May Car Sales -- 481 Chevy Volts

Even with gas over $4 a gallon and the expectation it will head to $5, almost no one wants a Chevy Volt, the electric Edsel. What a surprise. Consumers find nothing appealing about a $41,000 electric golf cart that goes 40 miles on a single battery charge. Of course it only goes 40 miles on flat terrain. Throw in some hills while traveling on a hot rainy night when you need the wipers, the air conditioner, the lights and you're blasting the stereo, well, then you'll go less than 40 miles on that single charge.

Electric Boogaloo: Nissan Leaf tallies 1,141 May sales to Chevy Volt's 481

Once again, General Motors is burying the monthly sales totals for the Chevy Volt. In a press release headlined "May U.S. Retail Sales Rise 9 Percent on Demand for Fuel-Efficient Vehicles," the Volt's sales numbers are not disclosed. Instead, the total – 481 – is in the detailed PDF of the Chevrolet brand sales totals and shows the car is suffering from another month-to-month drop; GM sold 493 in April.

Last month, GM told us that drop in Volt sales compared to March's 608 units was due, in part, to the company sending 300 Volts to dealers to use as demo vehicles. We await word on what the reason for the drop is this time.

On the other hand, Nissan is proudly proclaiming that it sold 1,142 units of the Nissan Leaf in May, a huge increase over the 573 sold in April. Overall, Leaf sales have now totaled 2,167 deliveries this year. For comparison, GM has sold 2,184 Volts in 2011.

If this trend continues, it won't be long before we hear Nissan touting a new tagline for the Leaf: the best-selling plug-in car in America.

So, these numbers give us more fodder for the comment grill. What's going on with GM's all-conquering halo car? Is the price too high? Is it just that the true early adopters are more interested in a pure EV than something with a gas engine? What's your take?

Dead Batteries -- Slow Volts, Leaf barely turns over

Seriously. Is anyone surprised at the widespread lack of interest in these modified golf carts? This is what happens when the government intrudes. Products that no one wants are offered, but no one buys them. The Chevy Volt is tne new Edsel, but this time the failure is on the government, not the marketing department.

Can we forget about these useless cars now? Can Detroit get back to building cars people really want? If the government butted out, and gave up its obsession with gas mileage, the companies would have no trouble making cars people will buy, rather than talk about.

GM sells just 281 Chevy Volts in February, Nissan only moves 67 Leafs

by Sebastian Blanco

Peruse Chevrolet's February sales release, and you'll notice one number that's blatantly missing: the number of Chevy Volts sold. The number – a very modest 281 – is available in the company's detailed data (PDF), but it certainly isn't something that GM wants to highlight, apparently. Keeping the number quiet is a bit understandable, since it's lower than the 321 that Chevy sold in January.

Nissan doesn't have anything to brag about here, either (and it didn't avoiding any mention of the Leaf sales in its press release). Why? Well, back in January, the company sold 87 Leafs. In February? Just 67. Where does that leave us? Well, here's the big scorecard for all sales of these vehicles thus far:

Volt: 928
Leaf: 173

Ouch. The big questions, of course, revolve around one word: "Why?" Is ramping up production and deliveries still a problem? Is demand weak? Are unscrupulous dealers to blame? When will sales start to climb? And what are these numbers doing to plug-in vehicle work at other automakers? We don't know all the answers, but for more on February auto sales, click here.

Dead Volt -- Electric Edsel

Government Motors a.k.a. GM says it will introduce the Chevy Volt in November. Pardon us if we do not hold our breath. The company plans to build 10,000 the first year, which may well be the last year. Yeah, sure, the first 10,000 will sell. They'll sell because speculators want to buy them and store them in garages till the middle of the century, then sell them to collectors.

How will things go? Straight to the Automobile Graveyard. A car that goes 40 miles and then stops? Oh yeah, it has an on-board generator that can recharge the battery while you wait, if you don't mind waiting a couple of hours. Or, it seems you can run the generator while you're driving, which is similar to actually powering the car with the gasoline engine that is running the generator.

