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Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt have best sales month of 2015

Things are trending upwards for the two best-selling plug-in vehicles in the US. Both the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf had their best sales month of 2015 in May, with the Volt selling 1,618 units and the Leaf moving 2,104. The upward swings come at an interesting time, with lots of excess first-gen Volts waiting for buyers and some buyers already ordering their second-gen Volts. So far in 2015, the Leaf has outsold the Volt 7,742 to 4,397. While 7,700 Leafs is respectable, it's nowhere near the numbers that Nissan will have to hit to reach the 50,000 annual sales that CEO Carlos Ghosn says is possible in the US. Still, the Leaf had its best sales month since December 2014 (when it sold 3,102 units) in May, but last month was still down 32.5 percent compared to May 2014. Despite the smaller overall number, May represents a big positive for Chevy, which has seen sluggish sales for the Volt for a long while now. The 1,618 Volts sold last month are only 3.9 percent lower than the 1,684 sold in May 2014 and May 2015 was the best month for Volt sales since August 2014. Perhaps salesmen are ready to make deals, what with thousands sitting around on dealer lots right now. The next-gen Volt is due this fall, and the order books (in California, at least) opened up this week. Like every month, our full wrap-up of green car sales in the US is coming soon (the VW e-Golf, for example, hit a best-ever high of 410 sales). Until then, feel free to discuss the Volt and Leaf sales figures in the Comments. Green Chevrolet Nissan Electric Hybrid ev sales hybrid sales

The Tesla Model S was the best-selling EV of 2015

According to numbers crunched over at Hybrid Cars, the Tesla Model S was the best selling pure electric vehicle last year with 50,366 deliveries. These numbers might not tell the whole story, since Tesla reports deliveries made in 2015 that might have been sold in a different calendar year, while other makers are tallying sales. However, it's inarguable that the Model S ended up in more worldwide driveways than the second-place Nissan Leaf, which did about 43,000 sales. In the US alone, Leaf sales were down 42.8 percent year-on-year, from 30,200 in 2014 to 17,269 last year, and that decline also increased throughout the year. That marks a great finish to a great start to 2015, when Tesla took the lead in EV sales in the US for the first quarter. On top of that, as of last year the Model S becomes the second-best selling EV ever, with 107,148 deliveries since the middle of 2012. It trails the Nissan Leaf, with well over 200,000 worldwide sales. The Chevrolet Volt/Opel Ampera combo takes a close third, with about 106,000 sales. The Nissan and Chevy rivals both launched at the end of 2010, a 16-month head start on the Tesla. Down the charts, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV which continues to be forbidden fruit for our market notched 39,000 sales. The BYD Qin PHEV sold 31,898 examples in China, and BYD would take the overall victory from Tesla with 58,728 deliveries if you counted all of its EV and PHEV production, such as its electric buses. The BMW i3 nabbed fourth place with 24,057 global sales. In 2011 the Munich automaker said it wanted to sell 30,000 i3s annually by 2014, but by the time the car launched the company considered 15,000 annual sales 'great for now,' so the 2015 number seems a fine place to wind up. Related Video: News Source: Hybrid Cars Green BMW Chevrolet Mitsubishi Nissan Tesla

Nissan cooks up throwback livery for Le Mans

Nissan may not have won the overall 24 Hours of Le Mans before – Mazda remains the only Japanese automaker to have done so – but when it returns to Le Mans this year, it will be armed with other bragging rights. And it's that past accomplishment that Nissan is celebrating with this throwback livery. Twenty-five years ago, Mark Blundell set a blistering qualifying lap in the No. 24 Nissan R90CK, lapping La Sarthe in 3:27.020. That was enough to put the Datsun on pole for the race, and though it never made it to the finish line, it set a record that stands to this day when it hit 227 miles per hour on the Mulsanne straight – even with the chicanes in place. That car wore a blue livery with white and red that still holds a place of honor in the hearts of racing fans. So to mark its return to Le Mans a quarter century later, Nissan is decking out its new GT-R LM Nismo in a tribute livery that will be worn by the third entry the company will be fielding in the race. Nissan celebrates 1990 pole lap of Le Mans with retro livery for LM P1 car LE MANS, France – Nissan today revealed a very special livery that will feature on the No.21 Nissan GT-R LM NISMO at Le Mans. Exactly 25 years ago, at the peak of the Group C era, Mark Blundell put the Nissan R90CK on pole position with a stunning 3:27.020 lap of the Le Mans circuit. The No.21 Nissan GT-R LM NISMO is Nissan's third LM P1 car that will be raced by current Super GT Champion Tsugio Matsuda (JAP) and two winners of GT Academy, Lucas Ordonez (ESP) and Mark Shulzhitskiy (RUS). The No.24 Nissan R90CK will also appear at Le Mans in a special parade to mark the anniversary of the pole lap in the hands of the man who took it to the top of the tables 25 years ago, Mark Blundell. The 1100bhp car may not reach speeds of 366 km/h (227 mph) as it did in 1990, but it is certain to grab everyone's attention. "That lap of Le Mans is certainly a very fond memory for me," said Blundell. "It was one of those moments where time stood still and everything went perfectly. You remember those moments, as they don't happen all that often. It's great to see Nissan celebrating that time with the retro livery on the #21 Nissan GT-R LM NISMO. I can't wait to see it on track at Le Mans." "Our racing heritage is hugely important to us," said Darren Cox, Global Head of Brand, Marketing & Sales, NISMO.