Nissan Leaf Sets New Annual Record For U.S. Electric Car Sales

The Nissan Leaf's total sales in the U.S. for 2014 totaled 30,200 last year--a new yearly record for any plug-in electric vehicle in the country. Since it first went on sale in December 2010, a total of 72,322 Leafs has been sold in the States.

The Leaf is one of just a handful of plug-in cars that routinely logs U.S. sales of 1,000 or more units a month. The others include the Chevrolet Volt and the Tesla Model S. More recently, the BMW i3 sales hit that level for three months last year. Various plug-in hybrids have also managed to sell more than 1,000 units in recent months, including the Toyota Prius Plug-In, and the Ford C-Max Energi and Fusion Energi.

But only the Leaf has managed to sell more than 3,000 units a month--a feat it accomplished four times last year (in May, July, August, and now December). Nissan sold almost 1.4 million cars in the U.S. in total last year, up 11.1 percent from its 2013 total. Its single best-selling vehicle line is the Altima mid-sized sedan, which sold more than 300,000 units.

While Nissan had plans to produce up to 150,000 Leafs per year at the Smyrna, GA plant, sales have been slower to ramp up over the past four years than the company would have liked.

A redesigned second-generation Leaf is expected to be launched for the 2017 model year, with less polarizing styling and two or different options for battery-pack sizes, and hence range--the largest size perhaps delivering 120 to150 miles of range.