sales
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When people think of Texas, there’s always certain stereotypes associated with it: cowboys, twangs, conservative politics, boots, guns and big, gas-guzzling trucks. While some stereotypes are rooted in truth, Texas can surprise you. Like when people actually visit a major city and realize that most Texans are neither cowboys nor all heavily accented. Or when a former Texas oilman becomes a champion for clean energy. Or when West Texas becomes the largest wind-producing region in the U.S., and the first smart grid rollout in the country takes place in Austin. And when Houston (where I...
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Which Is Selling Better: 2011 Chevy Volt Or 2011 Nissan Leaf?The first business day of every month is when automakers release sales data for the previous month. Today, we got January's sales figures, which are an improvement over last January's. But the question that we keep hearing is: Which sells better, the 2011 Nissan Leaf or the 2011 Chevrolet Volt?...
John Voelcker -
How Are Car Dealers Getting Ready to Service Electric Cars?As we've discovered, some car dealers are less than enthusiastic about the prospect of selling and servicing electric cars. Luckily, others are more game. Either way, what can you expect from your local electric car dealership when you take your shiny new EV in for a service? Training You'd be...
Antony Ingram -
2011 Scion iQ Minicar Sales Delayed Until This SummerIf you're eagerly waiting for the first 2011 Scion iQ minicar to show up at your dealer, sit down and have a nice cup of tea. You're going to have wait a bit longer. Scion's parent, Toyota, is delaying the U.S. launch of the iQ, originally scheduled to happen by March of this year, to sometime this...
John Voelcker -
GM Leads Nissan In December Electric Car Sales As Supply Trickles InChevy’s electric hybrid vehicle, the Volt, beat out the cheaper Nissan Leaf in electric car sales in the last month of 2010 as each manufacturer struggled to keep up with demand for their newest rides, the Associated Press reported today. The Volt went into production in mid-November and hit...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
Want To Buy a Toyota Prius Hybrid? This Is The Month To Do ItAuto executives always want you to buy their cars, today. That goes without saying. But it's slightly less common for them to say, in effect, "This is the month to buy, 'cause we're going to be discounting the heck out of 'em." Nonetheless, that was the message from Bob Carter, Toyota's group vice...
John Voelcker -
Today's small cars are better than they've ever been, even if few of them are among the EPA's all-time gas mileage champs. And spurred by tighter fuel-economy laws, 40 miles per gallon on the highway is becoming the new target for subcompact and even compact cars. There's just one little problem: Not only are 40-mpg models not selling particularly well, the whole small-car segment is anemic at best. As auto sales have started to recover, the fastest growing segment is midsize sport utilities and crossovers. According to sales data from Ward's Auto, small cars have been the only segment to...
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Is Demand For Electric Cars Overhyped? J.D. Power Thinks SoWith a fanfare going up for every new electric car that hits the market at the moment, you'd be forgiven for thinking we're only a few short steps away from widespread EV adoption. According to marketing information services firm J.D. Power though, this might not be the case. According to the...
Antony Ingram -
Toyota Sells Its Two-Millionth Prius Hybrid ... And CountingWe missed a milestone a couple of weeks ago: Toyota built and sold its two-millionth Prius hybrid earlier this month. The first-generation Prius, the world's first production hybrid-electric vehicle, was launched in Japan late in 1997. It stayed a low-volume car for several years, and wasn't...
John Voelcker -
Ten Things We'd Like To Tell Automakers About EV PublicityAutomakers have had it tough over the past few years. An economic downturn, consumers looking for ever-fuel efficient vehicles and everyone clambering to make it to marketplace first. But just what do automakers need to keep in mind when advertising their first electric vehicle. We assume that any...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Plug-In Electric Vehicle Sales To Top 3.2 Million By 2015With several big electric vehicle launches due over the next few years and order books filling up quickly, we're sure to start seeing more of them on the roads. Research agency Pike Research has announced that combined sales of full-electric (battery electric, or BEV) vehicles and plug-in hybrid...
Antony Ingram -
Global Toyota Prius Hybrid Sales Level Off As Incentives EndTalk about up-again, down-again. It was just a year ago when a global shortages of 2010 Toyota Prius models kept supplies tight all over the world. Now, they may start to pile up on dealer lots again. Last summer, the company had just launched the all-new 2010 Prius, the third generation of the...
