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Nissan Leaf hits 3,000 sales in July, Chevy Volt climbs over 2,000

It was a good sales month for both the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt, with the two 'elder statesman' plug-in vehicles reaching numerical milestones in July. The Leaf sold 3,019 units and the Volt crossed the 2,000 sales level for the first time in 2014, hitting 2,020 sales. With Tesla also announcing it is delivering around 2,500 Model S EVs a month (but that's globally, compared to the US-only numbers for the Volt and Leaf we're talking about here) and Ford's plug-in vehicles selling well, we are certainly in a golden moment for EV sales. The Volt was a bright spot for the Bowtie brand last month. For the Volt, the 2,020 units sold represents a 13 percent increase from July of 2013 even thought year-to-date sales are down 8.7 percent this year compared to last year. Overall, total Chevrolet deliveries for July 2014 were up eight percent compared to 2013, so the Volt was a bright spot for the Bowtie brand last month. On the Leaf front, this is only the second time that the EV has sold more than 3,000 units in a month (the other being in May of this year). The year-over-year increase for the Leaf was 62 percent in July and represents the 17th straight month of record sales, as Nissan is more than happy to report each month. Overall, Leaf sales are up 34.6 percent, year-to-date, and Nissan's director of Leaf sales and infrastructure, Brendan Jones, said in a statement that a free public charging incentive was responsible. "Since we launched the No Charge to Charge promotion in the first 10 markets, we've seen a surge in Leaf sales in those areas. Leaf sales in the northeastern US are also picking up with new tax incentives for Massachusetts and Maryland residents." With No Charge To Charge set to expand to 25 markets over the next year, we expect Leaf sales to continue to grow. We will have our monthly look at all green car sales available soon, so stay tuned. Green Chevrolet Nissan Electric PHEV ev sales

Race Recap: 2013 Twelve Hours of Sebring, cakewalk up front, grindfest out back [w/spoilers]

This year's 12 Hours of Sebring wasn't exactly a foregone conclusion because we're still talking about racing, and anything can happen when the speeds are as high as the adrenaline and the desire. But we're still talking about Audi bringing it's two top-spec racers - and its huge budget and its nearly neurotic attention to detail - to a race that it uses as a test bed for The 24 Hours of Le Mans and as a way to open the endurance racing season with a victory.
Besides, 12 hours is a long time, especially at Sebring, and things didn't go all Audi's way. On top of that, although it was a pretty quiet race, behind the Audis things got even grimier, with plenty of battles, plenty of mechanical issues, and the new BMW Z4 GTE and Viper GTS-R being race tested. Oh, and that brand new chromed-out DeltaWing...

2016 Chevy Volt to make auto show debut this season

Ever since we saw that spy shots of the 2016 Chevy Volt, we've been hungering for more information on the next-gen version of GM's green halo car. It appears we might not have long to wait, at least for an official tease. An inside source that wishes to remain anonymous told AutoblogGreen that GM will make two announcements regarding the second-gen Volt at the CAR Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, MI next week. The first, and most intriguing, is that that we will get our first glimpse of the new Volt at some point during the upcoming auto show season. That means either Los Angeles later this year or else Detroit, Chicago or New York in early 2015. The second bit of news is that GM will be moving production of the electric motors from Mexico to Michigan. Details and official confirmation are, of course, missing and Chevrolet declined comment to AutoblogGreen. We should know more next week.