Just for some perspective, we thought we would note a few things, including last month marked the first half year for a new era of mainstream EVs begun by Chevrolet’s Volt and Nissan’s LEAF – which as disruptive technology, are being watched closely by pundits of every stripe.
Since the beginning of their production, both electric vehicles were slow out of the gate, initially recording sales in the mere hundreds – limited by supply, their manufacturers said, not demand.
Even so, journalists have been quick to note how low the numbers were, quick to compare the two, and are still making such observations – the latest story du jour being the Volt is losing to the sales king of the month, the LEAF.
Volt Consumer Advisory Board, including: (l to r): Eric Rotbard, Brian Wynne, Colin Summers, Lyle Dennis, Robert Becker, Chelsea Sexton, Kris Trexler, Tom Kuhn and Mark Swain. Sept. 28, 2010.
Actually both cars are still ramping up slowly compared to a number of ICE vehicles, many of which individually outsell both EVs combined many times over.
But to their credit, both Nissan and Chevrolet are the only electric vehicle manufacturers posting their sales performance month after month for the world to praise them, bash them, or at least benignly observe.
Smart, Tesla, and Wheego do not report monthly sales, and their totals are reportedly much lower than LEAF and Volt sales.
What is more, both Chevrolet and Nissan say they have a backlog of orders which defy allegations of lagging demand for either manufacturer at this juncture.
Moreover, both are still predicting huge increases in commitment to their electric vehicle platforms, promising more models to come.
June sales ‘race’
The Volt’s June sales edged up to 561 from 481 sales in May despite no new supply from a closed assembly plant being updated for increased production capacity and due to open later this month. In total, GM said it has sold 2,745 for the first half year.
Comparatively, the LEAF sold more than triple the number of Volts in June, and actually more units in June than the 1,650 or more units Tesla has sold of its elite $109,000-plus Roadster since launching it in 2008.
Now here is a race we fully agree the LEAF won. Under beautiful blue skies at the 89th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb June 27, veteran Nissan off-road truck racing champion Chad Hord and the LEAF made history as the first winners of the Electric Production Class.
The number of LEAFs sold last month was 1,708, by far the best month for the car. Nissan has sold 3,875 total units to date, topping Chevrolet by 1,130 units to date.
Perceived wins and losses aside, both Chevrolet and Nissan are still on track to reach their goals, but – not even counting a few GM/Volt haters out there – media have still portrayed Volt sales as losing to the LEAF.
Examples of headlines
“Nissan Leaf whips Chevrolet Volt in electric sales race” – USA Today
“EV Wars: After early lead, Chevrolet Volt takes backseat to Nissan Leaf in 2011 sales race”
– MLIVE
“Nissan LEAF passes Chevrolet Volt in 2011 sales race” – egmCarTech
More to the story
There is no doubt there is competitiveness between the two manufacturers. Snippy advertising rhetoric we have seen is proof enough, as have been various comments by certain executives.
And it is true, the LEAF has done comparatively well – although we will observe Nissan did not miss its chance to offer the proverbial I told you so.
“We’ve been telling you we’d grow every month, and now you’re seeing more normalized production flow,” Al Castignetti, Nissan’s vice president of U.S. sales said to Bloomberg. “We’re starting to catch up with the reservations.”
But whether or not an early lead is an indicator of anyone really winning or losing a “race” is definitely in question.
In fact, GM has had to bat down what it said were unjustified allegations that the Volt was under-performing since it was launched.
“Many other people will look at the raw numbers and try and either extrapolate that we’re going to come short for 10,000 units, or they’re just going to take the raw numbers and say it’s not a success,” said GM Spokesman Rob Peterson in April, “And I don’t buy that, I think it’s a short-sighted analysis. We’re 100-percent confident that we’re going to get there.”
GM has not changed its word on the subject. Its word was we will see up and down numbers all year, but in the end, it will do what it set out to do.
Nissan may indeed be up, but the good news is the story is only starting, and the race is anything but won or lost by either side.
LEAF and Volt in the cold. (Photo by Motortrend.)
And in the mean time, thanks in part to pioneering efforts by both companies – as well as others – EV manufacturers now have clearer data with which to follow in their footsteps.
