Does GM REALLY want to phase out the Volt?

Not terribly much higher than the US price once you take the VAT out.

It is not priced to sell to a mass market. I think it is a nice car, but I demand different compromises in order to bring the price down a bit and achieve greater efficiency for my needs. As a TCO buyer, I cannot make it work.

I expect to trade for a PHV, so I am not a pure TCO buyer, but the PHV fits my needs much better at a lower price and at greater efficiency.

 

Ahh, come on Grumpy.
What is US $10k between friends ?

Give GM a little help here, so they can sell you another in 8 years or so.

 

Prius PHV starts at £31,000 but after £5,000 government grant, it becomes £26,000.

How much is the government grant for Ampera?

 

Yeah, 10K is a chunk, alright.

 

the renaults come without a battery
thats on lease
to keep the base price down.

 

Now you know why nobody in the US is buying them (I don't believe the primary cause for that is production, no matter what GM claims).

A Volt here also costs approx twice a Cruze. Oh sure the base Volt has more accessories and all that, but...

I don't think GM wants to phase out the Volt. I think they just can't and won't sell a large number of them unless they can lower the price significantly. I don't believe they can lower it significantly, and thus I predict its lifespan to be relatively short. I've been wrong before.

 

That's the chicken and egg problem.

It has been proven that the price has to start at an affordable level. Prius started with $19,995 back in 2001.

As the sales volume increases, the car got better. Even with the inflation and exchange rate, Prius c will be coming out at $19k but that took 4 redesigns/improvements.

Volt starts at $40k. How are they supposed to make the next gen better and cost less? Even after 4 generations, it'll should still cost over $35k.

 

Along with the VAT, is there any other tariffs on the car, like import taxes?

I only found info on individual cars bought in the US and imported to UK.
How to Import a car to the UK from the US

 

I think one of Toyota's greatest victories in relationship to Prius and "alternative" vehicles in the form of hybrids has been their understanding that they need to make the product as mainstream and accesible as possible.

The Volt, has manifested from PR stunt (imo) to luxury "niche" product. But GM seems to have no respect or idea how to build an alternative vehicle that is reachable and utilizeable to the masses.

Until they do? They are behind the times, and surfing behind the waves.

 

The Volt was stillborn as a vehicle. All this intarweb noise is just the sounds of people yawning and trying to wake up before their coffee is ready.

 

Nisan is doing some aggressive pricing. I think they still are planning to build in the UK in 2013. I don't think gm cares all that much if they sell the cars in europe, but they want to make them available. High pricing isn't an indication that the car is going away, but they won't sell many in europe next year. Both the leaf and volt don't seem right for a cab driver. If the ford energi makes it to england and they price it right that may be better for a cab.

Europeans get screwed with a lot of pricing. How much is the prius phv?

 

If they could just take out the ICE and all the stuff associated with it, and replace with two more batteries, it might make an OK electric car. But then likely in Tesla S territory.

[sigh]

 

Agreed. But I guess that would give it a 120 mile range, which would put it in competition with the Leaf, which has 5 seats rather than 4 and costs less, albeit with 100 mile range.

To me there are two problems with the Volt's design (not talking about price here!):
(1) Too narrow a niche. Unless you can charge at work, max AER is 20 miles each way. When I worked, I commuted 34 miles each way. A Leaf would have suited me perfectly and gotten me completely off gas. I would have had something else (a Prius now) for longer trips. Factoring in price, the Volt seems like "a car for well-to-do folks who don't need to go very far".
(2) Unblended architecture: blending electric with gas usage seems like a better strategy than the Volt's EV-then-ICE design. With blending, the car can select EV in sections where the ICE would be particularly inefficient (low loads) and stretch out the battery usage. Also, if the ICE is kept warm the car avoids wasting battery for cabin heat in winter.

Despite their protestations to the contrary, GM doesn't seem that eager to pound out and sell a lot of Volts. Seems more like something to give them creds while they crank out their usual lineup.

 

Another thing about the Volt is its four door sedan body. Four doors plus hatch is much more utilitarian. Unless the car is more performance oriented (apparently that's GM's take on the Volt, although I'm not sure I agree), five doors makes so much more sense for the segment.

It's, sadly, just not as well focused as it might be.

 

Did you mean sedan as in trunk? Volt is a liftback sort of like Prius, but not as much space.

On another note, I'll take all the word that Volt is more 'fun' to drive as in spunkier acceleration.