Wow imagine if I did that. Ran my life so that it pleased all the miserable people on ET. GM has a bad name if you want it to have a bad name. Most of my customers are Conquest customers (switching from another brand). They must be doing something right. And yes, as discussed earlier, there is very little money in new cars. Of course we are discounting Cruze's. We have to stay competitive. I said GM was selling them at full price, not dealers. Dealers always get the raw end of the deal. We all bash each other to get a deal.
Why all the anger and insults? Actually, I have nothing against GM. I drive a Tahoe and it's totally great. Had several GM products before that and liked them all a lot. All I was looking for was some confirmation that GM is not pushing out Volts. We know the sales figures have been terrible. You say it is because there is no inventory. Others say GM has made plenty of them and there is no demand. When you look at the high price, issues about range, etc the car looks like a tough sell to me but I'm not in a dealership every day. Whatever.
Because you are being ignorant. The others you are talking about are worthless bloggers who don't know what they are talking about. There are not 30,000 Volt's sitting around that can't be sold. If there are, please let me know. I'm sure my dealership would love to have them and sell every last one at MSRP. Since Rolls Royce only sold 2700 cars in 2010, does that mean nobody wants those either? Remember the iPhone? It was once $600 and in short supply. Not you can readily get one for $49. Toyota is making a similiar plug in vehicle. Ford is coming out with an electric vehicle. Electric vehicles with extended range gas generators are the wave of the future. They are so much more efficient than traditional cars.
Apparently. Unless you are drinking the Volt-ade. I did a bit of research on this, which I will link up later. Let's just say GM's official pronouncements could be designed to try to create an illusion of public clamor for this vehicle, which the sales figures don't support. Apparently the lack of supply is true, as GM claimed to have stopped production temporarily while redoing its production line to increase production. It also announced an increase in planned production and sales projections. We'll see. Personally, I don't think consumers are going to be lining up to pay >$40k for an ugly small car with huge practicality issues. The problem I would see is that if you are doing short range commuting, which is the only reason you would buy it, you will never save enough on gas to make up the cost of the vehicle.
What's really going on with Chevy Volt sales? by Sebastian Blanco (RSS feed) on Jun 3rd 2011 at 7:39PM Now that the latest monthly sales numbers for the Chevrolet Volt are in (and, yes, they were lower in May), we wanted to share a few lines of thought about what might be going on. First, let's put together the pieces we know and that everyone agrees on. Point One: General Motors has long said that Volt production, which began late last year, would ramp up slowly. It also said in March that Volt sales would rise in May. Point Two: In mid-May, GM issued a statement confirming it planned to shut down the Hamtramck, MI plant where the Volt is made for four weeks beginning in June in order to get ready for the 2012 Volt and Opel Ampera models. (GM has historically had two-week annual summer shutdowns to effect model year changeovers). As GM notes, this temporary shutdown of the Volt's assembly lines will "result in limited availability and reduced sales [of the Volt] in June and July." So, instead of sales rising in May (which they obviously didn't), GM now seems to be suggesting an increase won't happen until August. All along, we've heard that the problem is limited supply. We asked GM spokesperson Rob Peterson about this (again) and he told AutoblogGreen: "We have limited supply of Volts - as of earlier this week, our records indicated that there were fewer than 200 available on dealer lots (some sites will show more as dealers often post vehicles with delivery dates in the future). Many of those on the ground are in the process of sales as well, so again - supply is very thin (especially when you consider we have nearly 600 dealers in launch markets). Volt sales have leveled off in April, May and June. July will be low as the plant is now shut down and the pipeline will dry up. However, when production begins again in mid-July, the line will be running nearly three-fold. But - and here's the kicker - at least one GM representative has reportedly admitted that the Volt's problem is soft demand, not low production. Speaking with the Daily Caller, GM's Director of Policy and Washington Communications, Greg Martin, said that (as paraphrased by the Daily Caller): "Its underwhelming sales numbers have a lot to do with the fact that it's a new vehicle, there still is not an adequate infrastructure in place for the advanced battery, and the technology is only scalable to a certain point. That means that any GM-manufactured electric car will be a small car "with a technology that comes with a price." Not exactly the apple of the soccer mom's eye." So, what's really going on here? Peterson said he would check the Daily Caller story and potentially ask for a correction, so perhaps the reporter didn't get the story straight, or perhaps Martin is uninformed, but given his position, this seems unlikely. Either way, it's likely to take at least a few more months of sales before we can have enough of a trend to judge whether the Volt is really selling well or not. What do you think is really going on? Have your say in Comments. [Source: Daily Caller] http://green.autoblog.com/2011/06/03/chevy-volt-sales-whats-going-on/
