2014 Nissan Leaf Leads Brand to June Sales Record

With June marking its sixth straight month of record-breaking sales, the 2014 Nissan Leaf EV now stands halfway to another annual sales record, too. June's numbers, for example, showed a 5.5 percent jump in volume for the car, reflecting 2,347 sales, and that raises the year-to-date volume for the 2014 Nissan Leaf to 12,736 units—a healthy 29.4 percent increase in sales as compared to the same point in 2013.

Also, while Tesla doesn't release individual monthly sales for the Model S, the 2014 Nissan Leaf almost certainly will retain its spot as the best-selling all-electric car in the country. According to data from the HybridCars.com dashboard, the Leaf has been outselling the Model S by an average of about 700 units per month, with no sign of that changing any time soon. On the other hand, there will be some fine tuning of the 2014 Nissan Leaf for the new model year, with the 2015 trims scheduled to offer a new exterior finish, MorningSky Blue, as well as:

• Standard B-Mode stopping technology for the 2014 Nissan Leaf S, to provide a more aggressive approach to regenerative braking
• Nissan's "Hands-Free Test Messaging Assistant and Voice Destination Entry for the 2014 Nissan Leaf SV and SL
• Standard 17-inch aluminum-alloy wheels for the 2014 Nissan Leaf SV

Note: The new wheels and exterior color are destined for late availability.

However, on the topic of "notes," it's worth remembering that the 2014 Nissan Versa Note hatchback, along with its sedan sibling, also continue to attract plenty of customers in the subcompact segment. The Versa duo combined to set a new monthly sales record for the third month in a row in June, when the 2014 hatch and 2015 sedan together tallied 11,613 deliveries and drove up volume by 33.4 percent.

Also seeing positive sales growth last month were:

• Nissan Sentra—17,097 sales, up 67.5 percent
• Nissan 370Z—662 sales, up 12.2 percent
• Nissan Frontier—5,722 sales, up 5.7 percent
• Nissan NV—1,226 sales, up 19.6 percent
• Nissan NV200—1,266 sales, up 156.8 percent

As a result, the Nissan division itself scored a new June sales record—and its 15th monthly sales record of the past 16 months—thanks to 101,069 total deliveries that worked out to a 6.4 percent spike in demand.

Unfortunately, since Infiniti—Nissan's lux brand—endured a 5.9 percent slip in sales in June, volume for the Nissan Group as a whole was up a bit less, at 5.3 percent, and the company ended up booking 109,643 June sales.