Recording 137,726 units sold in March, the 1% increase from last year marks Nissan's (NSANY -0.56%) best month ever for sales in the U.S., the company announced Tuesday.
It also marked the best month for its all-electric Leaf since it was launched in 2010. Nissan Leaf sales totaled 2,236 deliveries, up 286.2% from the previous March, according to the company. March marks the first full month of deliveries of the lower-priced 2013 Leaf, now produced at Nissan's assembly plant in Smyrna, Tenn.
The company's Nissan division sold 126,623 vehicles last month, up 0.4% from March 2012, with the Pathfinder recording the second-best gain with a 177% rise in vehicles moved. (The Leaf's jump topped the Nissan division.) The worst performer was the Quest, which saw sales nearly cut in half in March to 1,345.
While it sold more Pathfinders (9,071) than it did Leafs (2,236), the electric vehicle's 286% increase in sales was tops in the division, making it the best-selling pure EV in the world.
Nissan's Infiniti division saw a 9% jump in sales, for a total of 11,103 sold in March, compared to 10,185 sold last March. The biggest gainer in this class was the JX, which saw sales nearly quintuple to 2,633 vehicles.
