Have seen a total of 3 volts in the Springfield, MO area in the past couple of months. Not quite as rare as hen's teeth, but not very common right now. Still no Nissan Leafs or PIP.
Window shopping or did you take a test drive? Did they say anything about well well they are leasing (499/month for 2 years + 4500 up front if i recall). Any comments from them about your car?
I was driving the big red truck at the time and we happen to be training there so I didn't ask about it the grafics on it were weird though
But that's the rub. What you are getting is a $20,000 Chevy Cruz with an exotic drive train. That is worth $40,000 to some, but not to others. Think about what alternative cars the same $40,000 might purchase. In a competitive market, price has nothing to do with cost. Price is about the consumer's perception of value.
I'm sure chevy makes a higher profit on each cruze they sell than each volt. Put a ferrari engine in cruze and the price would need to go up much higher. The phev drivetrain is the whole reason for the volt to be. I don't think the what $35K after taxes and credits out the door is a bad price. Its a fairly unique car.
I guess you've never really ridden in them both or looked at the features. THere is a nice thread over at gm-volt.com on this one The definitive list of why a Cruze is not a Volt The fact that they share the same delta-II does not mean much. In my view in terms of fit, finish, ride, quietness and technology, The Volt is closer to a Caddy than a cruze. And when the Caddy ELR comes out guess what, it will be based on the same delta-II platform. Oh, and the net cost for most people is about 33K, not 40K. But your are right, its about preceived value. This is the volt sighting thread, so I can see where there may be some confusion if you just look at them. Drive them both for at least 30min.. and you'll see it is not all the same.
Depending on what trim you start with, and how you prioritize the optional features, a Cruze equipped near to the Volt in options is $23k to $25k. The battery alone in the Volt is $10k to $15k. Batteries for plug ins are just plain expensive. The tax credit is there to foster the battery industry until volume and improvements makes the price more reasonable. In 2001, the gen1 Prius was $20k($25k adjusted for inflation), and it was around the size of the Echo. Toyota has been able to improve its size, efficiency, and performance over years without much change to the price. The same should take place to the plug ins now on the market.
Cool map of where the voltstats.net owners are (ie. ~10% of all owners). Bright green color means higher "MPGused' Volt Stats: Owner Map GasBuddy.com map
Saw a brand new silver Volt parked in south San Jose today. Didn't plates yet. Was sold by a dealer that's part of DGDG.
The last time I saw a Volt actually driving as opposed to parked was in the winter of 2011. We pulled up behind it at a stop light. A Chevy Cruz was stopped directly adjacent to it. I vividly recall noting how similar these two vehicles were in appearance. I also recall commenting to my passenger about the lengths GM had gone to in order to conceal the tailpipe on the Volt.
I have seen 3 in my lifetime....all in Indy. I mentioned this to my wife and we both came to the conclusion that we have seen more of the Porsche 4 door Panamericas than the Volt....5 to be exact! Back when I owned a late 60s Fiat 600 there were NONE on the road.....wish I had that car now!
I saw one tonight at our local grocery store here in Ontario! It also had a special license plate. Our license plates usually have blue letters and numbers, but this one had Green letters and numbers in the same format as our regular license plates. The other interesting factor I noticed was that the first letter in that plate was G. All our plates either start with an A or B if it has 7 characters on the plates. I found this rather interesting.
Spotted 2 yesterday in Ocean Beach around 7:30 going home from fishing at the pier. One was silver, the other was blue. Blue one had dealer plates on it and was driven by a guy in a suit...General Manager maybe?
Saw a new red Volt today in south San Jose. It didn't have plates yet. IIRC, it was also bought from DGDG. Since the eAT-PZEV version qualifies for HOV stickers, I wouldn't be surprised if eventually I end up seeing them in equal numbers to the Leaf in CA.
Posting from the Oakland, CA area. My neighbor has newly acquired a Volt. This is about two weeks after my wife and I brought home our Prius v. We got our Prius a couple weeks after our other neighbor bought the Prius plug in hybrid. We figure they're stopping with the two kids they have, as the Volt can only seat two in the back.
Late last week, I saw one Volt on I-5 somewhere between Olympia and Portland. Then during an evening walk today, two Volts drove down my own street. Ten minutes apart, different colors. I'm still not sufficiently tuned to spotting Volts, so am probably missing more than 90% of them.
Last week I saw a Fisker Karma drive by in the fast lane followed moments later by a Prius PHEV in the next lane and a few seconds later by a Volt. Meanwhile, many of the other cars on the road here are Toyota hybrids. Cool.
