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Nissan Leaf has 2nd-best sales month ever, Chevy Volt does a 2013 repeat [UPDATE]

UPDATE: The official press release says that "Volt [sales were] up 7 percent," but Randy Fox let AutoblogGreen know that this is simply due to a change in the fleet/retail mix between March 2013 and 2014. The actual number sold was exactly the same in the two months. A month ago, Nissan's director of EV sales and marketing, Toby Perry, said he expected to see the Leaf's sales momentum continue into March. It wasn't a big leap, since January and February were slow sales months in 2013 (around 640 each) before a big climb to 2,200 in March. In 2014, the first two months of the year were better (around 1,300 each) but Nissan can still be happy that the Leaf just had the best March ever and its second-highest sales month ever, with 2,507 sold. That's a 12.1 percent increase from 2013 and Perry said in a statement to AutoblogGreen that one reason is all of the buyers who are becoming evangelists for the vehicle. "We've also seen an increase in showroom traffic as we enhanced our marketing presence in March," he said. Nissan pointed to cities like Washington, DC, Raleigh-Durham, NC and urban areas in Texas as strong Leaf markets last month. On the Chevy Volt front, January and February were also slow months in 2014, down roughly half from the 2,000-ish the plug-in hybrid was selling at the end of 2013. For 2014, sales were up slightly from the first two months of the year and Chevy spokesman Randy Fox told AutoblogGreen that the March number was "pretty flat, year-over-year." Even with that warning, we were surprised to see the total come in at 1,478. Why's that? Because the total for March 2013 was ... 1,478. So, yeah, that's pretty steady even if there were 26 selling days in March period this year compared to 27 last year. As always, our more complete report of last month's green car sales will be coming soon. News Source: General Motors, Nissan Green Chevrolet GM Nissan Electric Hybrid PHEV ev sales

2015 Nissan Murano configurator is lux'd and loaded

We just got done driving the all-new, 2015 Nissan Murano and while you'll have to wait just a few more hours for our complete driving impressions, you can at least get online and build your very own example of Nissan's latest CUV, thanks to the company's new configurator. While Nissan has already published the Murano's starting price, this is our first glimpse at the full pricing details. As we said, prices start at $29,650, not counting an $885 destination charge. From there, things, um, increase. Moving from the base S to the mid-level SV will require an extra $3,060, and adds navigation with the NissanConnect telematics system, a power driver's seat, LED running lights, remote start and a USB port for backseat passengers. An additional $4,330 moves you up to the Murano SL, adding heated leather seats, a Bose stereo, AroundView monitoring, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, a power liftgate and blind-spot monitoring with cross-traffic alert. At the top of the range sits the Platinum, starting at $39,000 ($2,050 more than the SL). It includes 20-inch wheels, LED headlights, climate-controlled front seats, heated rear seats and a heated steering wheel. Regardless of trim, Nissan customers will get about with the help of a 3.5-liter V6 that's been mated up to an Xtronic continuously variable transmission. Adding the optional all-wheel-drive system will bump up the CUV's price an additional $1,600. Head over to the configurator and build your own ideal Murano.

Total auto recalls already on record pace in 2014

If you've noticed that there have been more recalls than usual this year, you may be on to something. According to a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the US market is on pace to break a record for recalls. In 2013, 22 million cars were recalled. We're only a third of the way through 2014, though, and we've already halved that figure, with 11 million units recalled. That's wild.
Considering the past few months, it shouldn't be a surprise that General Motors is leading the charge, with six million of the 11 million units recalled coming from one of the General's four brands. Between truck recalls, CUV recalls and the ignition switch recall, 2014 hasn't been a great year for GM.
Other recall leaders include Nissan (one million Sentra and Altima sedans), Honda (900,000 Odyssey minivans), Toyota (over one million units in a few recalls), Volkswagen (150,000 Passat sedans), Chrysler (644,000 Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs) and most recently, Ford (434,000 units, the bulk of which were early Ford Escape CUVs). So while it's been a bad year for GM so far, its competitors aren't doing too well, either.