Featured Bolt the cannibal and used hybrid/plug-in generator

is that all it takes? Maybe or maybe not available in a flyover state? Woohoo, go Toyota ... still, I don't know if that's what I would call raising the bar for 'promoting' ...
I guess it's too much to expect the dealership owner to be out front riding a Bengal tiger saying I will stand upon my head till my ears are turning red to make a deal on this plug in hybrid
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love the lug nut mod, winding the oem makes me crazy.

 

It's different when a car is renamed based on its market (Yaris/Vitz and Aqua/Prius C) what I'm talking about is what people have dubbed as "badge engineering" multiple companies selling the same car. Like Opel/Buick/Vauxhall/Chevrolet selling the same car in the same market. Given GM recently pulled Chevy from Europe in an attempt to save Opel/Vauxhall. Also, the European branches are almost solely responsible for the smaller platforms of GM. Let's face it, an American company can't do small anything right.

The Volt will suffer from the Bolt but since sales are pretty low I imagine the Bolt will probably pass the Volt in sales. Prius has some advantages over the Prime and vice versa. I imagine there'd be less cannibalism.

 

why do so many suspect low bolt sales (especially so early) - while Tesla 3 holds $1,000 of 400,000 deposit holders. Gotta be something. And which model will those four hundred thousand folks cannibalize? Might just be a rhetorical question but maybe it deserves some thought by the other manufacturers
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I imagine the Bolt will sell very well at least for its first year on the market. If gas prices rise again people will go ape for a long range EV.

 

Because GM said that's what we should expect. That's why I've been questioning supporters, to find out what they expect now that the bar has been set.

How will growth be achieved ?

 

We also recognize the pattern. Things just don't add up. Then when you look to find out why, evidence showing goals being missed becomes obvious.

So, we ask a fundamental question. Years ago, it was: "Who is the market fir Volt?" That ultimately revealed the problems with gen-1.

Now that there's nothing too prove technically, the question had changed. The fundamental question is: "How will growth be achieved?"

How that is answered will tell us much about GM's electrification future.

 

it will be easy enough for gm to expand the size of the volt into a 5 seat hatch back, which would likely prove quite popular.

 

Lexus CT 200h Hybrid Ad Slams Electric BMW i3: Gloves Come Off: FURTHER UPDATE

"Lexus and its parent company Toyota seem to have acquired a recent habit of making ads that criticize electric cars and plug-in hybrids.

Toyota has made no secret about its disinterest in plug-in cars, claiming that hybrids and hydrogen fuel-cell cars like the one it plans to launch in the U.S. next year are a better solution."

 

actually, toyota recently said that bev's are now inevitable. much to their chagrin.

your article is from 2014.

 

Huh? A larger hatchback offering would be even more expensive than Volt. Choosing not to compete with some type of plug-in SUV would be a poor decision.

Remember, the competition is GM's own product-line. The regular Equinox is selling extremely well. Disregarding that market makes no business sense.

After all, that's why Two-Mode came about in the first place.

 

Toyota has demonstrated flexibility and willingness to adapt to the changing market.

Why are you ignoring that by posting outdated information from 2 years ago that didn't even apply to the Toyota brand vehicles?

 

everyone's competition are their own products along with everyone else's, unless you've got something very unique. i'm sure gm can find a way to further reduce costs, as they have been.

 

Reduce costs like Toyota does by restricting supply? The Prime and, in some cases, the 2017 Prius still appear to be supply constrained in the US.

 

if that works, why not? i think volt roll outs have been restricted at times, and bolt looks similar.
but i thought mass production reduced costs?

 

Production costs restrict immediate cash flow.

 

I never understood why Toyota does this on their site. Other manufacturers will have a separate category for hybrids and plug ins, but they also stick the hybrid car in with the non-hybrids the car section, the SUV hybrid in the SUV section, etc. Are they being miserly with their bytes, or do they think non-hybrid by=uyers are turned off by seeing a hybrid choice?

Which is a great sign that Toyota isn't going to reneg on the nationwide promise.

That doesn't disprove the rumors of manufacturing delays. Others have reported it here, and in aeras outside of South East Toyota, so it isn't just them as I first expected.

There is also the Malibu hybrid based the Voltec system, but its sales are suffering from gas prices and it being a car.

I'm familiar with "brand engineering", and remember when it referred to a car company simple slapping a different emblem on the grill, with maybe a different grill.

What you are complaining about is platform sharing, and if car companies didn't do it, they wouldn't be able to make affordable cars. Consumer disdain over brand engineering got them to invest more on differentiating the models. You don't appear to be crying about the Avalon/ES, nor that the platform they are built on is a stretched Camry.

I've already explained why GM kept Buick. Perhaps they could have taken the brand off the American market, or someone figured that would cost more while keeping it for China.

I don't know how much the Vauxhall and Opel markets overlap, but GM's Europe holdings are a mess. They should have made everything Chevy, but it appears nationalist pride won out. So they didn't, but they should have pulled Chevy from Europe then.

GM is a global company. I really don't care where they pull ideas and designs from, as long as they are good and put to use. Offering, and selling small cars is far better than how past GM handled the segment.

I can't say which, the Volt or Bolt, will sell better, I just don't see much cannibalizing. There is a price difference that doesn't go away with government incentives, and even without the BEV to PHEV comparison, they are different cars. Aesthics aside, if a person doesn't need the fifth seat and cargo space of a Prius, why wouldn't they get the Prime instead? Even without plugging in, it gets slightly better fuel economy. Worry about depreciation?

The others have been thinking about Tesla since the Model S beat them in the market. Some were spurred on the introduce their own plug ins, including their more entry level models. Others attacked them in advertising.

As for the Model 3 vs Bolt, while the 3 may start less than the Bolt, the desired upgrades will mean most will sell for higher. The SuperCharger network is a big draw, but the 3 is a smaller car than the S, making it a less desirable car for long trips to many people. So expect a larger percentage of Model 3 owners will opt for their other car for trips than Model S owners. Plus, GM has better reliability ratings in regard to their plug in at this point.

When actual pricing comes out for the Model 3, I do expect some reservation holders to opt for the Bolt in long trips aren't their concern, and they likely can't get the tax incentive on the Tesla. The Model 3 is also going to be supply constrained, increasing how long all those 400k will have to wait.

GM over estimated how many Volts they would sell the first year, and detractors are quite willing to continually bring that up. Yet being conservative about such predictions is also a bad thing.

This is GM's actual press release, Chevrolet Delivers First Bolt EVs to Customers
No specs on the Bolt there, but there have been other press releases, auto shows, events, and a web site where GM has informed the public on those. Doing so here would be off topic.

California is ground zero for CARB's ZEV program. All the first delivered plug ins have gone there. There are even BEVs sold there that can't be bought anywhere else in the country. The first Bolt owners living there really is no news.

The press release just states what cars these people previously owned as a matter of fact. If that is snark, then we could call GM anti-feminist for apparently not including a woman among the first.

Tesla is only mentioned by third party reporters adding their own spin.

My poor, sweet, simple mined bisco, only Toyota is allowed to "play their cards close to the chest". Everybody else must broadcast 1, 2, 5, and 10 year plans in exquisite detail across the land for all to judge. So what you suggest surely isn't possible since GM hasn't announce such.

The gen2 Volt went to California first, and then onto other CARB states and some with large markets. Something technical came up, maybe a first year model issue, and GM skipped on bringing the 2016 model out nationwide, and went straight into making the 2017 for that.

Reports are that GM can bring production up to meet demand if need be.

 

Yes, exactly. “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.”

I think those inside toyota that thought they could kill bevs, have lost. Volt was ridiculed as 4 seat with too big a battery, now prime has - you guessed it - 4 seats and a much bigger battery than the previous version.

Some still have the old thinking, and haven't been paying attention to the huge technological transition change tesla has brought. In 2010 Toyota was still saying you could never sell any quantity of a 300 mile bev, it would be too heavy too expensive. And people would demand 300 miles if there wasn't a gas tank, the solution was hydrogen. Well mirai has bombed and model S now has a 315 mile range option.

Why The Tesla 100 kWh Battery Is A Super Big Deal - Gas 2



2016 Tesla Model S AWD - P100D





The rush is to provide this level of range and smoothness at a lower cost. Welcome the bolt. IMHO it falls short of the model 3, but it is definitely welcome.

While in 2014 Toyota said no one wants an electric car, meaning very few. They were trumpeting how many would want a fcv. Now toyota has probably had a chance to see the bolt and model 3 prototype, and the President owns a tesla roadster. I don't think the anti-ev people have much credibility left. Still Lexus has done some anti plug-in ads this year. I hope this ends soon.