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Hybrid Vehicles Chevrolet Volt Will the Chevy Volt Succeed?
544 messages, Last post on Oct 28, 2009 at 1:11 PM
You are in the Chevrolet Volt Forum. Your Host is pf_flyer
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Replying to: kdhspyder (Oct 02, 2008 4:55 am) There plenty of people in the Southeast who had a gas-free vehicle in recent days. Unfortunately they couldn't go anywhere! If I were in GM marketing, gas stations with "no gas" signs would certainly be part of my ads in that part of the country... |
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Replying to: edklein (Sep 17, 2008 3:25 pm) That is not correct. If the battery is low, the gasoline engine starts up and you can continue to drive the car -- you are just using expensive electricity generated by the gas engine, rather than cheap energy generated by the grid and then stored in the battery. If you can't recharge from the grid, the Volt just needs gasoline in the tank like any other car. |
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I go 11 miles to work each way 90% of the time. If GM gets this close and makes it affordable and fun, I want one. I'd rather it have all the bells and whistles and be called a Caddy. I will take my wife's minivan if we go on a trip. The volt may be more or less efficient than other cars, but the idea that I can avoid sending my money to Iran, Putan or Chavez makes all the difference in the world to me. Most USA electricity is created by Coal (not too clean, but from the USA), natural gas (USA, Canada and Mexico) or nuclear. Even if I don't save any money, those options sound better to me. And remember, most of us would recharge our cars at night, when the grid isn't being overtaxed. So, there is not likely going to be the need to upgrade the grid anymore than we have to already. Now, GM, how about building it really really well and not disappointing us who are willing to put our faith in you again? I'm game, if you are!
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GM is very close to bankruptcy. I suppose there will be a bailout. |
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Replying to: dms9 (Oct 07, 2008 3:08 pm) I just wonder if lower gas prices will kill the viability of the Volt, and that will be the end of GM. Or, will they start to sell SUVs again and be able to make some money? |
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| I have thoughts on this original question of will it succeed. Conceptually, the car works well as a commuter car. Imagine driving to work and plugging the car into an outlet at the parking garage or a college campus - great! Stylistically, I love the looks, but would prefer a wagon or hatchback for added utility. It looks like a car ought to look, though, unlike the beloved Prius. Men may like the beefier styling of the concept car, but I think this will appeal to the scorned female consumer, as well as young people keen to accept new technology. Economically, I have a huge problem with it. From the non-enthusiast perspective, there's no way I'd buy any car of any brand at $40K. I'm someone who wants to spend as little as possible on my transportation, and a person shouldn't have to pay through the nose for several years just to save the Earth. The Earth belongs to low and middle-income people, too; Chevrolet is traditionally the poor man's (and woman's) car in that we get reasonable quality at a reasonable price. As a $40K sedan, Volt just doesn't fit that image, as it would surpass Impala as the most expensive Chevy sedan. People these days have to buy what they need, and I personally don't see ENOUGH people buying Volt just to support a cause. | |
| How can it succeed if it cost 40000 or more dollars?????? I hope GM is not counting on sales. | |
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Replying to: irismg (Oct 11, 2008 7:06 am) The Volt is a hatchback. "From the non-enthusiast perspective, there's no way I'd buy any car of any brand at $40K. I'm someone who wants to spend as little as possible on my transportation, and a person shouldn't have to pay through the nose for several years just to save the Earth. The Earth belongs to low and middle-income people, too" Congress has passed a $7500 tax credit on the Volt, it's a done deal. You may pay $40K up front but then you will get a big chunk of it back. I expect early adopter types and well-to-do greenies will quickly snap up the available Volts and those who want cheap will just have to wait until the price comes down, like they did with plasma TVs and Blu-Ray players. "Chevrolet is traditionally the poor man's (and woman's) car in that we get reasonable quality at a reasonable price." For a number of years Chevrolet was the #1 "true luxury" brand... true luxury being defined as a vehicle with an MSRP over $40K. People don't have an aversion to paying $40K for a Chevrolet as long as it's a good one.
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Replying to: eaton53 (Oct 18, 2008 8:28 am) Huh? When? |
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mini ev What I find most interesting here is that there really hasn't been much news about BMW's EV program yet they seem like they'll be the first to have a sizeable test fleet here in the US. You listen to talk from GM and Toyota and they both seem to state that significant engineering hurdles are still left to be cleared before even 40 mile electric range can be offered. The Volt isn't going to be a money maker for GM for quite some time, if ever. IMO they would have been far better off getting it on the road as soon as possible through a very limited number of leases like what BMW plans to do. Or what GM is doing with it's fuel cell Equinox. From a PR perspective it would have been valuable and you'd minimize your liability, After a couple years GM would have gathered a lot of real world data allowing them to work out the initial bugs and have a better sense of the battery pack's longevity before going into full production.
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