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Chevy Volt sales drop in June, Nissan Leaf inches upwards

Different month, same story. That's the gist of the monthly US sales numbers from the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf. These were the first two mass-market plug-in vehicles to go on sale in the US and we've been comparing their sales numbers for what seems like ages now. So far, the 2014 tale of the tape shows the all-electric once again trumping the plug-in hybrid. The last time the Volt outsold the Leaf was in October 2013. Chevrolet sold 1,777 Volts in June. That was good enough to be the Volt's best sales month of the year, but it's down 34 percent from the 2,698 units sold in June 2013. In fact, it's on par with the 1,760 Volts sold in June 2012. Given the steady sales, General Motors might need to push up the release of the next-gen Volt to gin up excitement, especially if it also offers some of the things that current Volt drivers say they want improved: more range, a lower price and a fifth seat. GM also said it sold 85 Spark EVs in June, an increase of 215 percent over June 2013 Nissan sold 2,347 Leafs last month. The good news continues for Nissan, which says it sold 2,347 Leafs last month. That's an increase of 5.5 percent over 2013 numbers and makes 2014 the best June ever for Leaf sales. Let's credit Texas. Toby Perry, Nissan's director of EV sales and marketing, said in a statement that, "Since the Texas state incentive went into effect in May, we've seen a big jump in Leaf sales in the Austin, Dallas and Houston markets. Our dealers are telling us that they saw more traffic in their stores, and they had their best Leaf sales performance in the last weekend in June." Even with that increase, Atlanta remains the top Leaf market. Nissan has sold 12,736 Leafs in the US so far this year; Chevy 8,615 Volts. Our detailed monthly sales write-up of green cars in the US, including plug-in vehicles, hybrids and diesel cars, is coming soon. For now, we invite you to discuss these numbers in the Comments. Related Gallery 2013 Nissan Leaf View 55 Photos News Source: GM, Nissan Green Chevrolet Nissan Electric Hybrid PHEV ev sales

Next-gen Chevy Camaro ZL1 teases big changes under its camo

With work complete on the lighter, stiffer 2016 Camaro, it's time for Chevrolet's engineers to really start having fun by developing the next, ZL1 version. Here it is for the first time. Unfortunately, the muscle car is still wearing quite a bit of camouflage, but the concealment isn't enough to hide some of the meaner model's more obvious performance tweaks. Starting from the front, this Camaro now wears a much more aggressive front fascia with bigger air inlets. Managing the airflow around the engine bay is clearly a big deal because another photo reveals a fairly large extractor in the hood, as well. Moving down the profile, the lower side sills and orientation of the camo suggest some blistered fenders in the back to cover wider rubber, and at the very rear a much larger wing further suggests the need to keep things planted to the road. Check out the comparison images in the gallery for a better look at the tweaks. What will power the next ZL1 is still entirely a mystery, although sticking with a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 could be a possibility, especially if you take the big extractor in the hood as a hint. Whereas the current ZL1 makes 580 horsepower and 556 pound-feet of torque, the LT4 in the latest Cadillac CTS-V pumps out 640 hp and 630 lb-ft. Combined with the Camaro's other improvements, we're thinking that this new ZL1 will be quite a hot ticket, and based on these spy shots, we can't wait to find out.

Weekly Recap: Racing legend Jim Hall explains Chevy's futuristic Chaparral concept

"I said our cars are built to be winners." – Jim Hall Racing legend Jim Hall never thought he'd be a video game consultant, but when Chevrolet asked for his advice to create a futuristic Chaparral for the Vision Gran Turismo series, he was eager to help. He reviewed early sketches and suggested some changes that made it onto the concept, including the addition of a camera that's mounted onto a mast over the cabin to aid the driver. The Chevy Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo concept was revealed this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show and will be part of a downloadable update for PlayStation 3's Gran Turismo 6 in December. Theoretically, at least, it uses a laser-beam propulsion system and an air-powered generator to produce 900 horsepower in the video game. It's capable of sprinting to 60 miles per hour in 1.5 seconds en route to a top speed of 240 mph. Those gaudy performance specs – even in the virtual world – came at Hall's urging. "I said our cars are built to be winners," Hall told Autoblog on the floor of the Los Angeles show. The 79-year-old drove Lotus racecars in Formula One before launching the successful Chaparral Cars in the 1960s. Like his innovative Can-Am racers, the Vision Gran Turismo project has an eye toward the future. It also introduces the iconic Chaparral name to a new generation of fans, and hopefully, Hall says, gets them excited about engineering and design. "It emulates what we did in the '60s," he said. And what they did back then still resonates. Chaparral Racing and Chevy partnered more than 45 years ago for development work on the composite monocoque chassis, lightweight alloy powertrains, automatic gearboxes and active aerodynamics. "He [Hall] walked right back into this and was able to apply thinkings and learnings," said Clay Dean, General Motors executive director of advanced design. The Chevy Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo concept was created at GM's North Hollywood advanced design studio, and it will be on display at the show through November. Other News and Views Sebastian Vettel joins Ferrari team in 2015 Ferrari confirmed that four-time Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel will join the Scuderia for the 2015 season, jettisoning Ferrari's current ace, two-time champ Fernando Alonso. Vettel has been F1's most successful driver since Michael Schumacher, though he's struggled to match his previous accomplishments in 2014.