Volt sales tripple in 2012

[martinjlm]

Chevy Volt sales triple - Jan. 3, 2013

It will be interesting to hear the RW Loons trash this...

I'm confused to be honest. GM shut Volt production down in September 2012 for 6 weeks because the cars were selling so poorly. The car pool land had been added in California months before. So that should have affected sales by September when they shut down after selling a little over 10,000 units.

GM Shuts Down Chevy Volt Production

But now they claim to have sold over 23,000 unit's after shutting down operations for a month and a half from September to the end of October and suddendly there was some influx of car buying for the last few months of the years which more than doubled the sales up to the point they decided to stop production?

And good grief, not only can they get a 7500 dollar credit from the feds but some states can combine other credits up to 6000! So yeah buy a car and get 12,500 back! WTH!?!?

For example, according to Chevrolet.com, residents of Colorado can combine a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 with a Colorado state income tax credit of up to $6,000 — the most generous offer nationwide. For Californians, the federal tax credit can be combined with a state rebate of $1,500. In Tennessee, in addition to the state income tax credit of $2,500, residents will receive a free charging station.

GM Shuts Down Chevy Volt Production

Part of the confusion may be that the September shutdown was NOT due to Volt sales. In fact, the plant built some extra Volts ahead of the shutdown to be able to sell while the plant was down. The reason for shutting the plant down was to tool up the plant to build the new 2014 Chevrolet Impala. When all is said and done, the GM Hamtramck Plant will build Chevrolet Volt, Opel Ampera, Cadillac ELR, Chevrolet Malibu, and Chevrolet Impala.

The partial answer to someone's earlier question of "why don't the sell more" is that with the other higher volume vehicles (Malibu, Impala) in the plant, the capacity for Volt + Ampera + ELR is somewhere in the 30-50,000 range. And the higher volume vehicles net more profit. PhD not required to figure out that you try not to build more of the profitable vehicles and manage capacity on the lesser profitable vehicles.

 

[martinjlm]

GM considers a lease a "SALE" .leasing a $50,000 dollar car for $200.00 a month after incentives should not be considered a victory .

View attachment 23611

For luxury car makes like Mercedes Benz, BMW, Infiniti, and Lexus, leasing accounts for roughly 40% of their sales. Either that puts Volt in some pretty decent company or those luxury car brands are sandbagging the sales numbers.

 

[martinjlm]

I neg rep douchebags who call me a liar and then can't back it up. Hello douchebag

Everything that I have placed here has fact and/or a link behind it. You said the numbers were a lie, but you cannot prove your point. I am no shocked.

Electric cars will depend on a subsidy for many years. If not, no one would buy them. You can expect the government to off tax write offs for some time.

Well then fucktard stop bragging about how many are sold, It don't fucking count until the bastards compete on a level playing field. Let the gov. subsidize Prius and see what the fuck happens.. You up for that?

Pssst.....let you in on a secret......they did.....for several years hybrids like the Prius, the Honda Civic, and the Ford Escape received $2-3,500 tax incentives....several states (Colorado, California, others that I don't remember) kicked in additional incentives. Today the Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid receives $5,000 of the same incentive Volt gets $3,500 for. It's less because it has a smaller battery.

 

[martinjlm]

Chevy Volt sales triple - Jan. 3, 2013

It will be interesting to hear the RW Loons trash this...

Chevy Volts and Nissan Leafs are only useful in large metropolitan areas.

In rural areas, they would end up getting towed by farm tractors.

The Leaf.....maybe. You can get about 70 miles before you have to start panicking. But the Volt? When the electricity is done, the gas engine kicks in and you continue driving where ever you were headed. That's the whole point of the car.

 

[martinjlm]

Chevy Volt sales triple - Jan. 3, 2013

It will be interesting to hear the RW Loons trash this...

Nothing to trash this line from the article say's it all.
While it's an impressive jump, the Volt is still one of Chevy's lowest-selling cars.
However if that is not enough there was also this from article.
More than half of all Volt sales are in California
And finally again from the article this.
Regardless of the good news, Libby said, it still bears remembering that sales of the Volt, which is now the best-selling plug-in car in America, are still miniscule compared to most other cars. In 2012, Chevrolet dealers sold almost exactly 10 times as many of the Chevrolet Cruze, the gasoline powered car on which the Volt is based.

Chevrolet is a high volume car company....sold over 5 million cars in 2012. Nobody....NOBODY ever expected the Volt to outsell Cruze or any other car in the Chevy showroom. But it did outsell Corvette. I guess Corvette is a loser, too, though, because Cruze always outsells Corvette, even though Corvette has been around for 60 years and Cruze only for about 4 or 5. (<----that right thar is sarcasm folks...please don't over-react)

The whole point of the 1st generation Volt is to prove the technology. Check sales history on 1st generation Prius that proved hybrid technology. They'll look shockingly like Volt sales (pun intended). Second generation will show a bit higher sales volume (check 2nd gen Prius sales). Third generation is where you start to see naturalized volumes (check Prius 3rd gen sales).

