GRA wrote:SageBrush wrote:I don't know about the rest of the world but monthly EV sales in the US are markedly affected by sales discounts. Anything less than a year of sales is just hoopla for fanbois and perhaps as often as not, bad news for the success of the car.GRA wrote:October Prime U.S. sales via IEVS: 1,626, down from 1,899 last month despite improved inventory, for 16,882 YTD. That puts it in 3rd spot, behind the Model S and the Bolt, which just overtook it and the Volt. It will be interesting to see which has sales legs.
In short, sales figures in the US taken out of context are GIGO
I agree that a single month's sales are often driven mainly by incentives, or else backlogs in a new market, which is what may be happening with the Bolt. We'll see. There's an article at IEVS quoting a Chevy dealer re Bolt/Volt sales, who says that a lot of the ideological customers are moving from their Volt to the Bolt (as you'd expect. However, he also sayshttps://insideevs.com/chevy-dealer-bolt-sales-cannibalizing-volt/“The Volt will rebound. It is still a much more logical choice for people who travel.”
The same holds true for the Prime, and if Congress does repeal the tax credit I expect the Prime's price will win out, as it's the only PEV that's reasonably price-competitive with comparable HEVs and ICEs.
Or it could be that PHEVs were just the gateway drug to longer range BEVs (200+ AER). Once you get a taste of that silky smooth, ultra quiet all electric drive it becomes pretty easy to ditch the dinosaur (ICE)!