Fisker is reportedly due to deliver its Karma E-REV this month, Ford, Coda, and Mitsubishi also have models waiting in the wings, and more are expected in coming years.
Reality
If anything, the more accurate picture between the Volt and LEAF is Nissan did win a couple of proverbial battles, but neither has won any sort of proverbial war.
To put things in perspective, a proverbial “war” has begun, but is only just starting, and people need to realize what the real fight is.
The real fight is to get EV sales numbers above fractions of the ICE total. The actual war, if you will, is to achieve a complete paradigm change toward mainstream electric-powered transportation.
On that front, the LEAF and Volt are well on their way. And as “disruptive technology,” while they do compete against one another in one respect, in another, they are actually on the same side.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 6th, 2011 at 5:55 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
+4
Jul 6th, 2011 (6:54 am)Quality is not measured by quantity.
Hopefully these sales results will kick start GM into speeding up production. They have solved range anxiety. Now it’s time to eliminate the anxiety of waiting to buy or lease a Volt at a Chevrolet dealer near you.
+7
Jul 6th, 2011 (7:24 am)Nissan should brag while they can. It makes sense.
But the Volt will surpass it in sales. The Volt just makes better sense for this country.
We are too spread out for a pure EV to be the only car in a family.
I wonder if they compare the LEAF + ICE vehicle purchases to the number of Volts sold where
Volt = (LEAF + ICE vehicle)
+10
Jul 6th, 2011 (7:43 am)This conflict about sales numbers is a rehash of the arrival of the automobile a hundred years ago, and the comparison then was horses against automobiles. Eventually the automobile caught up and the major buyers were persons who could not keep a horse in their homes (such as city dwellers who have no stables). There are horses around, but the people kept buying gasoline and Diesel vehicles, and horses now are living “antiques”.
Presently the electric vehicle is coming back, and we have similar issues. But the majority of new EV buyers will be city dwellers who wish to save money and reduce pollution (such as myself). The EV takeover has just started and will continue for several years. They will outlast the naysayers and haters, and we will eventually see the EV surpass the ICE vehicles in this century, just like the ICE surpassed the horses in the past century.
I still have my dream of waiting in an EV at an intersection during a traffic light, surrounded by more EVs, and listening to the absolute silence (with a little bit of music) while waiting for the light to change. Then as the light turns green, we all glide forward will little noise and no pollution to the next intersection.
Raymond
-21
Jul 6th, 2011 (8:18 am)(click to show comment)
+7
Jul 6th, 2011 (8:42 am)One thing about journalists, is they have to earn their weekly or monthly paycheck.
Since there are thousands of them, there is no surprise that some might get nervous about
disruptive technology, which many still do not yet fully comprehend.
But the tone is far more in line with what one might expect of people that are indeed at least on some sort of learning curve.
At least we don’t have to listen to those past misstatements that it can’t go more than 40 miles.
That is a huge improvement from what it was even just a year ago.
They all know that they have to learn a lot more before making themselves embarrassed with additional misstatements.
Everyone has a lot more to learn for this transition to extended range electric motoring, which is the only technological format which merits extended study and participation.
Reconditioning old gen 1 hybrid tech, for example, (as someone unwisely suggested to me on Monday) (specifically, ancient Prii at that,) is flogging dead horses, and is feasibly ***totally out of the question*** anymore. The window of opportunity opens and closes fairly quickly in these times of quick disruptive change. (That one closed two years ago.)
***************************************************************
* EREV is worth your study time and intellectual commitment. *
***************************************************************
+13
Jul 6th, 2011 (9:48 am)FWIW, and it’s not worth much, the Volt will outsell the Leaf for the simple reason that you can sell Volts to more people. Leafs are going to be a tough sell in cold weather states, which is why Nissan isn’t selling them there yet. At the same time GM is rolling out the Volt in all states. At some point it just becomes a matter of numbers.
Personally I’ve never understood why anyone thinks these cars compete. The technology is of course very different. More importantly, the cars are in different classes. US News put the Volt in the “upscale compact car” class with the BMW 3 series. That’s accurate. The Leaf is more in the “Eco” class with the Prius and the Honda Insight. Big differences in the build quality and the performance of the cars. Finally of course there is price — the Volt costs thousands more than the Leaf. IMO the price difference is worth it, but $8K is a lot of money so many people, and some people simply won’t be able to swing a Volt.