John Voelcker -
It's been the most anticipated all-electric car of 2010 with well over 13,000 pre-orders in the U.S. alone. We've driven one twice and loved the car's well-finished trim, impressive handling and accurate range calculations using the car's built-in GPS. Our very own Marty Padgett is one of the 13,000 people who has parted with $99 of cash to be placed on the waiting list, but until tomorrow no-one has been able to do any more than wait. But that's all set to change. According to Washington state based Volkswagen and Nissan dealer CampbellNelson, posting on MyNissanLeaf.com, Nissan will open...
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Not All Nissan Dealers Will Initially Specialize In 2011 LeafRemember how we found out a few weeks ago that some Nissan dealers in the U.K. were blissfully unaware of specifics of Nissan's first publicly sold production electric car? According to the dealers we spoke to, the 2011 Nissan Leaf would charge to full in ten minutes, would not be eligible for...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Ouch! Honda Yanks Civic Hybrid AND Insight Off Sale In Canada[UPDATE: Honda Canada later clarified to Autoblog Green that it was not removing the cars from sale, but merely selling down available stocks, and that it would order more units from Japan when and if customer sales actually depleted its supplies of either model.] As early as last year's U.S. sales...
John Voelcker -
Coda Automotive Aims For Perfect Sales Cadence To End 2010The end of 2010 is seen by many in the automotive industry as the first hurdle for many budding electric car companies. By the end of 2010 both Chevrolet and Nissan will have plug in vehicles on the market, both at prices that will outcompete much of the competition. For the smaller automakers...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
What Do Nissan Dealers Really Know About The 2011 Leaf?It's hardly a secret that the 2011 Nissan Leaf is one of the most anticipated electric cars this year. Nissan now has over 20,000 customers who have paid $99 to be placed on the waiting list, securing a place in electric car history. But as with any new car roll-out, those who eagerly sign up for a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
U.S. Most Likely To Lead Electric Car Growth, Report SaysInternational research consultancy firm McKinsey has just released the latest of its reports on electric cars, placing the U.S. ahead of other countries when it comes to electric car adoption. Taking into account nine variables likely to influence investment in the electric car sector such as...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Super sexy Silicon Silicone Valley darlings Tesla Motors might be feeling a little motion sickness after the ups and downs of its first two weeks on the stock market, but its most recent hire brings a whole new level of retail chic to its aggressive sales plans. You'd be forgiven for thinking that Tesla had already got the art of selling its six-figure roadster down to a fine art. With stores opening on a monthly basis worldwide, customers are ever-closer to the Tesla experience. But for Tesla, which plans to launch its seven seat all-electric Tesla Model S luxury sedan by 2013, the more...
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U.S. Buyers Save Less Using EVs (But It's Not About Payback)Auto industry analysts get paid to issue reports, and most of them are vastly better at data analysis and number crunching than we'll ever be. That doesn't mean, however, that sometimes their data isn't misleading. It's important to keep context in mind, and not miss the forest for the trees...
John Voelcker -
90 Percent Of Nissan Leaf Customers New To BrandThe 2011 Nissan Leaf has been a runaway success for Nissan, with the Japanese automaker already taking in 14,000 reservations for the cute electric vehicle and order books filled out well into next year. The first Leafs--or is it Leaves?--will hit the streets in December and the big surprise is...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
2010 Nissan Leaf Hits Japanese Sales Goals, 60% of Pre-orders from Baby BoomersNissan announced this morning that Japanese pre-order sales for its 2011 Leaf electric car have enabled the company to meet its fiscal 2010 domestic sales target before the car even hits the showrooms. The fully electric hatchback will be sold in Japan later this year at a cost of ¥3.76 million...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2010 Toyota Prius Is Japan's Best-Selling Car For Entire YearSales of the 2010 Toyota Prius are booming in the U.S., up more than 50 percent over last year during April alone. But they're way better yet in Japan, where the 2010 Prius has just completed a full year as the country's best-selling car. Toyota sold 26,482 Prius models in Japan during April...
John Voelcker -
Nissan Announce Leaf Pricing in E.U., Confirm Three More EVsNissan Europe have announced the pricing structure for the European rollout of the 2011 Nissan Leaf. The Leaf car has received a huge number of reservations in the U.S already and will be launched in Europe in three stages. Nissan plans to release just one model of the Leaf in Europe, as oppose...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield