Hybrid Sales Drop 42.7% in December
January 6, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
Reported sales of hybrids in the US dropped 42.7% in December 2008 year-on-year to 17,698 units—the lowest December figure since 2004, when there were only four hybrid models on the market. Overall light-duty vehicle sales in the US dropped 35.5% in the month. For the full year, total reported hybrid sales dropped 10% to 313,781 units, while total light duty vehicle sales were down 18%.
The hybrid percentage share of new vehicles sold dropped to just below 2% (1.97%) in December. For the year, hybrids held a 2.4% share of the new vehicle market. Read more
Small Car Bargains But as Oil Price Drops Will Anyone Buy Them?
January 1, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
Bargain Prices on Small Cars as Oil Gets Cheap.
Without a gas tax to keep prices high, small, efficient cars may never take off in the States, notes the New York Times. ABC news tells us that this theory may well be correct, with sales of small cars tumbling as oil prices dropped and the economy went into freefall. But for those of us who don’t believe that gas is going to stay cheap forever, or even think oil is going to last forever, now may be the time to pick up the small car of your dreams as dealers slash prices in an effort to boost sales: Read more
US Hybrid Sales Down 50 Percent in November
December 9, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
US sales of hybrids dropped 50% in November to 16,571 units from November 2007—a volume slightly above that of November 2005. Overall light duty vehicle sales in the US in November dropped 36.7%. (Earlier post.) For November, hybrids represented 2.22% of the new vehicle light duty market; year-to-date, hybrids hold a 2.4% share of new vehicle sales. November 2007 and 2008 had the same number of selling days. Read more
Nissan Announces Alliance with Oregon: LA 2008
November 19, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Today at the LA Auto Show, Carolos Ghosn, announced a new alliance with the state of Oregon to bring electric vehicles in 2010. The deal will see “a supply” of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) available to the city of Portland, Oregon and to support a network of EV charging stations.
Ghosn said, though, that he believes making the cars is more important than getting the infrastructure out. With that in mind, he announced that Nissan/Renault would sell ZEVs in the U.S. and Japan in 2010 but they would not be available globally until 2012. Read more
Early Reveal for Nissan Cube: LA 2008
The official unveiling of the Nissan Cube is set for later today, but in the meantime Nissan Japan has leaked some early images of the U.S. specification Cube. Nissan clearly hopes to capitalize on some of Scion xB success with it’s new boxy super-mini.
What we see is pretty much an exact copy of the Japanese model, which makes sense given that retooling would be expensive and probably unnecessary. The Japanese specification Cube gets a 1.5-liter engine with a CVT transmission, but that is not likely to be the US spec. Stay tuned for the official shots and details as they come out later today.
Nissan Paris Preview - New Mini-Cars, EV Concept
September 8, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Nissan is going to show three new cars at the Paris Motor Show next month. Two of them are conventional small cars that there are already got photos of. The third is a battery powered 2+1 seat micro-car called the Nuvu. No one has seen the Nuvu, but we think the concept Nissan unveiled recently, the Denki Cube could be a hint. The Nuvu is only three meters long which should make it an interesting challenger to the new electric smart. Read more
