May EV sales

[mattjs33]

U.S. EV (and other variants) sales for May, courtesy of Automotive News (sorry, dedicated nameplates only):

Chevrolet Volt - 1680
Nissan Leaf - 510
Mitsubishi i - 85
Honda FCX Clarity - 0
Mercedes-Benz F-Cell - 0

Year-to-date:

Chevrolet Volt - 7057
Nissan Leaf - 2613
Mitsubishi i - 300
Honda FCX Clarity - 2
Mercedes-Benz F-Cell - 7

Tesla, Fisker, Wheego and Coda do not report sales figures.

 

[rolosrevenge]

Two thoughts:
1. I wonder how many of the Volts are GE fleet purchases
2. I wonder if LEAF sales are lower this year due to the impending Model S launch.

 

[Norbert]

2. I wonder if LEAF sales are lower this year due to the impending Model S launch.

Carlos Ghosn has said something in the direction that they'll keep US-allocated production/sales low volume until the US plant starts producing Leafs later this year (and/or waiting for US battery production to start).

 

[action7981]

So if Leaf sales stay consistent the Model S should be able to catch up with US sales before the end of the year. Does anyone know how many have been sold worldwide? I would think that Model S should be able to catch up with worldwide Leaf sales by mid next year? So is the Model S going to be able to claim the fastest selling plug-in ever?

 

[Grendal]

I wonder if Tesla will begin posting their sales with the Model S?

 

[mattjs33]

I wonder if Tesla will begin posting their sales with the Model S?

I've been wondering that also. They never have yet with the Roadster, so it will be interesting to see.

To me, reporting sales figures is a "real" manufacturer thing to do, so to speak. Some low volume manufacturers like Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Lotus only report at year-end, requiring AN to make monthly estimates. But others like Maserati and Bentley will report actual figures each month. But even though the numbers are small, there they are.

I was expecting to see newcomers McLaren and VPG appear in the charts, but not thus far (I think VPG is actually doing quite well in their unique niche). I guess some such makes don't want to publicize low sales figures, in case they might worry the investors? I don't know. Could that be the case with Fisker?

 

[jerry33]

In my opinion, there is little point in posting sales numbers unless you are selling enough to compete with the big boys. So I don't expect to see numbers until Bluestar.

 

[Yggdrasill]

They haven't put up the full statistics here yet, but it's looking promising from the initial numbers. A total of 304 electric cars were sold in May, and of these, 179 were Nissan Leafs. 304 electric cars sold means 2.41% of all cars sold in May were electric. That's up from April where 2.37% of all new cars sold were electric. Plug-in hybrids comes on top of that.

The good news is that the figures are pretty stable, so there's no indication that we are talking about high figures due to pent-up demand (which will subsequently subside). This seems to be the new reality, and the figures will in all probability increase with new, more capable, models.

 

[vfx]

Tesla like the Volt and Leaf are under a microscope. The haters are ready to pounce. I would favor not posting sales numbers good or bad. Best not to give ammo to OPEC and the JPs of the world.

 

[Todd Burch]

Tesla won't have to post sales numbers as a public company?

 

[jerry33]

Tesla won't have to post sales numbers as a public company?

No. They have to post sales dollars and other financial information. They don't have to post units sold. Some companies do, but it's not a requirement.

 

[Todd Burch]

No. They have to post sales dollars and other financial information. They don't have to post units sold. Some companies do, but it's not a requirement.

Interesting...I bet we all can get a pretty good estimate based on revenue.

 

[raymond]

I bet we all can get a pretty good estimate based on revenue.

Even if only 1% of Model-S buyers report in at TMC wouldn't VIN # be a good indication?

 

[jerry33]

Even if only 1% of Model-S buyers report in at TMC wouldn't VIN # be a good indication?

Certainly. But estimating by the last VIN posted isn't the same as publishing official numbers. That is, no one will run a story like "In Testamotorsclub it was estimated that there have been X Model S sold". But if it's officially announced then everyone and his brother will jump on it.

 

[mattjs33]

If you believe in Tesla, and you believe the Model S is going to be a game changer, then I can't understand why you wouldn't want Tesla to report Model S sales figures. What better way to show the rest of the industry that EVs can be a sales success? Wouldn't it be fascinating to see the sales grow month-by-month?

For years now everyone on this forum has been saying how great the Model S will be, just wait till the Model S, nothing else can compare, Tesla will show the majors how to do it right. So why the resistance to have Tesla report sales? Are you worried that Tesla will have a Fisker-like experience, and fall dismally short of predicted sales?

If Tesla wants to play with the big boys, they should walk the walk.

 

[doug]

Tesla, Fisker, Wheego and Coda do not report sales figures.

Is Wheego still in business? Fisker recently announced (via press release) that they had delivered 1000 Karmas (worldwide, I believe).

Even if only 1% of Model-S buyers report in at TMC wouldn't VIN # be a good indication?

That would yield a reasonable estimate.

... no one will run a story like "In Testamotorsclub it was estimated that there have been X Model S sold". But if it's officially announced then everyone and his brother will jump on it.

I suppose by "no one" you mean major news outlets. But the car blogs have no problem posting estimates based on what we say here.

 

[jerry33]

If they sell ~20,000 a year that means ~1700 a month. While it's quite good it's not many compared to old fashioned cars models that sell 20,000 a month (The Prius also sells about that many). The positive spin will be that Tesla is selling all it can make (which can be said with no actual numbers), the negative spin will be Tesla sales are less 10% of more popular car models--and that's if they make the targets. Now I'd like to believe that once the Model S is in the hands of the first 5,000 there will be a flood of orders (every Model S gets two new customers), however, it might not happen, or it might happen slower than expected.

My crystal ball is just not that good so I would rather not give any ammunition to the nay-sayers. I recall what it was like in the early days of the Prius. I was interviewed on a news program talking about the safety of rescue workers. There was a lot of negativity with so-called facts. Now the nay-sayers are reduced to name calling because the facts don't match the nay-sayers' propaganda. Tesla is making a much bigger leap than Toyota so I think there will be a lot more nay-sayers.

 

[jerry33]

I suppose by "no one" you mean major news outlets. But the car blogs have no problem posting estimates based on what we say here.

Right, but the average person doesn't read car blogs and tends to discount what they say (even though they often have better facts than the major news outlets). People who are "into" cars have already made their minds up positively or negatively so it's not going to change. Also there is a difference between "We sold 1000 cars this year" and "In May 2012, 376 cars were sold".

 

[mattjs33]

Is Wheego still in business?

They are, but notable is that the LiFe has not yet been certified for MY2012. Wheego is awaiting an exemption for stability control system, which is required for MY2012 cars.

 

[stopcrazypp]

If you believe in Tesla, and you believe the Model S is going to be a game changer, then I can't understand why you wouldn't want Tesla to report Model S sales figures. What better way to show the rest of the industry that EVs can be a sales success? Wouldn't it be fascinating to see the sales grow month-by-month?

It would be fascinating, but at the same time it'll only give more ammunition to anti-EV people and people who over-analyze changes month to month (the same thing is happening to the Leaf and the Volt). Even if the Model S sells as expected, the sales will still be paltry compared to more established makes. I don't see a need to report month-by-month until the Bluestar comes out. There's a lot of big car companies that don't regularly report sales of specific models (they only do if the sales are excellent).