Chevy's New Volt Is Way Better, But Maybe Not Good Enough | WIRED Pretty good commentary. Bring it. A better volt, prius, and leaf can only be good for consumers. Just fyi, gm is going to leverage what it learned on the volt to make plug-ins for china General Motors Begins Work On $470 Million "Green Car" Factory In China
A number of states are improving incentives just as Volt2 comes out so that helps, enormously possibly. CA extended the green HOV sticker program, DE/CT have new discounts, believe WA just extended their incentive to PHEV and BEV as long as they are under $35k.
These are the 'new model, sales chill' for 2016 models that I'm aware of: Prius hatchback Volt Tesla Any others? The reason I ask is we usually see an "N month" decrease in sales prior to the new model showing up. Then a 3-4 month sales boom when the new model sales start. I'm thinking about how to make a sub table in the Hybrid Dashboard report to track these effects. But I don't always know the dates for models I don't follow. Bob Wilson
Tesla is not a sales chill, but the model X should be an accelerator for bev sales in October. Model S and i3 sales are making up for poor leaf sales in the bev market. The 30 kwh leaf has hurt leaf sales, due this fall. The gen II isn't out till Q2 2017, which means leaf sales may be lower than last year for the next couple of years, as that and the bolt cause potential leaf customers to wait. Bolt, bmw 330 phev, outlander phev, and prius phv gen II 2016 probably. Tesla model III 2018 probably for non-signature, with pre orders and details starting in march. That means this year bevs are up, phevs down, but combined they will be mainly flat compared to last year. 2016 and 2017 should be stong growth years, with 2018 possibly a break out year depending on how the model III, gen II leaf, and bolt do.
Thanks, I forgot about the Leaf. The key dates are: Credible rumors - this is hard because we've known the Prius gen IV would be coming but it is hard to pin down when to 'start the clock'. I don't care for the announcement of the the announcement . . . Announcement date - Sept 8 for the Prius gen IV. Sales start date - First sales of new models Initial sales boost, 3-4 months - somewhat dependent on the manufacturing ramp-up and sales force training. Bob Wilson
Some new numbers, better than expected from motor trend. Chevrolet Volt Review - Motor Trend That gets the car into the better accelerating cars category. It's about the same as they got in the camry hybrid. Slower than 6 cylinders, but plenty fast enough for most people. The other complaint with gen I was braking. They seemed to get that sorted out too. Maybe without competition this would be a sales hit like the second gen prius, but there is that child's middle seat in the back, and the price, and the competition.
120 feet for a stopping distance is not spectacular when there are cars that stop a car length shorter.
didn't really understand the writers point. what does he think gm would have to have done to make the volt a 'hit'? it's a niche car, like the pip and others. it's not the competition, it's the consumers, and gas prices.
Another positive review. Edmunds Gushes Over 2016 Chevy Volt - Gas 2 I'll leave out the numbers they got wrong there, which makes me mistrust their skills, but they seemed to really like it. See mototrend above for more accurate 0-60 in 7.1 seconds, and weight 3543 lbs, 224 lbs lighter than gen I. I think this car is really targeting the early majority not the early adopters. The upcoming tesla model III, bmw 330 phev, and audi a3 etron phev also are going for this early majority. The bolt and upcoming gen II leaf (q2 2017) are targeting the early adioters. No one knows what the gen II prius phv will bring (end 2016?), and of course you still have the quirky early adopter bmw i3, that who knows could grow a bigger gas tank in a refresh if bmw finds that drivers want to use it and they have enough zev credits (the tank being 1.8 gallons allows bmw to get 3zev credits when sold in california). Wired is just warning people that like you say the car may just stay in an adopter niche even though it is much better than the first gen volt, which itself has very satisfied customers. That may mean with all the competition sales will only be in the 20K-30k-/year range, instead of much higher numbers. I tend to agree the price and back seat along with the poor dealer ability to explain what a phev is will keep sales down. The wired review is the most negative I've seen on the new volt, gen I had lots of negative reviews, but also a bunch of awards. Put the voltec power train into a more expensive looking body, add a sports mode where the driver can use batteries and gas engine and get down to 6 sec, and it might break out. Bmw has its own i store here to just sell plug-ins. I think the biggest hurdle for the gen II volt is that gm network of dealers.
car and driver posted their review this afternoon, too. What is interesting is it now weighs about the same as the Gen III PiP 2016 Chevrolet Volt Plug-In Hybrid Test – Review – Car and Driver
