Posted on 01/05/2012 2:10:55 PM PST by jazusamo
General Motors reported Chevy Volt sales of 1,529 for the month of December. The still unimpressive number is an improvement over previous months, but the gains were mostly driven by fleet sales. According to GM, 992 of the Volts sold were to retail customers while 537 went to fleet purchasers.
GM says the fleet sales were to corporate buyers and not to rental companies. The number of Volts sold to townships receiving federal grants remains unknown. The corporate sales claim makes sense as crony company, General Electric, starts to make good on its promise to buy thousands of Volts. Of course, GE benefits by selling charging stations for the vehicles.
Another interesting statistic on Volt sales can be derived from the inventory figures and number of Chevy dealerships with available Volts. GM now claims that 2,600 dealerships across the nation have Volts for sale. Given the 992 figure for Volts sold to retail customers, we come up with an average of approximately one third of a vehicle sold by each dealership per month. It is ludicrous for GM to continue to tout Volt sales figures as a success given the fact that about two thirds of dealerships offering Volts were unable to sell even one during the month! With supply now well over 4,000 units, lack of inventory can no longer be blamed for the dismal sales figures.
It remains to be seen what type of tricks the Obama Administration and GM might have up their sleeves when it comes to fluffing Chevy Volt sales figures. Both the Administration and GM have staked a lot of credibility on the vehicle claiming that it was to be a game changer for GM as well as a "moon shot." Considering that taxpayers are subsidizing vehicles like the Volt to the tune of billions of dollars, it is understandable that critics of the vehicle want to know the truth about the projected high demand for the car that has yet to materialize. GM is sticking to its guns claiming that 60,000 Volts will be sold in 2012 after having missed 2011 sales goals by a wide margin. They have not, however, said who will be buying them.
Anyone who has observed the hype revolving around the Chevy Volt since the time preceeding its rollout to now should question the credibility of sources that proclaim the vehicle a success despite evidence that indicates otherwise. A further instance of suspicious support for the Volt was evidenced when Consumer Reports (CR) recommended the vehicle, which is based on the Chevy Cruze platform, only to report that the Cruze expected reliability is well below average. In fact, the Cruze was rated the worst value for small cars by CR . And while the recommended rating for the Volt had been highly publicized, there are few internet articles referencing the worst rating for the Cruze.
How can CR recommend the Volt based on reliability expectations when such a limited number of Volts have been sold and they have such a negative opinion on a vehicle with the same platform? And why has CR changed their opinion since the time they originally proclaimed that the Volt "didn't seem to make a lot of sense?" In addition, CR has displayed a double standard regarding how it responded to battery safety issues for the Volt (CR stated the public had to adapt to a new technology) compared to how it responded to Toyota's unintended acceleration investigation when it pulled the recommended rating from Toyotas.
Speaking of suspicious activity, an interesting statistic was revealed on GM's sales conference call. Government purchases of GM vehicles rose 32% from last year. This represents yet another conflict as the Obama Administration has a vested interest in GM's success as it spends more taxpayer dollars to help support the company as 2012 elections near.
For those Volt apologists who want to celebrate the insignificant sales growth of the car, have at it. The wealthy retail purchasers of the Volt can afford the high price tag of the vehicle. The country, however, no longer can. The $7,500 tax subsidy that goes to wealthy buyers should be ended. If this car and others like the Fisker and Tesla offerings which cost close to $100,000 each are as popular as advocates say they are, taxpayers should not have to give buyers $7,500 to drive sales. And if they are not popular, then all the more reason to stop bilking taxpayers out of billions of dollars to enrich crony corporations under the guise of green initiatives.
Mark Modica is an NLPC Associate Fellow.
The Volt will be imported into China.
We are just launching the Volt. Our strategy is to sell a small number of Volts in a lot of different markets to see how consumers react to the progress and the technology and we will assess where we go from there. With that, I want to move over to today’s announcement.
Today, we announced a deal for the co-development of a new electric vehicle architecture in China with SAIC, our partner. http://media.gm.com/content/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2011/Sep/Girsky
It says
I'm a Dolt and bought this Volt
It says
I'm a Dolt and bought this Volt
So GM claims sales of their government mandarted car are rising. If this is true it indicates just how dumb too many Americans are.
Let’s see:
1. The car costs the buyer something like $30,000 after the American tax Payer chips in a $10,000 subsidy.
2. The car delivers 25-30 miles a charge before the gasoline engine kicks in. That’s not even a round trip commute for most commuters.
3. Finding a place to charge the damn thing is another problem. There are practically no charging stations available. By the way, does the car require anything special to charge it at home and is this an add on cost of ownership?
4. Battery life is 5 years. I understand the disposal cost is included in the car’s price. But then the owner must purchase new batteries to the tune of $5,000 or so dollars. Sounds like a real ldeal to me.
5. The Volt is prone to catching fire. Of course, any rational automobile customer would not touch a car with this problem. Apparently this is serious as GM is offering to buy the cars back.
Given all of the above why would anyone but an idiot buy one?
You can find the answer in the Marxist politization and dumbing down of our schools.
As long as they can elevate "fleet sales", they can dupe the public into thinking how popular it is.
Did you happen to notice the middle finger of my right hand?
Well, I have the pink slip.
Even with the tax credit though it'll be a tough row to convince John Q Public it's worth the investment and the tax credit is being attacked right now. That tax credit will eventually be eliminated and then Government Motors will have a real problem selling them.
They've said there will be considerable price reductions on the Volt due to increased production but I'll believe it when I see it. They're not making money on the car now and they're benefiting from subsidies.
Then there's the supposed 8 year battery guarantee. The battery's cost somewhere between 8 and 10,000 bucks, if they replace many of those they'll really be in the hole.
General Electric has committed to buying thousands but they're getting sudsidies from the taxpayers to build and sell charging stations. The whole thing looks like a corrupt can of worms to me and it's the taxpayers that will be the ones that suffer.
Just wondering, how long did it take to get your car after you placed the order, or was it on the lot?
Jaz, expect these guys to continue to try and twist the criticism to try and discredit the legitimate concerns. None of them are giving any credible justification for the spending of billions of taxpayer dollars to support vehicles like the Volt.
Correct Mr. Lucky, but don’t expect supporters of the Volt to listen. I have seen their defense and it involves calling critics names and giving vague statements about saving the US from foreign oil dependence without substantiating benefits of cars like the Volt with any type of data.
Specifically, GM has claimed that fleet sales were about 10% last month making retail sales about a thousand. Retail sales actually dropped, but don’t expect to see that stat publicized.
SMM, I am glad you love your Volt. However, there is no reason other taxpayers should pay you $7500 (plus state credits) to buy your vehicle.
Another question for buyers of the Volt who post here (whose opinions should be welcome); wouldn’t you have bought the car even without the $7500 subsidy? It sounds like you guys love the car and have you have the money to buy them, why charge taxpayers for your purchase?
All readers should be contacting their representatives in congress to support Mike Kelly’s bill to kill the $7500 tax credit.
Well said, Mark!
SMM48, will you be doing this and possibly adding it to your spamming pic of the Volt in your future posts?
I believe a true conservative would.
How does it stimulate the economy for the Government to purchase fleet cars from the very company it finances?
I don’t believe it stimulates the economy at all but it sure stimulates Obama’s agenda, the turkey has to go.
No, but I did notice the big loser tag on your forehead.
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