The cars are actually complimentary. If you have more than one vehicle the two cars make for a great combination. The Leaf is cheaper to buy or lease but the Volt is a nicer car and suitable for longer trips. Since someone who has either is already interested in electric cars, my position has been that the best potential customer for a Volt is a Leaf owner, and the best potential customer for a Leaf is a Volt owner. Rather than insulting each other’s cars these guys need to grow up and see the opportunity.
+4
Jul 6th, 2011 (10:14 am)I hate the sensationalized headings like the USA Today. In the article was nicer comments like:
“Leaf is substantially cheaper — about $9,000 less than the $41,000 Volt. But it’s also far less capable. The Volt is a plug-in that has a gasoline motor that acts as a backup generator when the batteries are drained — after 25 to 50 miles of driving. The Leaf is a pure electric car, rated at about 75 miles of driving between charges.”
+3
Jul 6th, 2011 (10:15 am)Can’t wait until Chevy actually BEGINS competing with Nissan in battery electric vehicles. More excited to see the Volt offered in ALL markets across the United States later this year. If the LEAF weren’t so unattractive, it might be parked next to my Buick right now. I’d rather wait for the Volt than maintain two cars.
+5
Jul 6th, 2011 (10:18 am)Better batteries better EVs and better EREVs.
EV for second car to do local short hops.
EREV or Prius if you need to have only one car.
There’s room for everybody.
Go Batts, Voltiacs,
+3
Jul 6th, 2011 (10:41 am)This sales “debate” reminds me of predicting the stock market for the next year based on a one day dip in one stock and a one day rise in another. Newspapers today are less and less about news and more and more about grabbing headlines.
+2
Jul 6th, 2011 (11:15 am)+5
Jul 6th, 2011 (11:24 am)Correct me if I’m wrong, but every Volt that’s been manufactured so far has been sold, right? If you’re trying to gauge how “good” a car is based on its sales, then Volt and LEAF would both be tied with “100% interest” since neither has unwanted cars sitting on lots not getting bought. It seems to me you’d be better off trying to figure out how many people WANT each car as opposed to how many have bought them — which is really just how many have been manufactured.
+6
Jul 6th, 2011 (11:35 am)Let’s wait and see what happens after the Volt MY2012 line fires up. With Volt doing a pit stop, it’s hard to say how the entire ‘race’ will go.
It’s not really a race between these two but a race to see if we can get to peak EVs before we get to the declining side of peak oil. This is a decades-long process not a model-year process.
+6
Jul 6th, 2011 (11:48 am)My feelings on this are nicely summed up by the last sentence of Jeff’s post:
“And as ‘disruptive technology’, while they do compete against one another in one respect, in another, they are actually on the same side.”
Y’all come. There’s plenty of room for everybody at this point.
I think that for now the sales will be constrained by how many cars the players choose to/can produce. Maybe in 2012 supply will begin to catch up to demand, and the marketplace will start to tell us which technology and pricing strategy are most attractive to consumers. it’s too early to know now, IMHO.
Having driven my Volt for almost 4 months, I can tell you that I’m not trading it in on a pure BEV any time soon, LOL.
+14
Jul 6th, 2011 (11:48 am)They must be talking about “delivered” vehicles and not the number of “sold orders”. I’ve got plenty of orders to fill, we just can’t get anyone to give us more cars.
I know that dealer allocations are based on many factors including previous sales totals, but when a customer walks in and puts down cash money to order a car, that car should be built regardless of previous sales rankings. Otherwise, when a team has a better marketing plan than the older dealer down the road and is capable of “selling” a car like the VOLT, it is unfair that the dinosaur gets more cars but can’t sell them due to their ignorance. The better marketing team should get the cars.
I still get stories from my customers who tell me that there are other salespeople at the ‘bigger’ dealers who cannot accurately explain how the VOLT works; how to charge it; and why 25-50 AER uses LESS GAS than a 70 MPG Prius.
