Automotive
The largest EV market in the world grew by some 300% in 2012 to 54.683 units, with last December setting an all-time record of 7.669 cars, leaving good prospects for growth this year.
2012 was Volt's year, where sales more than tripled and enabled it to win the #1 crown, leaving the runner-up at almost 11.000 units.
But despite being left in #2, it was a great launch year for the Prius Plug-In, after all it relegated last year's leader, the Nissan Leaf, to the last place of the podium. That's what you get when you can't increase sales in a growing market, Nissan...
Next was the Ford C-Max Energi, which in regard of the few months on sale, it looks to go after the top three positions, making the best seller in 2013 a four model race.
In #5 is the Tesla Model S, now
Further down in the ranking there are several pure electrics with little more than symbolic sales, although the Focus Electric seems to be gaining some ground at #6 in December and #7 YTD.
Taking the risk of repeating myself a lot this year on this regard, for the first time Plug-In Hybrid sales surpassed those of Pure Electrics, with 73% market share in 2012.
| USA | Dec | YTD | % |
| Chevrolet Volt | 2.633 | 23.461 | 43 |
| Toyota Prius Plug-In | 1.361 | 12.750 | 23 |
| Nissan Leaf | 1.489 | 9.819 | 18 |
| Ford C-Max Energi | 971 | 2.374 | 4 |
| Tesla Model S | 800 | 2.303 | 4 |
| Fisker Karma | 100 | 1.506 | 3 |
| Ford Focus Electric | 167 | 685 | 1 |
| BMW Active E | 673 | 1 | |
| Mitsubishi I-Miev | 77 | 588 | 1 |
| Toyota RAV4 EV | 52 | 192 | 0 |
| Smart Fortwo ED | 139 | 0 | |
| Coda EV | 100 | 0 | |
| Honda Fit EV | 19 | 93 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 7.669 | 54.683 | 100 |
Source: www.insideevs.com
