General Motors Co. and Nissan Motor Co., the biggest sellers of rechargeable cars, posted record U.S. plug-in sales in August as their low-cost leases pushed battery-vehicle deliveries this year past 2012’s tally.

GM delivered 3,351 Chevrolet Volt plug-in sedans last month, up 18 percent from a year earlier, and Nissan’s all-electric Leaf hatchback sales more than tripled to 2,420, the companies said Sept. 4. U.S. plug-in hybrid and battery car sales totaled 57,976 in 2013’s first eight months, more than the 51,938 for all of last year, data compiled by Bloomberg and Autodata Corp. show.

Initially sluggish sales of rechargeable cars are accelerating on cheap leases and price reductions. GM, Nissan and Honda Motor Co. were already touting leases on plug-ins of $199 to $299 a month when Toyota Motor Corp. in August added a $299 a month deal for its slow-selling RAV4 EV, powered by a Tesla Motors Inc. powertrain. It also set a sales record last month.

“It just becomes a matter of how much money you’re going to throw at it,” said Kevin Tynan, an analyst for Bloomberg Industries. “There’s no great change in the product or the market. But this is how you get people into the showroom to look at it.”

Through August, the Volt from Detroit-based GM leads the Leaf produced by Yokohama, Japan-based Nissan, 14,994 to 14,123. (Bloomberg)