2014 US Nissan LEAF Sales Top 30,000 — Sales Record For Any Electric Car
The Nissan LEAF set yet another sales record in 2014, as per the most recent numbers — becoming the first plug-in vehicle ever to see sales of more than 30,000 units in a single year.
To be precise, there were 30,200 LEAFs sold last year in the US — marking a pretty good improvement on the previous year’s sales number of 22,610 units. Given the continuing praise of the electric car, it seems pretty likely that 2015 will see sales of the LEAF continue to grow — over 40,000 units sold in 2015 perhaps?
Worldwide, LEAF sales were up to about 60,000, also a record.
“Now in its fifth model year, Nissan LEAF is more popular than ever and continues to bring new buyers to Nissan,” stated Brendan Jones, director, Nissan Electric Vehicle Sales and Infrastructure. “From the beginning our vision was to bring electric vehicles to the mass market in a practical and fun-to-drive package, which is what makes Nissan LEAF the best-selling electric car in the world.”
December 2014, in particular, saw very strong sales of the LEAF — with Nissan selling a total of 3,102 of the electric cars in the US. Up just about 22.7% from the previous year, and, unsurprisingly, representing the best December ever for the company’s LEAF sales.
For a reminder of why exactly the company has seen such good sales of its flagship EV, here’s an overview from the company itself:
With seating for up to five passengers, the all-electric Nissan LEAF boasts an EPA-estimated driving range of 84 miles on a fully-charged battery and MPGe ratings of 126 city, 101 highway and 114 combined.
The starting price of a Nissan LEAF is about $22,000 after the available maximum $7,500 federal tax credit, and LEAF offers the benefits of lower running costs and less scheduled maintenance. LEAF offers a wide range of standard equipment plus a variety of available premium features such as leather seats, 17-inch alloy wheels and 7-speaker BOSE® energy efficient audio system.
Despite the fact that I don’t drive (and don’t intend to), the LEAF has always seemed to me to be the most generally attractive (as far as performance and costs) of the electric vehicles out there currently. It’s not surprising that it has done so well so far. How long it can stay at “the top” will be interesting to find out. I’m especially curious about what effect the release of Tesla’s “affordable” model will have. But, by then, the question is, what will Nissan have on the market?
Image Credit: Nissan Motors
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