So you think the Chevrolet Volt electric car will cost too much? Tell that to the Chevy dealer who has already decided to charge $20,000 over the sticker price.
That's right. Months before the first Volt lands on a showroom floor, there's enough excitement that the dealer -- who earns a living calculating what the market will bear -- is charging nearly 50% more than General Motors' asking price for the revolutionary car.
If that's any yardstick, the 2011 Volt is drastically underpriced. Supply and demand, baby. It's the free enterprise system.
Despite that, critics -- particularly political opponents of the Obama administration who have decided that what's bad for GM is good for them -- attacked GM for making the Volt too expensive for many people.
(snip)
...there was feigned shock when GM revealed the Volt's $41,000 MSRP last week. A federal tax credit will reduce the cost to $33,500, or $350 a month on leases.
The Web site AutoObserver.com first reported the $20,000 charge. The "S" in MSRP stands for "suggested," by the way. GM can't control what its dealers charge. It won't get any extra money from those who go over the manufacturer's suggested retail price.
"Demand is going to far exceed supply for this vehicle, initially our asking price for the Volt is going to be MSRP plus $20,000," a California Chevrolet dealer wrote in an e-mail to prospective buyers, AutoObserver reported.
Showing posts with label Chevrolet Volt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chevrolet Volt. Show all posts
Monday, August 9, 2010
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Yes, the Volt is green, but it costs $41,000, requires premium gasoline and "looks suspiciously similar to a Toyota Prius"
GENERAL MOTORS introduced America to the Chevrolet Volt at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show as a low-slung concept car that would someday be the future of motorized transportation. It would go 40 miles on battery power alone, promised G.M., after which it would create its own electricity with a gas engine. Three and a half years — and one government-assisted bankruptcy later — G.M. is bringing a Volt to market that makes good on those two promises. The problem is, well, everything else.
For starters, G.M.’s vision turned into a car that costs $41,000 before relevant tax breaks ... but after billions of dollars of government loans and grants for the Volt’s development and production. And instead of the sleek coupe of 2007, it looks suspiciously similar to a Toyota Prius. It also requires premium gasoline, seats only four people (the battery runs down the center of the car, preventing a rear bench) and has less head and leg room than the $17,000 Chevrolet Cruze, which is more or less the non-electric version of the Volt.
In short, the Volt appears to be exactly the kind of green-at-all-costs car that some opponents of the bailout feared the government might order G.M. to build. Unfortunately for this theory, G.M. was already committed to the Volt when it entered bankruptcy. And though President Obama’s task force reported in 2009 that the Volt “will likely be too expensive to be commercially successful in the short term,” it didn’t cancel the project.
Nor did the government or G.M. decide to sell the Volt at a loss, which, paradoxically, might have been the best hope for making it profitable.
For starters, G.M.’s vision turned into a car that costs $41,000 before relevant tax breaks ... but after billions of dollars of government loans and grants for the Volt’s development and production. And instead of the sleek coupe of 2007, it looks suspiciously similar to a Toyota Prius. It also requires premium gasoline, seats only four people (the battery runs down the center of the car, preventing a rear bench) and has less head and leg room than the $17,000 Chevrolet Cruze, which is more or less the non-electric version of the Volt.
In short, the Volt appears to be exactly the kind of green-at-all-costs car that some opponents of the bailout feared the government might order G.M. to build. Unfortunately for this theory, G.M. was already committed to the Volt when it entered bankruptcy. And though President Obama’s task force reported in 2009 that the Volt “will likely be too expensive to be commercially successful in the short term,” it didn’t cancel the project.
Nor did the government or G.M. decide to sell the Volt at a loss, which, paradoxically, might have been the best hope for making it profitable.
