April Volt Sales:

Hill those are sales figures. In the full report GM also delivered 300 more volts as demo vehicles to dealers in April. More demo vehilces are planned in May, and after that according to GM production and sales figures will line up. The estimate for 2011 is 10,000 which gets to over a thousand per month at the end of the year, and GM told analysts they are on track for that. The production and sales estimates for 2012 are 4000-5000 per month. If these sales are going well GM has said they will increase production to 10,000/mo. I believe the 2011 and 2012 figures, but think competition will likely make the 2013 number fantasy.. Nissan has an even more aggressive ramp up planned for the end of the year through 2013.

 

Even if GM spins until everybody is dizzy, and counts "2011" as 15 months from Oct 2010 until 1/1/2012, MY production is not going to be 10k cars unless they ramp up dramatically. They seem to have leveled out to about 25 cars a day.

I'm ready for some interesting *EV news. The Volt is boring me.

 

Man this thing is underwhelming in sales. 300/month for several months then spikes to 600 now under 500 again? It's pathetic, when will this thing actually get to meaningful production levels?

 

are there volts actually sitting on dealers lots? where can i find one?

 

No, it isn't. The increase to 25,000 has been pointed out several times already too. Here's that info again...


http://www.freep.com/article/20110111/BUSINESS0101/110111059/1319/GM-preps-2-new-electric-plug-in-hybrid-vehicles

http://www.industryweek.com/articles/gm_to_produce_25000_volts_in_2011_23622.aspx?SectionID=13

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110112/GREEN/110119964

http://www.hybridcarblog.com/surprise-from-10000-to-25000-chevy-volts-in-2011/

http://www.mlive.com/auto/index.ssf/2011/01/report_general_motors_plans_to.html

http://detnews.com/article/20110111/AUTO04/101110430/GM-to-amp-up-Volt-production

http://www.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20110112-257748.html

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Unless something happens to really impact the production, the volts will be coming...

Be nice to have gm compete and push with more breakthroughs. And maybe lower prices???

 

Sorry GM. You need to drop the price to under $40k and make sure they are not marked up over 40k. Then you may get to 1000 sales. Maybe.

 

No one really required you to respond, there is no news here. I was simply trying to correct some of hills misperceptions. I think it helps to understand what the goal numbers are how they are counted. It stops people from constantly beliving a bunch crazy ideas like GM is going to make 20000 volts a month in may. Its going to be 300-700 sales and a bunch going to dealers.

There's the good old source of much of these crazy numbers. If you think gm isn't going to make 25K volts this year your right. I don't know how a statement that GM is "attempting to increase production" means they suceeded or are still trying. GM clarified that the next day, but these things keep poping up.

John, I'm not sure if gm shot your dog or what makes you need to respond to everything. The numbers in April were no suprise, and you should not be suprised and write 100 posts next month when they don't magically change production again. IF your purpose is to mislead so that you can get other people to post as many crappy posts as you do I can understand. If you are trying to bring anything valuable to the discussion you are failing miserably.

Well you should ask John, I'm sure he can find you an ad from a dealer. Of course if you call that dealer you may find it is not there. GM is attempting to get 900 dealers to have cars for test drives. There is a 3 week wait for a car from the dealers here, but you can get a test drive.

 

It's good to see that in light of the earthquake in Japan, production of both of these breakthrough vehicles continues.

(some of you will argue that the Leaf is not a breakthrough. It's the first mass produced electric vehicle from a major automaker. some of you will argue the Volt is not a breakthrough. There are actually people out there that drive less than 40 miles per day and won't ever burn a drop of fuel during the weekdays, but like the idea of being able to go further on weekends without having to slap down $25K for a second car)

*why isn't this thread titled "April Leaf and Volt Sales" ?

 

They are notorious for being vague and changing the plans later anyway; however, I haven't heard this nor did you provide a link. What was the clarification?

Remember, the purpose is suppose to be the production of a vehicle for the mainstream (affordable & high-volume). This downplay to early-adopter status (expensive & niche) is really a goal missed.

What should the expectation be now?
.

 

GM Weighing Volt Production Boost - AutoObserver

The official number has not changed. I don't feel like searching for the earlier clarifications, but they were the same as this one. Think about it this way. The CEO gets peppered with questions, and with bravado says it is selling so well he wants to increase production. Maybe we can double it, maybe make it 2.5x. It happens all the time. If you want to hold that as a lie, fine, but it is puffery that you should not believe until there is official word that suppliers are actually ramping production to these new numbers. I follow the auto industry, but normally don't pay much attention to the puffery.

I know is your defined purpose of the volt. I don't think it is GM's. GM has described it as a halo vehicle and a hedging strategy against getting caught without fuel efficient vehicles. I also see the lack of sales as lack of production. There are not mountains of volts sitting on lots. This lack of production is planned. GM is trying to cut down production costs and may still not be sure of demand. This is quite different than a question of what is a volt, and many want to contemplate their navel on this and believe it is the cause of the destruction of western civiliation. That is fine if it is your opinion, but completely off topic. I expect every new volt produced in 2011 to lose money if it doesn't draw people in to buy other gm cars. In the mean time they are trying to get the volt in dealerships for test drives. Current numbers show they are being very successful at pulling people in and selling them cruzes and malibus.

As I posted above 10K this year, 45K-60K next year, 120K in 2013. I take any talk of ramping up production without offical word as puffery. As I also said, I expect them to hit their numbers this year and next, but do not expect that they will in 2013. According to bloomberg that 10K/month figure is private and people off the record at GM have said they will scale it back if they can't cut costs or if they do not see demand.

 

It most certainly was not described as a "halo" vehicle until shortly before rollout. That's the change, quite a contrast to the 3 years of hype prior to then.
.

 

Yea, the reality of the cost of Lithium raised the price of Volt from "comfortably under $30k" to $43k fully loaded MSRP.

I remember Bob Lutz stating the cost of replacing the battery pack is built into the price. Does it mean the battery pack is expected to fail before the end of the car's life?

 

I wasn't following the hype 3 years prior as you fully were, but I doubt you should have believed it, and am not sure what it was you even believed. About 3 years ago the toyota CEO said he would get the plug in prius shipping in 2010 like the volt and the race was on. I do not use those projections and ring my hands looking at the sales figures saying their is no demand for the prius phv as they have sold 0. Look at current figures, use your head, don't search for 3 or 4 year old trade show talk as things today.

Ofcourse I don't want to argue the point, but lutz did sell the gm board on the volt as a halo car. Here is something talking about it not having high sales 1 year before production.

Can the Chevy Volt Recharge GM? | BNET

It sounds like a halo to me, and if you notice those mainstream numbers are not for a long way off. Gen 1

Lutz bankrupted the company, and the volt was one of the few new cars that survived. The $30k estimate was before they put any engineers on the car and he thought he could just pop the battery in an econobox. The battery price did not change. That was also in 2007, it was around $40K in 2008. Do not use these old figures to estimate sales in 2011. Its crazy. What were the toyota rumors from the CEO in early 2007? That the gen III prius would be lithium and would get 60-70mpg. It didn't happen but I bought one anyway

 

Those of us who questioned the hype were labeled as trolls.

It was the enthusiasts who believed and contributed to the misled expectations.
.

 

I don't think many of us were even listening to the trade show talk.

Who on prius chat labeled you as a troll that the volt would not be a mainstream car? If you are talking about other gm fan sites, well, that is not prius chat.

 

Wait, GM CEO has said that they plan to build 25k vehicles this year in January THIS year.

Whats the issue here?

Obviously they have no chance to reach that goal, and most of their propaganda has been just that - propaganda.

Is it my, Sage's, or John's fault? Are we CEO's of one of the largest company in the world and making statements that he had to know were wrong or at least extremely optimistic at the time?

 

By the 1st full year (1998), Prius 1Gen counted...17700 units, that's about 1500 per month...
Imagine those days, with no market (low oil price) or battery/inverter/motors manufacturers!

Are we being too hard on GM?
Our fault...

 

i dont care to be hard on anyone, but it is their PR's that annoy me because they constantly overpromise and underdeliver... And I have been following their PR initiatives since 2004 when two mode hybrids were about to be a lot better than what Toyota offers.

p.s. 120k Volts in 2013? Thats surely a joke.