Auto blog: Sales of Chevy Volt plummet -- only 281 sold last month By: David Freddoso | Online Opinion Editor Follow him @freddoso | 03/03/11 10:38 AM Looks like President Obama's going to have to arrange another series of government acquisitions, 'cause this isn't good: Peruse Chevrolet's February sales release, and you'll notice one number that's blatantly missing: the number of Chevy Volts sold. The number â a very modest 281 â is available in the company's detailed data (PDF), but it certainly isn't something that GM wants to highlight, apparently. Keeping the number quiet is a bit understandable, since it's lower than the 321 that Chevy sold in January. Note that it's also lower than the 326 that sold in December. There are about 9,200 left to sell. MORE ON THESE TOPICS Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs...lummet-only-281-sold-last-month#ixzz1Rpaio6Tw
GM: Chevy Volt production to increase to 60,000 vehicles a year at Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Published: Thursday, May 19, 2011, 8:13 AM Updated: Thursday, May 19, 2011, 8:45 AM By Michael Wayland | MLive.com MLive.com The future of General Motors Co. looks electric. The Detroit automaker will reconfigure its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant that makes the Chevrolet Volt to expand production to up to 60,000 electric cars a year. The plant, which recently announced a $3 million solar array, currently produces about 16,000 Volts a year. GM said the extended-range electric vehicle will be in short supply for the next three months because of the scheduled four-week shutdown that begins in June. âThe Volt will be available to customers nationwide by the end of 2011,â said Cristi Landy, director of Chevrolet Volt Marketing, in a statement. âBy taking the time to reconfigure the plant, we will be better able to meet the tremendous consumer demand.â GM officials say by moving in new machinery and overhead conveyors, the company will be able to boost the plant's output of the Volt and its European counterpart, the Opel Ampera. The Volt, which costs about $32,780 after a $7,500 tax incentive, can drive up to 50 miles on battery power alone and then uses a small gasoline engine connected to a generator to power the electric motor. Earlier this month, GM announced a $2 billion investment at 17 U.S. plants in connection with increasing production of the Volt, and other vehicles. The shutdown also will let GM add equipment to build the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu midsize sedan at the plant starting next year. GM will stop producing two other big cars at the factory, the Cadillac DTS and Buick Lucerne, later this year. The Volt hit the U.S. market late last year and just over 1,700 have been sold through April. The car is now available in nine states and Washington D.C. By the end of this year, Volts will be sold nationwide and in Europe, China and Canada. This week, the Volt was officially introduced to Japan at the annual Spring Congress of the Japan Society of Automotive Engineers in Yokohama. The Associated Press contributed to this article. http://www.mlive.com/auto/index.ssf/2011/05/gm_chevrolet_volt_production_a.html
July 7, 2011 7:48 AM PDT Nissan Leaf overshadows Chevy Volt in June sales by Don Reisinger Print E-mail Share 48 comments The Nissan Leaf leads the electric car battle. The Nissan Leaf is, so far, leading the race in the electric-car space. In June, Nissan sold 1,708 Leaf units in the U.S., easily overshadowing Chevrolet's Volt, which tallied 561 unit sales. In May, Nissan sold 1,142 Leaf units while Chevrolet sold 481 Volts. Nissan's Leaf is a fully electric vehicle and is capable of driving for about 75 miles on a single charge. The Volt, by contrast, is a hybrid that lasts about 35 miles on a single electric charge before its gas engine kicks in. Although the Volt is far behind in sales, it apparently has little to do with the car's popularity. Speaking to Automobile Magazine in a article published earlier this week, Chevrolet spokesman Rob Peterson said the small sales figure is due to the Volt production plant being offline over the last five weeks for renovations to increase production. Peterson told Automobile Magazine that three times as many Volts will be built in the new plant and that the company still expects to sell 10,000 units by the end of this year. Nissan's Leaf has a $32,780 price tag, while Chevrolet's Volt comes in at $40,280. Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-2...adows-chevy-volt-in-june-sales/#ixzz1RpcmRuLK