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Nissan Leaf sales double Chevy Volt to close out winning 2014

To close out the year, sales of the two most-popular plug-in vehicles in the US kept going in the direction that they had been all year. The Chevy Volt dropped and the Nissan Leaf had another record month. Sound familiar? The Volt sold 1,490 units in December, a year-to-year drop of 37.7 percent. For all of 2014, Volt sales were down 18.6 percent to just 18,805 (from 23,094 in 2013). On the Nissan side of the ledger, the Leaf sold 3,102 units, up 22.7 percent from the 2,529 sold in December 2013. For the year, Nissan sold 30,200 Leafs, up 33.6 percent from the 22,610 sold in 2013. A few other things to note: For every month in 2014, the Leaf sold more than it did for the same month in 2013. For the Volt, this was only true for three months (April, May and July). Funnily enough, the Volt sold exactly 1,478 units in both March 2013 and 2014. The Volt's 2014 total was lower than both 2013 and 2012, while the Leaf had its best year ever. There were three months in 2014 when people bought at least twice as many Leafs than bought a Volt (September, November, December). The Leaf outsold the Volt every month in 2014. The closest gap was 215 units, in February. The biggest was 1,612, in December. As you've most likely seen, GM is still busy teasing the new Volt, which will make its official debut at the Detroit Auto Show next week. We'll have a more in-depth green car sales post up soon. <iframe embedded="true" "="" scrolling="no" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oIuH75vaSHaaplD4x6gLsYjSsiN4oGmez1T63eaYdhY/pubhtml?widget=true&headers=false" height="430"> Nissan celebrates 30,000 leaf sales in 2014, best year ever for sales of any plug-in vehicle NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Jan. 5, 2015) – Nissan, the world leader in electric vehicle sales, shattered yet another sales record with 30,200 LEAF vehicles sold in 2014, which is the first time any plug-in has sold more than 30,000 units in a single year. "Now in its fifth model year, Nissan LEAF is more popular than ever and continues to bring new buyers to Nissan," said 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." Last month, Nissan sold 3,102 all-electric LEAFs, up 22.7 percent from the prior year and a December record.

GM to idle Indiana truck plant for two weeks over chip shortage

WASHINGTON —General Motors said Friday it will idle for two weeks in April an assembly plant in Indiana that builds pickup trucks, over ongoing semiconductor chip shortages. The Detroit automaker said it will halt production at its Fort Wayne assembly plant, which builds the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500, for two weeks starting April 4. "There is still uncertainty and unpredictability in the semiconductor supply base, and we are actively working with our suppliers to mitigate potential issues moving forward," GM said Friday. The automaker said this is its first semiconductor-related full-size truck production downtime since August. GM noted that overall it has "seen better consistency in semiconductor supply through the first quarter compared to last year as a whole. This has translated into improvement in our production and deliveries during the first three months of the year." GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra met with some lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week, including Republican Senator Todd Young of Indiana. GM is backing a bill in Congress to provide $52 billion in government subsidies to boost U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. GM said that legislation could help "alleviate the ongoing shortage that continues to impact U.S. automotive manufacturing." (Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jonathan Oatis) Related video:

Camaro SS facelift and dune-riding the new Mercedes-Benz GLS | Autoblog Podcast #579

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Road Test Editor Reese Counts and Associate Editor Joel Stocksdale. First, they talk about the newly refreshed Chevy Camaro SS. Then they dish on the cars they've been driving, including the Lexus UX, Lexus GS F and Volvo V90, as well as riding in the new Mercedes-Benz GLS. After that, they ask the question, how many AMG cars is too many? Finally they turn to car buying, and suggest potential vehicles for a shopper on Reddit for the "Spend My Money" segment. Autoblog Podcast #579 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown 2020 Camaro SS facelift Cars we're driving: 2019 Lexus UX 2019 Lexus GS F 2019 Volvo V90 Cross Country 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLS ride How many AMGs is too many? Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: