Saturday, June 2, 2012

Buyers plugged into Volt

General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Volt was the best-selling rechargeable auto in the US in May, topping Toyota Motor Corp.’s plug-in Prius and Nissan Motor Co.’s all-electric Leaf hatchback.

Deliveries of the GM plug-in sedan more than tripled to 1,680 units from 481 a year earlier. Toyota sold 1,086 of the Prius version, introduced in March, and Leaf sales slid 55 percent to 510 cars, the companies reported yesterday.

The Volt gained after GM briefly halted production of the car this year as inventory grew and sales cooled after news of battery-pack fires following crash tests. Output resumed in April with structural reinforcements for safety, as well as modifications that qualified the Volt for rebates and carpool lane access in California, the top market for rechargeable autos.

Toyota and Honda led five of the six largest automakers in reporting US sales gains in May that trailed estimates as slumping job growth limited their rebound from last year’s earthquake and tsunami.

US light-vehicle sales ran at 13.8 million seasonally, which missed the 14.4 million average estimate of analysts.

Chevrolet Volt, Toyota, Toyota Motor Corp., GM, Leaf sales, Prius

Nypost.com

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