So far, Nissan’s all-electric Leaf has been the winner in the battle with the Volt extended-range hybrid, clearly outselling Chevy’s offering for the first half of 2011.
But not anymore: for the first time since the two models went on sale, GM announced that it sold 1,108 units in October, an increase of almost 50% over September’s 723 sales.
This is the first time Chevy’s hybrid outsold its main rival in the U.S. market, the Nissan Leaf, which last month sold 849 units compared to September’s figure of 1,031 deliveries.
Although sales of the Volt seem to pick up, this doesn’t mean that GM will accomplish the ambitious targets of 10,000 units it has set for its hybrid. In fact, it still lags behind the Leaf in overall sales: in the first 10 months year the Leaf has sold 8,048 units, 3,000 more than the Volt’s 5,003.
Don Johnson, GM sales vice president, insists that the company “will keep pushing” in order to achieve its sales targets. This means that, for the two remaining months of 2011, it will have to double October’s record to 2,500 units.
Adding 200 more dealers to its U.S. Volt network, which now numbers 2,200 dealerships in 27 states, and another 200 by year’s end in all 50 states will surely help, but it remains to be seen whether it will be enough.
Despite increasing the price of the 2012MY base version by $2,400 compared to the 2011 model, Nissan has added extra features to the Leaf. It also made a modest increase in lease pricing, from $349 to $369 a month.
GM did the exact opposite: it lowered its 2012 base model price by $1,005 and offered new options, but increased its monthly lease rate from $350 in 2011 to $399.
Story References: Detnews
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