It’s just not fair.
Jul 6th, 2011 (11:49 am)#13
Amen. +1
Jul 6th, 2011 (12:10 pm)Right, +1.
+4
Jul 6th, 2011 (12:15 pm)Given that some Chevy salespeople still don’t really know how the Volt works, imagine how many potential customers still don’t really know how it works. When these people realize you only have to go to the gas station every 3 months, there will be even more orders. And when GM decides to do an EREV MPV, things will really crank up.
+4
Jul 6th, 2011 (12:19 pm)If you won’t say it .. I will Jeff.
Where was the vast majority of Leafs sold… in the USA…. we give them $7500 per car.
GM will face a $20,000 tariff when trying to sell the VOLT in Japan…
Where are the comments about this?
Not in our media.
Put a $1,000 tariff on the Leaf and see how fast the media picks up on it!
Jul 6th, 2011 (12:29 pm)Looking at just the $
Volt
2745 x $41K = $113 million
Nissan
3875 x $33K = $128 miilion
Tesla ?
2000 x $100K = $200 million
We could also look at amount of gasoline saved (not used).
So you could take the Volt and compare it with the Leaf, but you would also have to include the other car the Leaf owner has for longer trips (maybe its a Prius, who knows). I think the Volt would win, even with less numbers. I just see the Volts being used everyday as commuters and maximizing their AER, where the Leafs will be used for short errand runs, or maybe just weekends.
Jul 6th, 2011 (12:56 pm)Not to detract from this site; but posted on the “other” Volt site, is a nice video GM made to address this exact problem. It’s a simple explanation of how the Volt works. I sent it to people to take care of the first 10 questions they usually have about the Volt.
+1
Jul 6th, 2011 (2:18 pm)Kind of a “NON STORY STORY” today – admittedly, It must be difficult to get any news in these dog days of summer – what with Hammtramck being shut down and all.
We all know the “battle” is with Big Oil, Foreign Enemy Oil, and the Battle for Clean Air and Water.
Motor Trend is worth picking up this month. I was going to let my subscription run out (they’re on their ” Here’s the second “last” magazine after you are overdue to re-up ” magazine). I just ran out of patience with MT and their umpteenth “Mustang vs. Camaro Shootout” and ” Bugatti/Ferrari/Lambo/Porsche 200+ mph exoti-exploder car you can never afford if you wanted to” – cover stories. I may re-up though since this month is a Volt vs. Leaf vs. Prius shootout that ends up with Volt on top ( duh! ) but strong recommendations for the standard Prius for most people.
I had to admit out of the big three car magazines – at least MT made Volt it’s Car of the Year…gave it two covers ( one touting “127 mpg” ) and only now – after getting tons of neg mail on their COY choice from gearhead numbskulls – they’ve entered a Volt into their long term test fleet for a year of testing starting with below freezing months of Michigan driving where they’ve bashed it’s cold climate interior heating and 20+ mile AER in those conditions. Volt is prime for hard knocks from gearheads who don’t get it – and who are set to point out every non-perfect aspect as they see it. The Volt presents a whole new set of situations and staid automotive journalists stuck in the past claim such “chores” as plugging it in as “complexities and complications”.
The other familiar top car rags have dissed Volt – printed it in greyscale doomy gloomy photos and treated it as a waste of time freakshow. One magazine ( Car and Drivel ) even stated the all carbon fiber one-off zillion dollar two seat 200 mpg VW prototype they drove was “nearly as finished as the Volt”. It’s just expected these guys’ heads are in outer space! Motor Trend – to appease it’s base audience – included graphs and explanations that driving a Volt is only best if you live near the coasts as electricity production in the entire middle of the country is mostly from coal and other high Co2 producing sources. I found it funny that they included a small sentence explaining they didn’t take into consideration transportation, production or delivery costs of coal or crude oil. BIG COLORFUL GRAPHS EXPLAINING HOW VOLT REALLY WASN’T GREEN – little buried explanation that the graphs and their rationale were bogus.
PUMP OUT THE VOLTS! ,
James
+1
Jul 6th, 2011 (2:42 pm)In my part of the world (Canada), the Leaf and Volt are tied in sales right now: both at 0. It looks like the Volt will beat the Leaf to market though; Nissan in only speaking of availability in parts of the country by the end of 2011.
