Will the Chevrolet Volt be a failure or a success?

Hehe

I do give strong grades to gwmort though, too. Handling himself more gracefully than I think some of us would if we were defending our cars at a Volt forum

 

Well, given how much I am paying towards them, I plan to demand a ride in the first one sold in my area. Perhaps I will see then.

 

Chevy seems to be having some measure of success:

Chevy boasts best-ever first quarter global sales — Autoblog

Best first quarter global sales in 100 yr history. If some of that was people coming to dealerships to see the Volt, I'm sure GM thinks its a success.

 

GM's biggest market is China now, I think. Honestly, I doubt Volt interest pulling people into showrooms accounted for anything statistically measurable.

 

I'm not sure, the Cruze is really jumping up as a top seller for them and that is a very similar car physically. Really made me stop and think for a minute that I could get a couple of them for cheaper.

I had my first heckler yesterday. I was in the parking lot at work wrapping up my charging cord to stow in the rear when an old guy in a pick-up truck hollared "buy yourself some gas!". I turned and saw it was a friend of my father's that owns a local service station, we both laughed. It reminded me of the "buy yourself a horse" comments to the early auto drivers.

 

At least he was joking, though At least in part. Driving around a truck right now has to suck. I live in the suburbs and I'm the only one in the entire 80 house 'hood with a hybrid. Rest have cars and tons of SUVs. It must be really peeving them to fill up at a few cents shy of $4/gallon in our area.

 

You got that right. Our parking lot here at work has a Suburban, an F-150, a tundra, and a trailblazer sitting next to my charging Volt. the rest of the staff has joked I'll need to cruise out and pick them up to get to work if prices go much higher (which is ironic because one of them had to come get me during the blizzard last year when only the SUVs could get around [don't even ask why we didn't just close for the day like everyone else]).

...and before the Minnesota guy chimes in I know we are weather wimps and what we call blizzards you call Tuesdays.

 

How soon we forget. Prius buyers received $394M in tax credits (source).

 

Volt wins another award

Chevrolet Volt Named 2011 World Green Car
NEW YORK – The 2011 Chevrolet Volt was named 2011 World Green Car of the Year at the New York Auto International Auto Show.
"The selection of the Volt as the World Green Car is a further proof point of the fuel-efficient technologies that are now being offered by the Chevrolet brand around the world," said Rick Scheidt, vice president of Chevrolet marketing. "This award, and the others that have preceded it, validate the efforts of the development team to build a truly remarkable vehicle with the potential to transform transportation around the globe."
The Chevrolet Volt was chosen from an initial entry list of 12 new vehicles from around the world, then a shorter list of 10, then three finalists: the Chevrolet Volt, the BMW 320d Efficient Dynamics Edition and the Nissan Leaf. The award is decided by a panel of global automotive journalists.
To be eligible for the overall World Car Award, the candidates must become available for sale on at least two continents during the period beginning Jan. 1, 2010 and ending May 30, 2011. The Chevrolet Volt will be eligible for the 2012 World Car Award as the Volt goes on sale in Europe and Asia later this year.
The World Green Car Award is the latest in a series of major awards for the Volt, which previously was named:
2011 North American Car of the Year
Motor Trend 2011 Car of the Year
Green Car Journal 2011 Green Car of the Year
Car and Driver 10Best for 2011
Ward’s AutoWorld 10 Best Engines for 2011
Automobile Magazine 2011 Automobile of the Year
2010 Breakthrough Technology, by Popular Mechanics

 

Nissan Leaf: 2011 World Car of The Year - Apr. 21, 2011

"The all-electric Nissan Leaf was named the 2011 World Car of The Year at the New York Auto Show on Thursday."

So is world cup better than World Green Car of the Year? I don't have a clue!

 

I don't know I've never heard of either before, but the Leaf was one of the 3 finalists for Green Car of the Year and lost to the Volt.

 

Prius reduced gas consumption, lowered emission and used zero electron from the plug.

Volt does only one out of three yet receive about 3x the incentive. It is quite a contrast.

Prius became mainstream even without the incentives. Will Volt become mainstream even with the 3x the government incentive?

 

Yes!

I don't think not plugging in is a benefit, there were many mod kits sold to prius owners for thousands of dollars to add plugs to their cars.

 

It's like sports for kids these days. Everyone's a winner!

 

Translation: "The Prius tax credit made perfect sense because I like it." And don't you like the electron-using PHV Prius? You're not very consistent.

$7500 is not "about 3x" $3150. It's "about 2x". Factoring in inflation, it's almost exactly 2x. Your arguments would be stronger if you didn't feel the need to resort to hyperbole at every turn.

 

Surprisingly enough (not least of all to me), Volt availability in my area is the lowest it has been since I started paying attention in mid-February. At that time, Chevrolet.com returned 38 cars (available or incoming - you can't tell) in a 25 mile radius. It now comes up with 22 and a number of those are demos.

My 3 closest dealers have 2 demos and one car for sale between them. They probably peaked at 10 cars right about the time I leased mine in early March (my dealer had 5 on the lot that evening, their all-time peak).

 

I wasn't implying the plug is good or bad.

My point was reducing gas consumption and lowering emission without replacement fuels.

 

Prius PHV does use electron to boost the MPG (reduce gas consumption). It does not increase the carbon footprint while doing so. Prius PHV would only qualify for $2,915 yet it will save more gasoline than the Volt.

Keep in mind, Prius PHV replaces a 25 MPG family midsize non-hybrid while the Volt replaces a 33 MPG compact non-hybrid.

As for the cordless Prius, $3,150 lasted only 9 months. The remaining 61 months had a much lower incentive. On average (with volume sold considered), I thought $2,500 would be a good guess, hence Volt's $7,500 incentive is "about 3x".

What does Volt's incentive bring to the table?

- If it is driven by electricity from the grid, there will be more carbon footprint.
- If it is driven by gasoline, it can save 491 gallons (33 mpg vs 37 mpg) for the lifetime.

That's a pretty bad return per tax dollar.

 

I call shenanigans!

You listed three things the Prius did then used the comparative term "only" when describing the Volt clearly meaning that it had less good qualities and was receiving more incentive. Thats a fine point if you want to make it, but don't deny thats what you meant.

 

I thought I was clear that Volt does only one out of the three things I listed. It reduces gasoline consumption and that's about it.