Another Electric Car Is A Flop
The problems with and sluggish sales of General Motor’s electric car, the Chevy Volt, have been well documented but it’s worth noting that the Volt isn’t the only electric car failure on the market. As sales plummet, Nissan is currently trying to prop up sales of their Leaf model with steep discounts that come in addition to $7,500 in subsidies from the federal government:
Nissan is offering cheap leases and big discounts on the Leaf because of slow sales of the all-electric car.
Nissan Motor Co., which has its North American headquarters in Franklin, had sold only 4,228 Leafs this year through August, almost a third fewer than a year ago.
It also has a big inventory of the cars nationwide. At the end of August it had enough 2012 models in stock to supply dealers for 114 days, according to Ward’s AutoInfoBank. Automakers consider a 60-day supply to be optimal.
The reason why these electric cars fail – indeed, why all the “green” schemes the government pushes on us fail – is because they don’t work. They’re great for those wanting to make political statements about the environment, and politicians looking for talking points, but as a practical matter these cars don’t make sense for most Americans. They’re hugely expensive, and really offer few advantages in terms of fuel efficiency over much more reasonably priced gas-only compact cars.
But this is what happens when producers follow demand created by the government rather than demand created in the marketplace.
Tags: chevy volt, Electric Cars, nissan leaf, subsidies
