Electric Cars See Sales Spike on Price Cuts, Incentives
Incentives and price cuts boosted electric vehicle sales in June.
Sales of Nissan’s Leaf are up 315 percent to 2,225 units compared to June 2012. At the 2013 Detroit Auto Show, Nissan announced a 13 percent price cut for the Leaf, bringing the starting price down to $28,800 for the 2013 model. Nissan has moved 9,849 units in the first half of 2013, already eclipsing the 9,819 it sold in all of 2012.
Over at Chevy, customers can get $5,000 off 2012 model year Volts and $4,000 off 2013 models. That helped to facilitate a 53 percent increase in sales year-over-year, and an 11.8 percent increase compared to the first half of 2012.
Honda managed to sell more Fit EVs in June 2013 than it did in the entire year of 2012, moving 208 units. In May of 2013, Honda announced a new $259 a month lease price with zero due at signing. Current lease holders were also afforded the price drop.
At the beginning of the year, Ford also dropped its prices for its Focus EV, moving from about $350 a month to $285, plus $930 due at signing for lease customers. Base price also dropped on the car about $2,000 to $37,995. Even with incentives, Ford’s EVs seem to be moving the slowest, with the brand only selling 157 in May 2013. As of publication time, Focus EV sales for June 2013 were not available.
Discuss this story at gasstinks.com
Stephen covers all of the day-to-day events of the industry as the News Editor at AutoGuide, along with being the AG truck expert. His truck knowledge comes from working long days on the woodlot with pickups and driving straight trucks professionally. When not at his desk, Steve can be found playing his bass or riding his snowmobile or Sea-Doo. Find Stephen on <A title="@Selmer07 on Twitter" href="http://www.twitter.com/selmer07">Twitter</A> and <A title="Stephen on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/117833131531784822251?rel=author">Google+</A>
More by Stephen Elmer
Comments
Join the conversation