Volt sales triple, Leaf falls
2013-01-03 10:14
2013 CHEV VOLT: Sales for 2012 are reckoned to have topped 23 000 in the US, thanks in part to Californian legislation. Text.
WASHINGTON - General Motors has announced that 2012 sales of its plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt tripled those of 2011.
US sales in the US topped 23 000 for the year.
A spokeswoman for GM said final figures would be announced on January 3 but the total at the end of November was 20 828. The total for the whole of 2011 was 7671 against a forecast 10 000.
LEAF SALES FAIL
Volt sales got a boost when California granted solo drivers access to car-pool lanes now and one in every three Volts is sold in that state but GM abandoned its 2012 US sales forecast of 45 000 to "instead match supply to demand".
Meanwhile, the Detroit News reports, Nissan admitted it would not meet the sales target for its all-electric Leaf - another sign of the broad struggle of the electric-vehicle industry.
Despite months of slow sales Nissan steadfastly refused to acknowledge that it could not double sales in 2012 to 20 000 after selling nearly 10 000 in 2011.