May EV sales

[mattjs33]

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".

Keep in mind that Automotive News is a trade magazine and not exactly widely read. I think you would have difficulty finding a copy at retail. So while the figures sometimes get picked up by the blogs and such, it's not like the general public can get a hold of them. For that matter I'm not sure the general public really cares.

To a car nerd like me, I'm all over that sales chart when it comes out every month! Always fascinating to see the trends and the new releases, how they are selling.

[mattjs33]

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).

I can't think of one who doesn't. The makes that do not offer a model-by-model breakdown are limited to the likes of Ferrari and Lotus.

[stopcrazypp]

I can't think of one who doesn't. The makes that do not offer a model-by-model breakdown are limited to the likes of Ferrari and Lotus.

I remember in one of the Autobloggreen sales analysis, they weren't able to give the broken down number for Toyota because there were some hybrid models Toyota didn't report (they only gave an aggregate number).

I also remember looking up sales figures for the E-class and 5-series and there not being a per-model breakdown chart every single month (the press release only mentions the models that did well, some of the worse selling models like the R-class were not mentioned).

Perhaps I'm not looking at the right sources, but my impression is not every automaker consistently has a chart every single month.

[mattjs33]

Well, yeah, I guess what I said was a bit misleading. Automotive News' charts will group together certain models lines such as 5-Series and E-Class (M-B has too many models as it is), but they are reporting R-Class sales every month. Unfortunately as you said there is no distiction made between a hybrid Camry or a regular one. That's why I note only dedicated EV nameplates, as they are unique EV models. But sure enough, Toyota reported selling a mere 3 Lexus LFA's last month, for example. And it's always funny watching the sales diminish of cancelled models (still 5 Chevy Aveos sold last month). So their charts are pretty thorough and complete, and as far as I understand are widely considered "official," at least here in the U.S.

[vfx]

As Doug said, the auto press reports on what we say here. That brings a wide readership to the "news" we supply. Then a major publication picks up on the auto blog reporting and it's suddenly watercooler talk.

Again, Nissan and Chevy are getting reamed for not making the numbers they predicted. As someone here said, Tesla is striving to make Niche car maker. But they bought a big factory as say their goal is to be a major maker. People will take that as the Model S as that halo car and attack them for only selling 20,000 units. We will probably have to soon start defending Tesla for not selling Toyota numbers as the haters mock the niche numbers.

[Adm]

EV-sales in the Netherlands:

Chevrolet Volt: 27
Citroen C-Zero: 2
Fisker Karma: 13
Mitsubishi iMiEV: 6
Nissan Leaf: 14
Opel Ampera: 358
Peugeot Ion: 42
Renault Fluence: 1

Total of 463/47628 = 0.9% of May 2012 car sales

[VolkerP]

Looks like June will put the Netherlands over 1%. Hopefully for the time coming!

[Yggdrasill]

Full figures for Norway:

Car brand/model:	May:	April:	March:	February:	January:	Year to date:
Nissan Leaf:	179	113	179	214	210	895
Mitsubishi I-MiEV:	72	59	83	53	30	297
Peugeot iOn:	13	61	25	24	8	131
Citroen C-Zero:	37	20	28	17	7	109
Tesla Roadster:	3	4	4	0	2	13
Think City:	1	0	5	1	0	7
Mia Electric:	0	1	0	0	0	1
Opel Ampera:	2	11	4	2	0	19
Fisker Karma:	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total:	307	269	328	311	257	1472
Percent of total sales:	2.434%	2.473%	2.513%	2.847%	2.371%	2.525%

[Norbert]

Wow, 2.5% !

[Yggdrasill]

Wow, 2.5% !

Just wait until the Model S comes on the market, along with other models. I'm sure we'll see 10% within 5 years.