Nissan will undoubtedly take the sales lead once the Leaf becomes available. Nissan have taken an order for 500 Leafs (leaves??) from the City of Toronto alone. As it stands, the latest GM plans have them selling only 500 Volts in Canada for the entire model year. I feel this may aggravate many potential customers since the Volt will never really go “on sale” for the 2012 MY, pretty much every car coming to Canada is already spoken for. Many people will read the favourable reviews, only to be told at the dealer: “Sorry, we never had any available to sell. You would have needed to place a deposit 6 months ago to get one this year.”
+1
Jul 6th, 2011 (2:58 pm)My opinion is that two years from now if Volts are sold in a regular way alongside regular cars in all 50 states – this moment of time will just be remembered as the “silly season” wherein people got their jabs in where they may. GM needs to differentiate the Volt from Leaf in the minds of consumers as folks seem to clump them together again and again. Mitsubishi Mievs, Leafs and EV Fits and Focuses could bring down PHEVs with upcoming thousands of stories to be – involving ” EVs FOUND ON THE ROAD DEAD ” headline news. I really think electric-only cars will tank relatively quickly as people discover their true limitations in cold weather and in extremely unpredictible range dependent upon many different conditions.
If GM is savvy – they’ve predicted this and have ad campaigns that further seperate Volt from pure electric cars. Prius have been on the road in droves for a decade, and Motor Trend just begrudgingly called it “mainstream” for the first time and used it as a yardstick to compare Leaf and Volt.
Volt is an island. There are no other PHEVs to compare it to. Even when Ford C-Max Energi and Fisker hit the scene – They’re different animals for far different audiences. It’s gonna be tough for awhile for Volt fans to watch all the negativity. Next year we’ll see all the Prius PHEV and Volt comparisons. What Volt REALLY needs is a Mustang vs. Camaro rivalry ( only “green” ) and perhaps this will be it. Now for Volt to get it’s pricepoint adjusted more towards it’s main rival.
RECHARGE! ,
James
+1
Jul 6th, 2011 (3:12 pm)Oh yeah – one other reason to pick up, ( or at least magazine rack loiter…haha ) with this month’s Motor Trend is a nice interview with “MAXIMUM BOB” – our buddy – now consulting Lotus Motorcars. With Lutz’s interesting prognostications about future hybrid performance cars is a showing of several manufacturer’s future plans including plug in performance and efficiency.
RECHARGE! ,
James
+6
Jul 6th, 2011 (3:24 pm)Why is it in the US, the media will praise the foreign companies even when not worthy of it and bash the US companies when not deserving of it. I just don’t get it! I have to seriously wonder if the media is not being bought. I just can not find a good answer.
Jul 6th, 2011 (3:36 pm)Another factor to consider is what both carmakers say about the near future of availability by location. GM plans to roll out the Volt nationwide by the end of this year. Last I heard, the LEAF will continue to be offered only where there have been commitments to public infrastructure (“EV Ready”). EREV does not need public infrastructure (but can benefit from it, if it is built).
The massive Volt juggernaut may be starting slowly, but it will be a steamroller flattening the sales of LEAF a year from now, IMO. I believe it will take the pure EV market a decade or more to recover.
Jul 6th, 2011 (3:40 pm)Chevrolet Thunder, Cadillac Lightning; coming to a dealer near you … ?
+1
Jul 6th, 2011 (3:50 pm)What will it recover from?
Jul 6th, 2011 (4:29 pm)I don’t think pure EV sales will tank, but, they’ll be a very niche product for some time to come.
Anytime a vehicle leaves me stranded for any reason, it’s history. I’ll trade it in a heartbeat. I don’t have time for junk (or unreliable) cars like I did when I was tinkering with them 40 years ago.
Once someone is stranded a couple times in an EV, I think they will get rid of it and chalk it up to experience.
+6
Jul 6th, 2011 (4:30 pm)Random FYI, Nissan has agreed to make available 500 units for TAF’s fleet partners (Toronto Atmospheric Fund), of which the City of Toronto is obvious a part of, but they still have yet to get their heads together to order and Nissan has yet to actually make them available.
