GM losing $49,000 on every Volt sold, but will make it up on volume!

There's a thread already chewing on this Reuters article. Follow this link to the point of the thread where discussion begins to discuss the article.

(The referenced discussion is underneath the thread Chevy stops Volt production (temporarily ...).)

 

I think they will make it up on repairs ;-)

-Tapatalk

 

the-real-story-on-gms-volt-costs - Bob Lutz (hmm... do you think he has some real insight/knowledge being where he came from)
The Real Story On GM's Volt Costs - Forbes

Also GMs response:
GM Response to Reuters Story on Chevrolet Volt Development Costs
GM Response to Reuters Story on Chevrolet Volt Development Costs

 

The reuter's article has some sales info broken down into lease or purchase.
Before the $199 leases were offered, GM moved about 1500 cars a month, of which 60% were outright sales equal to 900 cars a month. The fire sale leases dropped the purchase rate to about 33% -- or ~ 900 outright sales a month.

So it seems fair to say that purchases are steady at a whopping 900 cars a month, but money losing leases has skyrocketed.

Yep -- par for the course for GM. Hide losses to print copy about marketshare.

 

ROFL

Ah yes, he of "the Volt will be well under $30k" (price to consumer) fame. Even amongst his cohort of sniveling, spinning, half lying management friends, Lutz stands out as completely full of crap.

Lutz, circa 2006

Read more: http://priuschat.com/threads/gms-bob-lutz-does-about-face-on-hybrids.7581/#ixzz26WSzQkmW​

 

Must be really nice for Government Motors to be using taxpayers' bailout money. Maybe we should all give our entire paychecks, retirement, unemployment, credit cards, all of our cash and hand it over to them. How long will it be before Government Motors is, again, looking for additional bailout money?

DBCassidy

 

Why aren't investors flocking to buy Government Motors stock. Could it be that it is seen as being a "toxic investment?

DBCassidy

 

Americans can't afford $50,00 cars, especially when they are already in debt from high gas prices. It's an unrealistic solution, our money might prop up a few auto workers for a few more years, and a good amount of it will get paid out one way or another to the same Executives that couldn't properly run a business the first time.

 

Duh ....

BTW, If someone can't afford $12/day maybe they shouldn't be driving a car, they should be walking, riding a bicycle, or taking the bus or subway.

 

Got to love records sales in August. Then the election. Then BS stories that attempt to analyze only the Volt in this way but not every other car. Perfectly logical.

How much did Toyota initially invest in the Prius? Can that be compared to initial sales?

Sales: Toyota Prius - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Funny how the original and copycat articles did not mention the Volt's development costs are also shared with other variants of the Volt sold overseas--the Opel and Vauxhall Ampera in Europe, and the Holden Volt in Australia

 

I expect after the election, no matter which way it goes, we will stop seeing these articles. There are two things going against them, first is the numbers. Add 2 more months of sales, and the cost is going to keep going down with the bad accounting You can't fool people with that may of those articles. Second if Romney wins, he will need plug-ins in his energy policy, if he loses they won't have gotten any mileage out of the attack, and will try something else.

GM may stay in the political news, since the government owns so much stock. The big financial story is about huge losses and restructuring in Europe.

 

When there is no "News" then the media has to create it, so we should expect similar articles regardless of the political cycle. They teach journalist (yes that is what they call them) how to craft headlines and controversal lead-ins to stir the pot and get clicks. A well written news report just doesn't cut it in today's interactive media where ad impressions are king.

Take a moment to watch how many times an article has it's headline edited in the first few hours, until it can gather enough clicks and get reposted onto blogs and forums like this one.

 

That is very true, but the same internet is already bored with this meme. Look at how it died and was refuted within a day this time. In March the same meme worked for a longer time, but it was short lived compared to the original ruckus in December and January, when their were daily stories on cable news channels. The people mad at the bailouts have much better headlines, but mainly against the banks. Those wanting to talk about gm bankrupcy will talk about loss of market share to vw and toyota, or huge losses in europe. The current gm ceo, wanted to keep opel going and that is where the losses are coming from. I don't think making the volt obama's car really hurts him at all, it may help him explain unemployment is high but at least he kept jobs at gm where the other guy would have let it fail. Today NA and Asian profits are much larger than european losses, but if the market gets weaker, more gm bankrupcy talk will come up. It just won't work attacking the volt a fourth time though.

