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Nissan's big price cuts threatening others' profits

Bloomberg reports Nissan may be keeping the competition up at night even more than normal. The Japanese automaker recently cut prices on seven of its models and bolstered incentive offerings in an attempt to gain market share in the US, and the strategy is working. Last month saw the company's sales leap by 25 percent, which is nearly triple the industry average. Nissan is currently taking advantage of the weak yen - Japanese currency has fallen by 15 percent against the dollar, which has given the automaker around $1,500 per car to use to either add features or cut prices. Some analysts are calling the policy "scorched earth."
Meanwhile, American automakers like Ford, General Motors and Chrysler are doing their best to keep from sliding back into old bad habits. The Detroit Three have steadily moved away from a discount and incentive strategy to bring in new buyers since the 2009 recession. Those short-sighted tactics helped paved the way for bankruptcy at both GM and Chrysler. As Bloomberg reports, the resolve to stay away from big discounts may falter if Toyota begins using similar tactics.

Nissan Leaf sets new November sales record, Chevy Volt drops again

When you talk to people in the plug-in vehicle industry, one theme you hear repeatedly is that the more plug-in cars that are out there, the better things are for everyone. One reason is that more EVs build a need for more public chargers, and more chargers mean more people see that plugging in is feasible. But there's still something to be said for old-fashioned competition, and in the sales race between the two long-running plug-in vehicles in the US, the Nissan Leaf is resoundingly beating the Chevy Volt for 2014. In fact, it won't be long before the EV's cumulative sales top the PHEV's. But that's a topic for another month. For now, we have the sales results from November. Unsurprisingly, Nissan set another monthly record (that is, the best Leaf sales in any November, the 22nd time in a row we've seen a monthly record) with 2,687 sales last month. That's up 34 percent over last November and up 35 percent year-to-date. Toby Perry, Nissan's director of electric vehicle marketing, said in a statement that, "Our 'Kick Gas' ad campaign and 'No Charge to Charge' launch in Chicago and Atlanta drove an increase in November Leaf sales. Even with gas prices falling across the country, consumers appreciate that the cost of driving a Nissan Leaf is still a fraction of that of a gas-powered car." Over on the Chevy side of the ledger, there were 1,336 Volt sales last month, down 30.4 percent from the 1,920 sold in November 2013. So far this year, Volt sales are down 16.4 percent and Chevy has sold 17,315 Volts in 2014. As we said last month, the Volt slump might be due to people waiting on the new version to make an appearance at the Detroit Auto Show next month before going on sale in the second half of 2015. So far in 2014, Nissan has sold 27,098 Leafs. Look for our detailed post of US green car sales in the near future. Until then, please discuss last month's Leaf and Volt sale in the comments, below. News Source: Nissan, General Motors Green Chevrolet Nissan Electric Hybrid PHEV ev sales hybrid sales

2014 Nissan Leaf named overall cleanest car in US

A research firm has named the zero-emission 2014 Nissan Leaf the cleanest production vehicle in the US, and that's figuring in the full, wheel-to-well lifetime impact of the car on the environment. The Automotive Science Group (ASG) studied more than 1,300 automobiles with at least four seats across nine categories, measuring everything from the amount of fuel needed to run the car during its lifetime to the extraction of natural resources to build the thing in the first place to end-of-life processing. ASG calls the process "wildly complex." The battery-electric Leaf, with its 84-mile single-charge range, took top honors overall, but there were other highly ranked vehicles in different categories. ASG also said that the Mitsubishi Mirage, with its sub-2,000-pound curb weight and 40 miles per gallon fuel economy, was the cleanest among gas-powered vehicles, while the Chevrolet Spark had the lowest cast of ownership over five years. Last month, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) put together its annual "Greenest" and "Meanest" (notice: we didn't say "Cleanest") lists and put the Leaf at number three. Topping that list was the Smart ForTwo ED battery-electric, but that was followed up by the Toyota Prius C compact hybrid, so fans of those vehicles can now start a healthy debate. The ACEEE uses data from the Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board to compile its list. We have ASG's press release below. Life-cycle Assessment of 1,300 Models Reveals Best of 2014 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4 February 2014 [Santa Rosa, CA] – The Automotive Science Group (ASG) conducted a comprehensive life-cycle assessment of over 1,300 automobiles across nine categories to distinguish the BEST model year 2014 vehicles in environmental, economic, social and "all-around" performance. Auto consumers are now equipped with a car buying guide founded on principled facts, a departure from the notoriously subjective test drive "editor reviews" that have long been the industry norm. Using a unique combination of vehicle data inputs that include conventional specifications as well as ground-breaking social, environmental and economic performance indicators, ASG's back-end algorithms are wildly complex, but the front-end results – meaningful vehicle ratings and distinguished awards – are forthright and consumer-friendly. ASG's Automotive Performance Index is for automotive consumers what Google is for web users.