And sell it for $41,000. Can't miss. It's a sure thing. A big winner.


GM sets $41,000 price for electric Chevy Volt

Tue Jul 27, 2010

* GM to offer $350/month lease in select markets

* Volt priced slightly higher than GM had telegraphed

* Net price will be closer to $33,500 after tax credit (Adds details on presidential visit, IPO, Tesla)

DETROIT, July 27 (Reuters) - General Motors on Tuesday set a price of $41,000 for its electric Chevrolet Volt -- $8,000 more than its nearest competitor, the Nissan Leaf.

GM GM.UL said on Tuesday it has begun taking orders for the Volt and would offer a $350 per month lease option for the much-anticipated vehicle as it launches in a handful of U.S. markets starting with California.

The biggest question surrounding the Volt has been its price and profitability given the cost of the lithium-ion battery pack supplied by Korea's LG Chem (051910.KS) and the hundreds of millions of dollars that GM devoted to the project over the past four years.

"Every day we've been asked a single question: How much will it cost?" said GM marketing chief Joel Ewanick on a conference call to announce the pricing.

GM executives, including former Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, had previously indicated the Volt would be priced near $40,000.

By setting a higher price and restricting Volt production, the automaker -- now majority-owned by the U.S. government -- has taken steps to limit its losses on the plug-in vehicle.

The long-awaited announcement on pricing for the Volt comes three days before President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the Detroit-are plant where the vehicle will be built.

GM is expected to file for an initial public offering as soon as August that would allow the government to reduce its 61-percent stake in the automaker.

GM launched the Volt development project four years ago, in part to shake an association with gas-guzzling trucks and to show it could compete with the likes of Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) (TM.N) on hybrid technology.

With a price of $41,000, the Volt will cost as much as some luxury vehicles. The top-selling Cadillac CTS has a price starting at $35,165.

"You have to expect you're going to pay a premium for this kind of technology," said Erich Merkle, an auto analyst and consultant at Autoconomy.com.

But the $350 lease payment on the Volt also makes it competitive with the upcoming Leaf, which has a lease offer of $349 per month.

U.S. taxpayers who buy a Volt will qualify for a federal tax credit of $7,500. Some states, such as California, are offering additional tax incentives.

GM: BUY A VOLT, BUY A "REAL CAR"

Ewanick said GM marketing would portray the Volt "as a real car," attempting to draw a sharp distinction from pure electric vehicles like the Leaf, which lack a backup source of power once the battery is spent. "People don't want to be stranded on the way home from work," he said.

The Volt is designed to be recharged overnight for about 40 miles of electric driving, depending on driving conditions. The car will also have a small gas engine expected to give the vehicle a total range of about 340 miles.

Nissan Motor Co's (7201.T) battery-powered Leaf claims a driving range of 100 miles (161 kilometers). It has a U.S. retail price of $32,780.

Tesla Motors (TSLA.O), a Silicon Valley start-up that went public in June, has the only highway-ready electric car now on U.S. roads with the $109,000 Roadster.

About 600 Chevy dealers in California, Michigan, Washington, D.C., Texas and New York will sell the initial limited production run. GM expects to produce 10,000 Volts for the 2011 model year and about 30,000 for 2012.

Jesse Toprak, an analyst at industry-tracking Web site TrueCar, said the Volt will sell out, leaving GM with the challenge of managing a waiting list.

In the meantime, he said, the Volt gives GM the chance to win over better-educated and wealthier car shoppers in markets like California who would never have considered a Chevy.

"The Volt is a halo car for GM, and it's real importance is in bringing people into showrooms," he said.

Ewanick said it was uncertain how quickly GM could bring down the price of the Volt in future model years, saying that depends on still-uncertain reductions in battery costs.

"There's a lot of technology that has to happen for us to lower prices," he said.