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Nissan Leaf sales get January jump as Chevy Volt trends downward

The cold January sales dip hit both the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt last month, but when compared 2014 to 2013's first-month-of-the-year sales totals, one of the two early plug-in vehicles obviously came out on top. The top Leaf market also shifted away from Atlanta for the first time in months. Last year, the Leaf sold just 650 units in January, but it managed to move 1,252 last month, a 92.6-percent increase over 2013 but a big drop from the 2,529 sold in December 2013. Paige Presley over at Nissan told AutoblogGreen that the Leaf has now broken sales records for 11 months straight and that, "we see unique seasonality with some December pull-ahead demand based on federal and state tax incentives." The number one Leaf market also shifted away from Atlanta for the first time in months, moving back to San Francisco. That change could be short-lived. "We had some inventory constraint issues early in the month in Atlanta with end-of-year demand depleting stock," Presley said. "By the time we resolved that, the weather hampered sales." There was not as much good news on the Chevrolet front. Last month, the Volt sold 918 units, down from 1,140 in January 2013 and 2,392 in December 2013. It also marks the first time the Volt has sold in the three-digit range since January 2012, when it sold 603 copies. That string of solid months means that the plug-in hybrid has a roughly 12,000-unit lead over the EV since the two cars brought plug-in vehicles back to the mass market all the way back in December 2010. We will have our full report of January's green car sales up soon.

Danica Patrick hands over keys to first 2016 Chevy Camaro

Alican "Turk" Boyacioglu got more than he expected this weekend when he picked up his new 2016 Chevy Camaro, the very first sixth-gen Camaro to be delivered to a private customer. That's because racer Danica Patrick was on hand for the delivery. The handing over of the keys took place at Texas Motor Speedway – a stop along the brand's Find New Roads trip. The journey is being conducted to introduce America to five new Chevy models: the Camaro and also the new Malibu, Cruze, Volt, and Spark. The road trip kicked off on October 19 and will conclude next week on November 14. Boyacioglu ordered up a red Camaro SS from Huffines Chevrolet in Lewisville, TX, north of Dallas. When he headed from Kansas to northern Texas to take delivery, he was pleasantly surprised to see Danica climb out of the car to hand him the keys. Though she may have raced under Honda power during her IndyCar days, Danica's NASCAR stock cars have always been powered by Chevrolet. She even drove a Camaro in the Nationwide Series. The smile on Turk's face ought to last him the nearly five-hour drive home to Wichita. For everyone else, deliveries are set to commence in earnest in the middle of this month. The first models to be delivered will be V6 coupes. Convertibles and turbo-four models will start shipping early in the new year. Customers will be able to choose between six powertrain combinations, made up of the 2.0-liter turbo four, the 3.6-liter V6, and the 6.2-liter V8, each available with a six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic. Pricing starts at $26,695 for the base 1LT trim and extends up to $37,295 for the 1SS. DANICA PATRICK SURPRISES CUSTOMER WITH 2016 CAMARO Huffines Chevrolet delivers first 2016 Camaro to Alican 'Turk' Boyacioglu DALLAS – Racecar driver Danica Patrick helped the team at Huffines Chevrolet deliver the first sixth-generation Camaro to a customer from Wichita, Kan., at the Texas Motor Speedway stop of Chevrolet's Find New Roads Trip today. Alican "Turk" Boyacioglu had been eagerly tracking the build of his 2016 Camaro SS and could not contain his excitement when Patrick emerged from the car and handed him the keys. "This whole experience was surreal," Boyacioglu said.

Why an independent rear suspension for GM's new, full-sized SUVs wasn't easy

A Motor Trend report last month laid out how Cadillac's 4.2-lier twin-turbo Blackwing V8 could be an orphan due to cost concerns in the GM empire. Last-minute chassis changes to Cadillac's new sedans and XT6 crossover led to engine bays that couldn't fit the Blackwing. On the SUV side, according to the report, the new independent rear suspension for big people haulers cost so much to implement that GM ruled out reworking the Escalade to accept the Blackwing. At least one commenter rightly asked how could a suspension swallow that much money. A new piece in Motor Trend has the answer. The excellent Alissa Priddle spoke to Tim Herrick, GM's executive chief engineer for full-size trucks, about why the clean-sheet IRS cost "multimillions of dollars."  First, GM would need to build a new body shop at the Arlington, Texas plant that assembles the automaker's big SUVs to stamp the numerous wholly new parts and panels accommodating an IRS. Then GM would need to design and pay for a new assembly process. On top of those up-front costs, there was the incremental cost of the four-link IRS components being more expensive than those in the trucks' former leaf-sprung solid axles. Herrick endured so many rejections for so long that he remembers the date and time when he got approval for the new unit. He said it came down to a meeting where he told a higher-up, "I'll make you a deal: If we get to the reveal, or if we launch this and you think this was a dumb idea, I'll hand you my badge and let you walk me out." Head to Motor Trend to read the full story. Based on Herrick being on stage to help present the new SUVs to the press, and on our First Ride in the new Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban at GM's Milford Proving Grounds, it appears this will have a happy ending for all involved. Furthermore, since Herrick worked on the T1 platform that supports the big SUVs as well as the light- and heavy-duty pickups, he understood the demands on the commercial side, too. That could be why when Roadshow asked Tim Asoklis, chief engineer of the Tahoe and Suburban, if the new IRS could endure life in the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, Asoklis answered, "Oh, absolutely." Related Video: