I phoned my local Chevy dealer as I wanted to put down a $1,000 to $2,000 deposit on the Chevy Volt for 2010, as I plan at that time to trade in my Prius for that car. The sales manager told me that they have a policy in only taking deposits or establishing a waiting list no more than six months before a particular model is available. That makes me wonder if the Volt is for real, or just hype. Otherwise why wouldn't they want my $$$$ ? If Chevy/GM can make a PHEV before Toyota or another Japaneese company I'll buy it. I would like to drive an American made car again as long as its as good if not better than my Prius. Come on GM, don't mess it up like you did the EV1. Brad Tampa Bay Florida
They probably don't want to do the bookkeeping associated with taking a deposit and holding on to it for that long. Besides, why would you want the dealership to earn interest on your money instead of keeping it yourself?
Because I am serious about wanting to buy the car and I don't want to be stuck on a long waiting list for when it does finally come out.
It's targetted to be in showrooms by the end of 2010 Chevrolet Volt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia With the usual delays on new designs, expect to see it in dealers in 2011. Also, where did you see 0-60mph under 4 seconds for the Volt? Isn't that for the Tesla? The Volt seems to be a 8.5 second 0-60mph car Detroit Auto Show: It's here. GM's plug-in hybrid is the Chevy Volt Concept - AutoblogGreen More specs can be seen here below... again showing 8.5 seconds 0-60mph times Detroit Auto Show: Full Specifications on the Chevy Volt - AutoblogGreen
That's a liability I couldn't imagine anyone accepting. Taking that money establishes a contract to deliver. But how can that be when the product itself is so vague? Until specs are finalized, you could turn around and easily sue for being mislead. Claiming you were falsely informed about what Volt would actually be doesn't take much imagination. Changes have been frequent & plentiful. .
wow i think its still pretty early to put down a deposit for it.. its production model is not even ready yet...
The dealer may not want to be accused of fraud...or be in a position to reap very negative press if GM sticks it to the dealers (e.g. Volts available for lease only). I would worry vastly more about the dealer who takes you money without any price or timeframe for the vehicle.
Maybe the dealer knows the chances of the volt being true life is about 1 in a 1000 and doesnt want to think about it yet. GM says one thing and builds another. seen it many times before.
You should put the money that has a better chance of getting results, such as one of those spams from that Nigerian prince, or maybe investing in the Brooklyn Bridge.
My bad about the 0-60 MPH in 3.9 seconds. I had car confusion. Great replies to my OP, and I never gave any consideration to fraud or misrepresentation. I just want to get on a list and assure myself being able to buy the car during first year production w/o headaches or worries of availability.
Be careful what you ask for. Based on past GM experience if you are lucky enough to get an early production Volt you'll have headaches or worries of another kind. Make sure the dealer gives you the "GM Official Beta Tester" t-shirt.
Besides, never buy version one of anything, especially vaporware, which is all I consider the Volt to be.
Agreed with the above. Wait a year, let the company work the bugs out. Buying into the second year is probably a good novelty/reliability compromise. If money is burning a hole in your pocket, Brad, why not consider the Hymotion kit for the Prius... or the Zenn car? You live in Florida, perfect weather for the Zenn!
Bingo! I like people that want to be the first adopter. They beta test the car for me, put up with lots of crap, then in a year, more likely two years I come along and buy the really finished product. To each his own. ZC1
dont waste your money. i can pretty much garantee that by the time the volt is out, there will be much better options available.
Like others have said, the liability of them taking your money is way too great, since the car has no final plan or exact date of release, whether it will be buy or lease, etc. Also, I would definitely stick with Toyota. We will be on 3rd or maybe even 4th generation by the time the Volt is out, that's around 15 years of research and trial and error that can assure you that the new Prius or whatever they make is reliable. GM is not that progressive, not that forward, that you don't know that the technology that they are putting into the Volt won't be crap, won't fail, etc. I would definitely wait to see what other people think of it and how it holds up before you decided what you want to trade your Prius in for.
Even the latest news articles state that GM is awaiting new battery technology. At present, it isn't commercially feasible to build the battery they need for the Volt. One must consider the time for research, manufacturing-process development, factory construction, then safety testing in cars. Maybe by 2010, maybe later. Remember, all GM needs is something "better" or more profitable, and they'll drop the Volt. Much of the Volt's publicity is just public relations at this point. This is no different than making flex-fuel gas guzzlers. (Who cares if you can burn ethanol at 10mpg?)
Actually, there's very simple way to plunk down a deposit on a Volt, just buy a few GM shares, they are quite cheap right now. A recent introspective piece on GM in Barron's shows both considerable up and down sides for GM going forward; the Volt is presumed one of the upside elements. If GM does pull it off, a small investment now could leave a person flush with the cash with which to buy the Volt when it's available.
