As with the previous months, American automakers did pretty well, while Japanese did not. Buoyed by a 51-percent jump in sales for the Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in, General Motors’ green-car sales were up 23 percent from a year earlier to about 3,000 units. Ford’s green car sales were also up, albeit slightly, advancing about 2 percent to 6,626 units. Fusion Hybrid and Fusion Energi Plug-in Hybrid sales rose 23 percent and 50 percent, respectively, and that more than offset declines in Ford C-Max hybrid and PHEV sales.
Nissan Leaf EV demand continued to be hampered by its lack of updates.
On the downside, Toyota’s green-car sales fell 8.9 percent from a year earlier to about 24,000 units. The automaker’s four Prius variants’ sales declined 27 percent from a year earlier, more than offsetting the benefit of selling 4,919 RAV4 Hybrids in August. Nissan Leaf EV demand continued to be hampered by its lack of updates, with sales down 23 percent to 1,066 units.
Honda fared worse, with green-car sales tumbling 51 percent from a year earlier to 1,190 units. Civic Hybrid and Insight sales have all but disappeared, while Accord Hybrid sales dropped 35 percent from a year earlier to 890 units.
Meanwhile, BMW’s green-car sales rose 16 percent to 1,158 units on increased demand for the i3 EV.
Through August, green-car sales fell to about 276,000 units from more than 353,000 a year earlier, while plug-in vehicle sales rose about 8 percent to more than 71,000 units.
