Yes, I'd say it is a failure. Too much money for too little return (car).

Looking back at it's launch, the dealer mark-up thing is laughable. Today, they are probably heavily discounting them just to get em off the lot.

 

this is a joke...

 

it is a failure because they said they will sell 16k in 2011 (in March 2011) and then sold 7.5k... thats not even 50%.

 

Just left dealer tonight


A nice loaded Camaro 2SS on the same lot as a volt. It was a 2010 6000 miles...awesome car ...had dealer installed blower... Maybe 500 hp easy....

Volt is $40k after incentive tax etc and neg........

.The Camaro 2SS or loaded as the 2SS is ....price is $30k after tax tag etc...


HMMMMMMMM

VOLT OR CAMARO???????

CAMARO!!!!!
CAMARO!!!!!

IT works out to a savings of exactly by fuel costs and payments
$100 per month to own Camaro!!!!


VOLT is $760 per month. Holy crap!!!!!
Camaro is $560 per month.

 

One interesting data point (admittedly a sample size of one): My neighbor is a reviewer for Autoweek, and he's apparently purchased a Volt. The review cars he gets are always shiny and clean, and have Manufacturer plates, usually from MI. He typically has them for 2-3 days. I've seen the Volt numerous times over the past few months, it's currently filthy (salt season here in Chicago), and has personalized Illinois plates.

Apparently there's SOMETHING good about it, otherwise I don't know why somebody who's familiar with literally every vehicle on the market would buy one. His previous car (which I think he still has in the garage) is an early-2000s Miata.

 

I think the price would be more acceptable if the car looked and felt like a 40k car.

 

Could it be a long term tester? Don't they get registered to the publication company?

 

The Volt's a failure.

Does the car and technology have promise? Sure. But from a sales and marketing standpoint, it's an utter disappointment. The bow-tie emblem alone, will not warrant a $40k price tag on a vehicle this size.

I've been saying it from the day the car was announced, it should have been brought to market as a Caddy, or even a Buick. Put all the new tech into a nameplate that can support the higher price tag and absorb the cost. Under the Caddy/Buick banner, GM could have made the car more plush, tacked on another $10-20k, sold the car, and at minimum, broken even. But the American public has a very hard time swallowing a mid-sized Chevy that costs $40k.

 

There was an article in Automotive News today that Toyota sold 8,399 Prius v wagons in the 10 weeks of 2011 after its late October launch versus 7,671 Volts in all of 2011 (7,997 in the Volt's first 13 months on the market).

 

lets put it this way - Toyota has sold 700,000 hybrids in 2011 and GM has sold... 10k?
Toyota will selll >1,100,000 hybrids in 2012 and GM will sell.... 25k? ;-)

A lot of companies are using hybrids simply for PR exercises... only Toyota actually sells a whole load of them. And Honda to be fair... Ford is next up with paltry 30k in 2011.

 

Two things seem to be behind that. First, many (but not all) of those who shop for American-nameplate vehicles, especialy in the American Midwest, tend to be on the conservative-end of the auto-spectrum, and are generally not interested in hyrids. They often buy for the nameplate alone, with the excuse that their parents and grandparents drove Brand X and they don't want to be any different. Second, Among American-nameplate hybrids (Volt excluded) only the Ford Escape and Ford Fusion hybrids have really offered a hybrid system with the sophistication/refinement/efficiency of a Toyota hybrid.......not surprising, perhaps, when you figure that Ford, a number of years ago, actually got its first hybrid components from Toyota.

 

It would be much less of a failure, Paul (perhaps even a success), if GM would drop the price to a more-reasonable level, dealers wouldn't gouge, and some improvements were made to the dash/shifter/ergonomics.

 

Do you think GM will drop the price to ~$33k once the federal $7500 subsidy exipires? If it is struggling to sell while subsidized... How will GM sell any without it?

 

Possibly, but A) Autoweek is based in Michigan, so the cars should be registered there (and most of his test cars are), and B) doubtful they'd register a vanity plate that doesn't have something to do with their magazine.

Again I could be wrong, as I don't actually know the guy, but the impression I get from a distance is that it's his car. I guess time will tell.

 

I just saw one on the road today. The Volt looks nice, but I also think it should have been sold under the buick / caddy name. But still, at $40k, there are alot of other classier models I would rather have. Used Porsche Cayman + Civic beater, anyone?