Nissan sales in the United States significantly rebounded during the third quarter of 2023 and amounted to 200,334 vehicles, which is 40 percent more than a year ago. So far this year, the Japanese brand sold almost 648,219 vehicles (up 28 percent year-over-year).
Meanwhile, Nissans all-electric car sales surged by 376 percent year-over-year to 6,074, which is the highest quarterly result since Q4 2014. This result is not the highest among BEV manufacturers, but it might be a sign that Nissan is finally turning around its EV sales after a very long time of lackluster results in the EV space.
The share of all-electric cars out of the brand’s total volume amounted to three percent, revealing a lot of space for further improvement.
The all-new Nissan Ariya model is currently the best-selling plug-in model from Nissan (4,504 units in Q3), as the Nissan Leaf fades (1,570 sales during the period, and only a slight increase from a very weak result of 1,276 units a year ago).
Nissan BEV sales in Q3’2023 (YOY change):
- Nissan Ariya: 4,504 (new)
- Nissan Leaf: 1,570 (up 23%)
- Total: 6,074 (up 376%) and 3% share
So far this year, Nissan sold more than 15,503 electric cars in the US (74 percent more than a year ago), which represents 2.4 percent of the brand’s total sales.
Nissan BEV sales in Q1-Q3’2023 (YOY change):
- Nissan Ariya: 9,699 (new)
- Nissan Leaf: 5,804 (down 35%)
- Total: 15,503 (up 74%) and 2.4% share
For reference, in 2022, Nissan sales exceeded 12,000 (down 14 percent year-over-year).
Cumulatively, Nissan sold over 193,000 BEVs in the US (since December 2010) and that’s a pretty sad picture of a company that once was at the forefront of the EV market. At its peak, Nissan was able to sell over 30,000 Leafs in 2014. This result will not be beaten this year.
Nonetheless, the Japanese manufacturer is expected to continue to increase electric car sales, as there is some potential in the Ariya.
The two models – Ariya and Leaf – have not qualified for the 7,500 federal tax credit when purchasing (despite the Leaf and its batteries being locally produced), although the incentive might be available through leasing. The Leaf is also suffering from the CHAdeMO-charging port (instead of the more popular CCS1).