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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

Ghosn's first jail interview: I was the victim of 'plot and treason'

TOKYO — Carlos Ghosn said Nissan executives opposed to his plans for closer ties with automaking partner Renault SA resorted to "plot and treason" to disrupt them and were behind the financial misconduct allegations against him. Speaking to the Nikkei newspaper in his first media interview since his arrest on Nov. 19, Ghosn said he had discussed plans to integrate the companies with Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa in September. But Nissan executives employed "plot and treason" to uproot those plans, Ghosn said. Ghosn, who spearheaded Nissan's turnaround two decades ago, had pushed for a deeper tie-up between Nissan and Renault, including possibly a full merger, despite strong reservations at the Japanese corporation. He remains in detention following his arrest and indictment on charges related to breach of trust and understating his salary. His arrest has clouded the outlook for closer ties between Nissan and Renault, along with Mitsubishi Motors Corp, the third member of the automaking alliance Since his arrest, Saikawa has said it was not the time to discuss revising the partners' complex capital ties. Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors have dismissed Ghosn as chairman, while he has resigned from the helm at Renault. Ghosn denied accusations of improper payments to a company run by a Saudi businessman, saying the payment had been approved by a Nissan executive. Ghosn also called accusations by both Nissan and Mitsubishi that he received nearly 8 million euros in improper payment through a Dutch-based joint venture of the two automakers "a distortion of reality," and argued his luxury residences in Rio de Janeiro and Beirut were approved by Nissan's legal department. Nissan has said it was not aware that it had paid for many of Ghosn's properties. On Wednesday, a spokesman said that the company was unable to comment on Ghosn's legal defense. Ghosn, in the 20-minute interview, denied that his tenure at Nissan had been a "dictatorship." "People translated strong leadership to dictator, to distort reality" for the "purpose of getting rid of me," he said. Ghosn added that his health was fine, and that he wouldn't flee if freed on bail. Meanwhile, NHK reported that Saikawa plans to hold his first face-to-face discussion with new Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard on the sidelines of an alliance meeting in the Netherlands on Thursday.Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Question of the Day: Most heinous act of badge engineering?

Badge engineering, in which one company slaps its emblems on another company's product and sells it, has a long history in the automotive industry. When Sears wanted to sell cars, a deal was made with Kaiser-Frazer and the Sears Allstate was born. Iranians wanted new cars in the 1960s, and the Rootes Group was happy to offer Hillman Hunters for sale as Iran Khodro Paykans. Sometimes, though, certain badge-engineered vehicles made sense only in the 26th hour of negotiations between companies. The Suzuki Equator, say, which was a puzzling rebadge job of the Nissan Frontier. How did that happen? My personal favorite what-the-heck-were-they-thinking example of badge engineering is the 1971-1973 Plymouth Cricket. Chrysler Europe, through its ownership of the Rootes Group, was able to ship over Hillman Avanger subcompacts for sale in the US market. This would have made sense... if Chrysler hadn't already been selling rebadged Mitsubishi Colt Galants (as Dodge Colts) and Simca 1100s as (Simca 1204s) in its American showrooms. Few bought the Cricket, despite its cheery ad campaign. So, what's the badge-engineered car you find most confounding? Chrysler Dodge Automakers Mitsubishi Nissan Suzuki Automotive History question of the day badge engineering question