Strong June sales push Chevy Volt ahead of Nissan Leaf for first time since February

The flash report for monthly sales for the two best-selling plug-in vehicles* is here, and it was a big turnaround month for the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid. Chevy’s halo car sold no more than 1,626 units in any month this year, so June’s sales of 2,698 Volts must be a pleasant surprise for the General. It was also the best June sales month ever for the Volt and a 53.3 percent increase over 2012, making it the first time since February that the Volt outsold the Leaf, for those of you keeping a running tally on the two EVs.

Turning to the all-electric Nissan Leaf, it held steady at 2,225 units last month, up around 100 units from May but way up from the 535 Leafs sold in June 2012. Thanks to a new, lower price and domestic production, the Leaf has been outselling the Volt for most of the year so far, but June’s big jump from the Volt means that, year to date, the Chevy has now sold 16 more units than Nissan’s EV, 9,855 to 9,839. The Leaf has already sold more in the first six months of 2013 than it did in all of 2012 (when it sold 9,819 units). The Volt is a bit ahead of it’s 2012 numbers, since it sold 8,817 through June that year. In all of 2012, Chevy sold 23,461 Volts. For now, then, let’s call the first half of 2013 a tie and see where July takes us. As always, we’ll have full coverage of the green car sales scene ready for you shortly.

*As far as we know, anyway, since Tesla Motors remains resolutely quiet about Model S sales unless the SEC forces the company to say something.