Chevy Volt priced $33,500 after federal tax credit; $41,000 MSRP

Let me play congress (anti-progress) here. Prius II is $23k so the plugin premium is $18k. At $3 per gallon, it will take 300,000 miles to pay itself off. That's 3x the Volt's battery warranty.

Reality is sinking in for their supporters. They will soon realize why Toyota said they believe smaller PHV battery is better.

 

Plus tax, tags and fees in Cali so the price will be another $4000+ higher. 55 dimes!!!

 

I don't exactly see the market this car is appealing to.

If it's luxury, how many such buyers would care to charge their vehicles for 40 miles and then buy premium gasoline. If it's the environment-friendly then it has stiff competition.

This is going to be as successful as Windows Vista was.An unfinished product that's severely late and delayed...

The Leaf makes sense as a second car for many commuters.

The Volt makes little sense in every way I can think of.

 

If you care to, try convincing a few folks at TiVo Community, like DreadPirateRob.

(At last I heard, he drives a monstrosity class [full-sized] GM SUV aka guzzling, battering ram of death.)
I called him on the bolded part with:

You'll need a TiVocommunity account to read the above post and post a reply.

 

Volt has nothing new and unique to offer over Prius other than 40 miles city EV range (~25 miles highway EV range). It doesn't have Smart Key System, Solar Panel, LED headlamp, Radar assist cruise control, Lane Keep Assist, Touch Tracer, etc..

With the Prius you can get those options for less than Lexus. The same is not true with the Volt and Cadillac tech options.

Just throw him the "plugin premium payback" bone and see how he responds. It works out to 300,000 miles if the Volt is compared to either Prius (50 MPG / $23k) or Chevy Cruze (35 MPG / $17k) @ $3 per gallon gas.

 

Look out Rube Goldberg, GM is going after your ideas in order to avoid paying Toyota a royalty.

 

The Volt is a GM 'Gimmick' to help it sell its behemouth gas guzzler line of products, and allow it to pretend it is doing something 'Green', and Environmentally sound. A car that goes only 40 miles for 40 grand is a friggin' Joke. A Prius Five can be had for the after Federal Tax rebate cost which is: reliable and Not Made by the premier Lemon Builder GM, Extremely Fuel efficient, and loaded with technological gadgetry that makes it the Amazing car it is. There is still as yet No Road Test of the Chevy Electric short Commute car, known as the Volt. The only shock here is if anyone will buy it.

 

:wof::wof:

ound:IF THAT HAPPENS, AND THEY ACTUALLY FIND VICTIMS FOOLISH ENOUGH TO PAY THAT . . . maybe the Volt should be renamed . . . the P.T. Barnum . . . because it'll only succeed if 'There's a Fool Born every Minute !'

 

Toyota's patent? Maybe Paice LLC's patent is the problem.

 

Honestly I'd have to agree, where this "FITS" in marketing I'd have to say I'm clueless...

However!

This may apeal to movie stars, which is why they are only making 10k? of them (If I understand it.) Leonardo DiCaprio and George Clooney Can buy one... (That makes 2 sold)

Maybe they are hoping to get free publicity from them buying them?

They will probably give one to Jay Leno, (And count it as a sold LOL)
I'm sure also they will give away 500 or so... as Promo...

Russ

 

I can't see any toyota patent problem. I can see someone not in the know spouting off their mouth. If the goal is for the gen 2 volt to be more of a series hybrid, trying to get rid of noise and vibration issues associated with parrelel drive seem counter productive. There is indeed a clutch and gear. GM claimed in January that is was to be able to use the generator motor to more efficiently drive the wheels in some situations and to use it for regen braking. Rube goldberg be damned, if the volt doesn't have the appropriate motor and battery power/ reliability that needs to be fixed. No reason to make it a parrellel drive unless you have completely given up on clean design.

I am a little suprised at all the negativity on this issue. Most of the point read like a rehash of the arguments against the original prius. It did eventually evolve and solve early problems. If the point is that the car is too expensive, well we have known the price for a long time. $350 a month and $2,500 down for a 3 year lease is not going to stop early adopters. All of the first 10K will sell easily many with dealer mark ups. For those complaining about bad management at GM, well that is no news too. The volt is not a sign of bad management, the hummer, bankruptcy, the crushing of ev1s. Compared to the past gm is farting rainbows with this. Now the real solution would have been allowing gm to die with its bad market moves. My hope is that gm is successful enough that the government can get out of owning a badly run car company.

 

The article specifically said Toyota patent. I am not sure which patent because Toyota patented about 3,000 in three generations of Prius.

If you were referring Paice LLC patent number 5,343,970, that's for hybrid. Volt is supposedly EV as they claimed. If Volt want to operate like a hybrid then it better license Piece LLC patent.

 

Precisely.

In addition, and this is no small issue,

1. the buyer will have to come up with $41000 + TTF + any dealer ADM's out of pocket, OR
2. that buyer will have to qualify for a $50000-ish loan , OR
3. have a MASSIVE down payment to bring the loan into the new stricter guidelines of the banking system

That's why GM wants buyers to lease @ $350 / mo. For this rate the buyer only has to come up with $2500 + TTF + any dealer ADM. To get to this lease rate the buyer actually is paying $10,000 ( $2500 + $7500 ) upfront in order to reduce the payment.

 

$41,000 - minimum
$3895 - [email protected]%
$150 - BS dealer fees
-----------
$45,000 minimum
-$2000 down payment
$43,000 loan, 72mo @ 5.9%
-----------
$710/Mo payment
Total cost w/interest & down payment = $53,120!!!!

That rebate isn't gonna help unless you apply it directly to the principal on the loan. But come tax refund time, most people have forgotten or won't use it to pay down the loan, they will spend it on something else.

$710/Mo payment! Is using less gas really gonna make the difference up? My monthly cost for gas is $30, so I guess that's a big fat no....

 

Or you could lease it fo $350/mo with $2500 down. GM has priced the car to lease. The leasing company takes the tax credit.

 

Just got back from a dinner event where I used the ac on my Prius for about 30 miles after filling up on gas this aft. The mpg after 30 miles with ac on was 47.9!

The Prius is the gas mileage King.

 

Another price Volt will pay for not qualifying for AT-PZEV is no HOV lane access in CA. Ouch!

PHV Prius is said to qualify for AT-PZEV by using thermo bottle (probably the heat pump) to heat up the catalytic converter. So PHV Prius and Leaf will be in the HOV lane.

There is a good chance the PHV Prius will be cheaper than the Leaf after federal tax credit. Very interesting how this is playing out.

 

Thanks for playing Chevy...what a disappointment the "Chevy Joke" turned out to be IMO.


After being a loyal GM/Chevy only buyer for all my past vehicles I'm thinking I may have finally made the right choice with my Toyota Prebot.
Not looking back!
I'm sure that the Volt will be the right car for some. Even the tax credit was not enough to entice me. Too pricey Chevy!

 

People were pissing and moaning that GM would never build the Volt, because it was too big of a leap. GM is building the Volt and people are still pissing and moaning... People like to piss and moan.

 

Yea, only if they build an affordable, clean, fuel efficient car to compete with Prius in high volume.

From day one, they bragged about 40 miles EV range ignoring the reality of the battery price. The promise of "nicely under $30k" with 40 miles EV with ER capability was hyped.

Maybe they succeed by stealing some thunder from Prius and kept sales lower than it should have. Now that the cat is out of the bag (though not fully as we don't know CS MPG), we'll see how things turn out.