 

[martinjlm]

You guys really should come out from under your rocks. ALL car sales dropped preciptously in 2008 and 2009:

More recent data speak volumes (Ford Sees Fivefold Surge in U.S. Hybrid Sales on Way to Record - Bloomberg):

"Ford Motor Co. (F), which has introduced five new electric-powered models in the past year, expects its sales of hybrid vehicles to surge by fivefold in January to start a record year for the company."

GM is releasing the Cadilac ELR (based on the Chevy Volt) in the next few months:

Yes HYBRIDS, can do well. Pure EV's not so much...

True....and PLUG-IN ELECTRIC HYBRIDS (PHEV) will likely do even better. The Volt is a notch beyond a PHEV. If there was an evolutionary scale of battery powered vehicles, based on battery size and level of technology required it would look like this.....

Mild Hybrid--->Strong Hybrid--->PHEV--->EREV--->BEV--->FCEV
Civic HYbrid -->Prius------->C-Max Energi --->Volt ---> Tesla --->Wait for it

 

[Desperado]

GM sold 23,461 Volts in 2012 compared with just 7,671 in 2011. While it's an impressive jump, the Volt is still one of Chevy's lowest-selling cars. However, the Volt greatly outdid the Corvette, for instance, of which only 14,000 were sold last year.

Really, comparing it to a Corvette, lets compare it to a Camaro.
Which would have more of the same targeted customers.
2011: Camaro = 193,623 Volt = 7,671
2012: Camaro = 210,505 Volt = 23,461

The Volt has a long way to go before they can call it a success.

 

[martinjlm]

GM sold 23,461 Volts in 2012 compared with just 7,671 in 2011. While it's an impressive jump, the Volt is still one of Chevy's lowest-selling cars. However, the Volt greatly outdid the Corvette, for instance, of which only 14,000 were sold last year.

Really, comparing it to a Corvette, lets compare it to a Camaro.
Which would have more of the same targeted customers.
2011: Camaro = 193,623 Volt = 7,671
2012: Camaro = 210,505 Volt = 23,461

The Volt has a long way to go before they can call it a success.

I think the point is, it shouldn't be compared to either of them. But since some folks like to use specific numbers as a pass / fail, calling the Volt a failure would also imply Corvette is a failure. There are cars that sell MORE than Camaro sold that are considered failures because they didn't sell 400,000. Each car needs to realistically be compared to their competitive set (fwiw- this is part of what I do as an automotive analyst. I'm typing this from my hotel room. I'm at the Geneva Motor Show)

The Volt's competitive set includes

1. Nissan Leaf
2. Ford C-Max Energi
3. Toyota Plug In Prius
4. Ford Fusion Energi
5. Ford Focus EV

The Cadillac ELR (based on the Volt technology) will compete with

1. BMW i3
2. BMW i3 Rex
3. Audi A3 e-Tron
4. Fisker Atlantic (if it ever sees the light of day)
5. Mercedes Benz B Class E Cell

Actually, the Leaf and the Volt aren't even really natural competitors. They were each the first of their respective breeds and thus thrown into the same pot. Now that the Ford Focus EV is available, as well as the Chevrolet Spark EV, Leaf,Focus EV, and Spark EV will be more likely competitors and Volt will compete more directly with Plug-In Hybrids.

 

[Desperado]

GM sold 23,461 Volts in 2012 compared with just 7,671 in 2011. While it's an impressive jump, the Volt is still one of Chevy's lowest-selling cars. However, the Volt greatly outdid the Corvette, for instance, of which only 14,000 were sold last year.

Really, comparing it to a Corvette, lets compare it to a Camaro.
Which would have more of the same targeted customers.
2011: Camaro = 193,623 Volt = 7,671
2012: Camaro = 210,505 Volt = 23,461

The Volt has a long way to go before they can call it a success.