Canadian orders were to begin (both retail and fleet) a few weeks ago, but Nissan delayed opening Canadian orders when the Zama plant (battery) went to 100% capacity and was still losing the battle to supply the Oppama plant for backed up US orders…because of the earthquake (but more specifically the implications afterwards, namely the forced 15% power consumption cut on on all large caps).
I have never heard of this 500 max for 2012 MY Volts in Canada. Last I heard the international PTS was for just under 5,000 units internationally sold by calendar year end, and 10,000 to 15,000 units for the MY, with the bulk to Canada.
Not sure how (or why) they could only ship 500 to Canada and manage to unload 5 digits worth elsewhere…but I confess I may be a little out of the loop these days as I don’t put much effort into knowing what is going on at GM these days.
—
Sidenote: Personally, I am in the camp of ‘why do we have to suggest they are competing directly against each other and tout numbers’, however, it doesn’t make sense to use the extended summer shutdown as a reason why GM ‘fell behind’.
If your going to cherry pick reasons, you could just as easily say that the Japanese gov’t decision to not renew their federal rebate program (which expired in February of this year) unexpectedly diverted 5,000 units of production to Japan while the US got less than 200 (while sitting on 10,000 confirmed orders) in the first quarter of this year. Then there was also a little incident with a earthquake in March.
There is no sales competition at this point, it is merely the result of planned production.
The fact is that Nissan can (and was) able to produce (and sell) 3,000 units a month by this past February, no slow rollout/ramp-up…just a directed rollout. Unfortunately, their universe got turned upside down in mid-March when there were just over 6,000 units produced, so they lost the rest of the month, and most of the production for April, now they are back online and only constrained by battery production (and not being able to work on Thursdays and Fridays)…they just eclipsed 10,000 units produced last month.
On the other hand, GM has always planned on having a limited 2011 MY production run, the line has been running for nearly a year now in a very limited way.
As for the 4 week summer shutdown of DHAM itself, even though it started in mid-June, GM produced not a single Volt in the month, and will have a gap of no production for almost 8 weeks, because they were focused on building out the Lucerne at the end of May and early June (incidently, they ended up getting out about 350ish in June before it closed).
The line restart is for a week Monday, which will bring production up into the 1,000ish a week range, and then we will see volumes out of both the General and Nissan that will tell us (in a few months time) what the true, ongoing demand for these car are…and I think those are numbers we all really want to see.
Jul 6th, 2011 (4:58 pm)If EREV looks like a “winner,” what do pure EVs look like?
Bragging rights have real Sales effects, which is what Nissan and LEAF advocates are prematurely hoping with these early numbers.
+1
Jul 6th, 2011 (5:23 pm)It is indeed early, but let’s give Nissan credit for pulling into the lead despite GM’s comfortable head start. 1708 cars in June is an impressive achievement. Here’s hoping GM gets to those levels, and beyond, ASAP.
Jul 6th, 2011 (6:54 pm)EV parking update:
I have been petitioning my workplace to provide several EV parking spaces to visitors and employees. Have met resistance so far. We employees have our annual survey this month and I asked several coworkers to list EV parking as a desired benefit. It will happen, just a question of when.
=D-Volt
+1
Jul 6th, 2011 (8:17 pm)I’m thinking the limit of 500 is more rumor than fact. Canadian dealers are certainly taking orders and saying they will have allocations ….
As for numbers, 200K vehicles a year is less than 2% of new car sales, and just about any new technology usually penetrates at least 2.5% of the market. Since EVs are definitely a very interesting new technology — it’s not like a simple engine or transmission tweak — we should be more production limited than demand limited for a few years, and selling even 50K units a year should’t be too difficult a task. (GM sold almost 25K Cruzes last month).
The big question is can Nissan and GM sell 100K units/year. I’m hoping they can but that isn’t a slam dunk, especially if gas prices trend downward.
Jul 6th, 2011 (8:22 pm)Hopefully like F150 and Silverado sales! LOL
Jul 7th, 2011 (1:21 am)I’ll just leave it at, for now each is selling all that they can make.