Michigan's failed Gov. Granholm blames markets for Michigan's 800,000 lost jobs, looks for salvation in the unaffordable Volt
Michigan has been the star witness to the global shift in manufacturing jobs. Early in my first term, Electrolux told us there was nothing we could do to prevent them from moving their Greenville, Michigan, appliance business to Mexico. Since 1892, tiny Greenville had been the refrigerator capital, serving as home to Gibson, White, Frigidaire and Electrolux. Electrolux was the last to close, in 2004, and with it some 2,700 jobs were lost. The reason why? The wages in Ciudad Juarez were just $1.57 per hour, far outweighing our offers of enormous tax abatements, supplier haircuts and skinnied union contracts. Electrolux was the tip of the iceberg. Michigan alone has lost more than 800,000 jobs since the beginning of this century.
Fortunately, sometime along the way, people began waking up.
There was rumbling in some boardrooms that things needed to be done differently. Worker representatives took crash courses in reviewing P&Ls, SEC filings and org charts. And American voters decided they needed a president and federal government that would jettison the old theories of laissez faire, supply-side and hands off -- and weigh in on the side of American workers and the U.S. economy.
While we won't be able to keep all labor-intensive manufacturing jobs in America, here's what we're finding out: We can keep skill-intensive, advanced manufacturing jobs here. We're now seeing the first real evidence that we're "cracking the code" of what it takes for advanced manufacturing to stay and grow in America. Today, as President Barack Obama visits two major auto assembly plants in the heart of the Motor City, he'll hear the heartbeat of the American economy starting to pound. The patient is alive!
At General Motors' Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant, Chevrolet is building its hottest -- no, coolest -- vehicle in its lifetime, the new plug-in electric Chevrolet Volt that'll hit dealerships this fall. A few miles away, Chrysler is cranking out its new Jeep Grand Cherokee. That new Jeep, which its CEO tells me is "flawless," is not your father's Jeep -- it's designed and powered for fuel efficiency and economy.
Fortunately, sometime along the way, people began waking up.
There was rumbling in some boardrooms that things needed to be done differently. Worker representatives took crash courses in reviewing P&Ls, SEC filings and org charts. And American voters decided they needed a president and federal government that would jettison the old theories of laissez faire, supply-side and hands off -- and weigh in on the side of American workers and the U.S. economy.
While we won't be able to keep all labor-intensive manufacturing jobs in America, here's what we're finding out: We can keep skill-intensive, advanced manufacturing jobs here. We're now seeing the first real evidence that we're "cracking the code" of what it takes for advanced manufacturing to stay and grow in America. Today, as President Barack Obama visits two major auto assembly plants in the heart of the Motor City, he'll hear the heartbeat of the American economy starting to pound. The patient is alive!
At General Motors' Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant, Chevrolet is building its hottest -- no, coolest -- vehicle in its lifetime, the new plug-in electric Chevrolet Volt that'll hit dealerships this fall. A few miles away, Chrysler is cranking out its new Jeep Grand Cherokee. That new Jeep, which its CEO tells me is "flawless," is not your father's Jeep -- it's designed and powered for fuel efficiency and economy.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Government will buy 100 Volts from its subsidiary
NEW YORK -- The first customer for the upcoming Chevrolet Volt also happens to be its largest investor: the Obama administration.
The White House said Wednesday that the government will "purchase the first 100 plug-in electric vehicles to roll off American assembly lines" before the end of the year. The Volt, which GM describes as an extended range electric vehicle, is the only model fitting that description.
GM, which is 61% owned by the government, began building its first production Volts at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant Wednesday.
President Barack Obama has set a target of putting 1 million plug-in hybrids on U.S roads by 2015. In announcing a new plan for offshore oil drilling, Obama said Wednesday the government would double its purchases of hybrid vehicles to 5,000.
The White House said Wednesday that the government will "purchase the first 100 plug-in electric vehicles to roll off American assembly lines" before the end of the year. The Volt, which GM describes as an extended range electric vehicle, is the only model fitting that description.
GM, which is 61% owned by the government, began building its first production Volts at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant Wednesday.
President Barack Obama has set a target of putting 1 million plug-in hybrids on U.S roads by 2015. In announcing a new plan for offshore oil drilling, Obama said Wednesday the government would double its purchases of hybrid vehicles to 5,000.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
