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
Friday, May 4, 2012
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