Chevy Volt: The Misconceptions (various general *EV discussions) Published on Apr 14, 2012 by AutolineDetroit Long (26:50) but quite good. Youtube: The Chevy Volt Controversy - Autoline This Week #1616 - YouTube!
it's a chevy. maybe they should have come up with an all new company liiiiiiike.... saturn, yeah, that's it, saturn. now that would sell!
I think the poor sales numbers are due to the cost. It costs too much for what it is. (Says the man who paid $117,000 for a car... but that was a car that does 0 to 60 in about 4 seconds, goes 245 miles on a charge, and has the body lines and styling of a Lotus Elise...) I have good things to say about the Volt. I drove one and it was really a nice car to drive. But I think that it's got the worst of both worlds. As an EV it is unremarkable, and as a gas car is is downright pathetic (mpg and emissions). The high cost on top of that, and all the baggage of GM's history of sub-standard quality and "the customer's always wrong" corporate culture. If the Leaf and the Tesla and the iMiEV didn't exist, I'd probably have bought a Volt. Or if the Volt had come out first, which GM had the engineering ability to do, I'd probably have bought one.
One doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to understand why the Volt is selling so slowly. Big $$$$ pushes this car out of reach for the majority of drivers. Also the snafus with the lithium battery fires doesn't project the Volt in a positive light. The lack of availibility also hurts sales due to current nor-existant Volts on the road. If there were more Volts being seen driving every day, this would enhance more sales for people looking to purchase one - IF they could afford it. DBCassidy
Keep in mind the video is about general *EV types and has some pretty interesting points. As far as the cost of the Volt ... if you are a leaser type of person they have some great deals that match what people are use to paying (350-400). If you are a purchaser type (me) then depending on your state you can get the price down fairly reasonable. ie. 7.5k+4k in IL, similar in CO, TN, (etc) I think. There are websites to see your options by state. $40K base price minus 11.5k is pretty decent. Then you consider many would use very little gas. I've used 0.6 gal in my last 1000 miles. Average new car purchase price article I saw on USA Today stated 30K but mostly because people love to add option. Here is the location of ~10% of Volt owners: Volt Stats: Owner Map