 

I know Volt fans like to think the US media is against them, but imagine for a moment if Toyota had come out with the Prius, and two years later had still not admitted how much a replacement traction battery would cost. You can bet that the FUD machine would have concocted that to mean the battery was too expensive to replace, and only fools would buy a car that would be in the dump in a few short years.

GM has not published a price, has an inferior warranty on the traction battery, and yet not a peep in the press. In fact, all the press really let themselves say is that $40k is a lot of money. No Sh1t, Sherlock.

 

Battery listed at <$2500 here:

BATTERY. Drive Motor Battery for 2011 Chevrolet Volt LTZ 4 DOOR HATCHBACK (20979876)

and here:
20979876 - GM BATTERY

Doesn't matter so much to me. Let's say after 8 years I can only go 3/4th of my 40 miles (I get 45 easy for 3 seasons) ... so I can only go 30 miles per day on the battery and then have to use some gas. Heck I'd still make it to work and back on battery.

 

That is a strange statement. We are on a thread with a misleading story. Its not imagination. The volt is a political punching bag, with political stories for and against it. I don't have to imagine toyota not knowing what battery replacement costs would be way in the future when the warranty was over. They had no idea. They did know for accident replacement, as gm does on the volt and insurance companies. USA today has written a positive article on plug-in insurance rates.
Owners of costly electric cars save money on insurance

And this is exactly what happened with the prius. You don't have to imagine it. There were articles that the nickel was bad for the environment and the battery would fail early leaving you will an expensive repair. That doesn't make it true. Now are you saying the prius is worse for the environment for the hummer Or can you remember that stories about prius batteries were bogus.

Wow, so you make up FUD, and you are upset that the press is using different political attacks than you. The waranty on the volt battery here is exactly the same as my prius battery. Call fox with your made up story, but you need to do a little better for them to run it. Note that people worried about battery replacements should lease the car.

Here is one of the stories debunked.
snopes.com: Cost to Operate the Chevy Volt

Lots of political hit peices. I guess if you think that gm is losing $49K on each volt it sells in the future, you may not notice the politics of it all. I did see some amusing clips of O'Reily. He was for the volt to reduce oil dependance under bush, then against the volt as a car under obama.
O'Reilly's Alternative Fuel Flip | Blog | Media Matters for America
Conservative Media Recklessly Distort Volt Safety | Research | Media Matters for America

 

AG, perhaps my memory is wrong ?

G1 (maybe G2 ?) Prius traction battery warranty was 150k miles in CARB states, 100k miles elsewhere
Volt traction battery warranty was 100k miles everywhere initially, but now 150k miles in CA but still 100k miles everywhere else.
Your argument that the warranties in TX are the same today is irrelevant.

GM no doubt knows what the retail traction battery replacement cost is, but you as a consumer do not. Kapisch ?

 

I don't really put much stock in numbers like 1.2 Billion USD for Volt R&D. Who knows what GM includes or leaves out. Just for fun though, let's say GM giving out accurate information for once, and the opportunity cost of that money is a 5% apr like normal businesses would pay to borrow funds. Over the two years and 25k odd Volts sold, just the interest adds almost $5000 to the cost of each car, calculation based on 60 million USD interest a year spread out over the cars sold.

I do love irony though. Once upon a time Volt fans would froth at the mouth at the mention of a Volt being a Cruze with some electric components. That was when they were intent on the meme that the Volt was a near-luxury car, thereby justifying the $40k price tag. Now that the collective wants to believe that the Volt is near profitable as a marginal cost, they happily quote Lutz as saying the car is a Cruze with a battery and a small amount of electrical stuff. LOL

The truth no doubt is somewhere in the middle

 

They must have some good weed in New Mexico.