaps we should also comb news there for test mule sitings or other clues to the second generation Volt?
Meanwhile, Volt sales are picking up here, and GM will sell more than 10,000 in the U.S, having delivered 3,915 year to date through March, and more of these were individual consumer sales.



Source: GM-Volt.com

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Volt Production Resumes One Week Early

The Volt is back on track following the best-in-its-history March sales of 2,289 units.

This tops December’s 1,529 units, and GM CEO Dan Akerson has been quoted saying he’d like to see 2,000-3,000 per month, but we’ve heard others at GM say they’d not be surprised if April is weaker month than last.

With the politically mixed environment it has had to face, the “batterygate” issue behind it, and more positive pressure for sales, GM’s halo car still has industry watchers waiting to see where it will go.

Other sales-inducing factors include the solo-HOV-lane legal California Volts now available, ever-rising fuel prices, and an apparent taming of some of the critics, not to mention conservative public figures coming out in its favor besides.

Still, the Volt catches criticism for its price, which despite government subsidies being available, has even some of those who otherwise love the car expressing hope for a decrease. Other early adapters have said they are fine with it, have said it is a good value where it is, and are reaping big savings month after month.

Adverting, marketing, word of mouth recommendations – and a fairly low lease rate deal being offered – are all other factors that stand to increase sales, and most of all are the underlying fundamentals: It is an idea whose time has come.


Source: GM-Volt.com

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