I think the point is, it shouldn't be compared to either of them. It since some folks like to use specific numbers as a pass / fail, calling the Volt a failure would also imply Volt is a failure. There are cars that sell MORE than Camaro sold that are considered failures because they didn't sell 400,000. Each car needs to realistically be compared to their competitive set (fwiw- this is part of what I do as an automotive analyst. I'm typing this from my hotel room. I'm at the Geneva Motor Show)

The Volt's competitive set includes

1. Nissan Leaf
2. Ford C-Max Energi
3. Toyota Plug In Prius
4. Ford Fusion Energi
5. Ford Focus EV

The Cadillac ELR (based on the Volt technology) will compete with

1. BMW i3
2. BMW i3 Rex
3. Audi A3 e-Tron
4. Fisker Atlantic (if it ever sees the light of day)
5. Mercedes Benz B Class E Cell

Actually, the Leaf and the Volt aren't even really natural competitors. They were each the first of their respective breeds and thus thrown into the same pot. Now that the Ford Focus EV is available, as well as the Chevrolet Spark EV, Leaf,Focus EV, and Spark EV will be more likely competitors and Volt will compete more directly with Plug-In Hybrids.

Ok, Point well taken. Need to compare apples to apples.

 

[martinjlm]

GM sold 23,461 Volts in 2012 compared with just 7,671 in 2011. While it's an impressive jump, the Volt is still one of Chevy's lowest-selling cars. However, the Volt greatly outdid the Corvette, for instance, of which only 14,000 were sold last year.

Really, comparing it to a Corvette, lets compare it to a Camaro.
Which would have more of the same targeted customers.
2011: Camaro = 193,623 Volt = 7,671
2012: Camaro = 210,505 Volt = 23,461

The Volt has a long way to go before they can call it a success.

For the sake of accuracy, I should also point out that one of the reasons Corvette sold so poorly this past year is that REAL Corvette fans were waiting for this......

Yup, that's me with the 2014 Corvette Stingray at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this past January. Just watched the unveiling of the convertible version at the Geneva Auto Show earlier today.

Here's the convertible, with a much better looking model.....

 

[Desperado]

GM sold 23,461 Volts in 2012 compared with just 7,671 in 2011. While it's an impressive jump, the Volt is still one of Chevy's lowest-selling cars. However, the Volt greatly outdid the Corvette, for instance, of which only 14,000 were sold last year.

Really, comparing it to a Corvette, lets compare it to a Camaro.
Which would have more of the same targeted customers.
2011: Camaro = 193,623 Volt = 7,671
2012: Camaro = 210,505 Volt = 23,461

The Volt has a long way to go before they can call it a success.

For the sake of accuracy, I should also point out that one of the reasons Corvette sold so poorly this past year is that REAL Corvette fans were waiting for this......




Yup, that's me with the 2014 Corvette Stingray at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this past January. Just watched the unveiling of the convertible version at the Geneva Auto Show earlier today.

Here's the convertible, with a much better looking model.....

With the new Corvette not due out till next year, that can't help much for the current Corvette's sale figures. Hopefully the 2013 Z06 will be heavily discounted

 

[martinjlm]

Getting back on the subject of EVs and Hybrids.....here's probably the world's most powerful hybrid vehicle.....

The McLaren P1

903 hp! The 3.8L Twin Turbo V8 makes 727 of that and the electric motor that powers the hybrid system makes another 176 hp. Drives up to 30 mph on electric only, but c'mon....who's gonna do that?

You can order yours today for only $1.15M. Not sure how much of the $7,500 this would qualify for.

 

[martinjlm]

GM sold 23,461 Volts in 2012 compared with just 7,671 in 2011. While it's an impressive jump, the Volt is still one of Chevy's lowest-selling cars. However, the Volt greatly outdid the Corvette, for instance, of which only 14,000 were sold last year.

Really, comparing it to a Corvette, lets compare it to a Camaro.
Which would have more of the same targeted customers.
2011: Camaro = 193,623 Volt = 7,671
2012: Camaro = 210,505 Volt = 23,461

The Volt has a long way to go before they can call it a success.

For the sake of accuracy, I should also point out that one of the reasons Corvette sold so poorly this past year is that REAL Corvette fans were waiting for this......




Yup, that's me with the 2014 Corvette Stingray at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this past January. Just watched the unveiling of the convertible version at the Geneva Auto Show earlier today.

Here's the convertible, with a much better looking model.....

With the new Corvette not due out till next year, that can't help much for the current Corvette's sale figures. Hopefully the 2013 Z06 will be heavily discounted

Au contraire mon frere (hey, I'm in Switzerland....gotta at least TRY some French)

They are available in a couple months as a 2014 model year.

 

[longknife]

When I trade in my ample-sized 6 cyl Xterra, it'll be for a highly-ample Cadillac Escalade 8 cyl!!!

Screw these little death trap hybrids.

 

[Ame®icano]

There's a difference between individuals voluntarily buying products and the government taxing said individuals to buy crappy products from Big Government Cronies.

Like say..Raytheon?

General Dynamics?

Boeing?

Ford?

GM?

Microsoft?

HP?

Should the government stop buying stuff?

How many of these got bailout and are owned by the federal government?