New car sales

Plug-in electric cars get a lot of press, perhaps more than their current sales might warrant. It's clear to industry analysts that the proportion of plug-ins among new cars produced will grow, slowly, over the coming years and decades. But don't count the gasoline engine out just yet. The rate of...

If 2011 was the year of overoptimism for electric-car sales, and 2012 was Sophomore Slump after the inevitable shortfall, will 2013 be the year of realism? That really depends on what the world's leading electric-car maker, Nissan, sells this year. Let's recap. Several years ago, Nissan said that...

U.S. car buyers took home about 17,500 plug-in electric cars in 2011. Last year, the numbers got better. A lot better. In 2012, about 53,000 electric cars were likely sold--essentially triple the prior year's number. Not bad, huh? We know that at least 50,000 sales of plug-in cars will have been...

Sometimes the glass is half empty, sometimes it's half full. For the future of electric cars, count Bob Lutz on the half-full side--most likely containing a very nice Scotch. Lutz is not only the former GM product development czar, but the man who pushed through the Chevrolet Volt range-extended...

Ford may yet have to account for discrepancies between real-world mileage and EPA ratings on its hybrids, but any issues certainly aren't harming its sales. The company reports that the C-Max hybrid has become the fastest-selling hybrid ever, with 8,030 units sold in its first two months on sale...

You might not know it from general media coverage, but plug-in electric-car sales are actually doing pretty well. Still, people get impatient, and electric-car and environmental advocates want more, faster. So what are the best ways to boost adoption of plug-in cars? Education and awareness are the...

U.K. Tesla fans jealous of their counterparts in the U.S. are finally able to reserve their own 2013 Tesla Model S. Buyers will be able to choose between Model S and Model S Signature, and will get to enjoy the same specifications as buyers in the U.S. That means the same color and trim options...

Sales of plug-in electric cars fell slightly in November, with continued steady sales of the Nissan Leaf not enough to make up for a decline in Chevy Volt numbers. This month's total may not quite equal last month's plug-in sales of 6,784. The big unknown, however, is deliveries of the Tesla Model...

Progressive Prius drivers looking for the next step towards going green aren't just moving into Nissan Leafs and Chevy Volts--Ford is benefitting too. The company reports it expects November to be its best-ever month for hybrid sales, with over 6,000 units--beating July 2009's high of 5,353 cars...

Toyota is offering up to $5,000 in bonus financing cash for buyers of the 2013 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid. Until December 3, buyers can get $5,000 bonus financing cash on the Plug-In Prius Advanced model (offer #1239), and $4,000 on the regular Plug-In Prius (#1235). The deals also include 0% APR...

Electric cars may be the future, but in the present they're still a risk. Nissan knows this more than most, and at a conference reporting its Q2 2012 financial results, chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga says that Nissan would still like to penetrate the market more. However, he also expressed...

The biggest question facing tiny Tesla Motors right now is whether it can ramp up production of its Model S all-electric sport sedan and deliver enough of them to paying customers that it can generate the income it needs to keep going. On the quarterly Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] earnings call this...

The 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid has now reached dealerships throughout the country, selling 3,182 units in October. But Ford had an "October surprise" in store: The company sold 144 of the plug-in hybrid C-Max Energi version as well. That car hasn't been driven by any members of the automotive media...

Hybrid cars have well and truly hit the mainstream. After years of slow sales around a decade ago, Toyota has now sold over 4 million hybrids. And Honda recently passed its first million. But in the home of the U.S. auto industry, buyers have been slower to catch on to the concept. According to the...

The good news for plug-in electric car sales just keeps on keeping on. In October, Chevy sold 2,961 Volts--the highest-ever single-month total--and Nissan continued a recent resurgence, selling 1,579 Leafs. Those numbers compare with 2,851 Volts sold in September and 984 Leafs the same month. That...

They pop up like weeds, these "Electric cars are failures" articles--and you just have to keep killing them. The latest is an opinion piece titled, "Why the Electric Car Failed," published last week in U.S. News & World Report. Author Michael Lynch identifies himself as a researcher for the...

It happens every time gas prices spike, and it's happening again: Small-car sales are soaring. In fact, the total of 2.1 million compact and subcompact cars sold over the nine-month period ending in September is up by fully 50 percent compared to the same period a year ago. That's the highest...

For 12 years, the Toyota Prius hybrid stood alone in the growing lineup of Toyota vehicles. Then, for 2012, the Prius model became a whole family of cars--four of them, in fact. So which of the new Prius family members is doing the best so far, and which kid is lagging and might benefit from some...

America has never been too fond of small cars. Big spaces and cheap gas has always encouraged larger vehicles, but a lack of genuinely talented small cars to choose from has also played a part. That's all changed in recent years, with most manufacturers now offering minicars, subcompacts and...

Plug-in car sales hit a new record in September--more than 5,500 sold in a single month--and there will likely be more records to come. But plug-in hybrids and battery electric cars are still unfamiliar to most U.S. car buyers, not to mention pricey. And there's increasing discussion that the...