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G.M. Puts $41,000 Price Tag on the Volt (If you had the money, would you buy?)
New York Times ^ | 07/27/2010 | Nick Bunkley

Posted on 07/27/2010 12:04:22 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

DETROIT — The Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in car capable of driving about 40 miles at a time on battery power without using any gasoline, will have a sticker price of $41,000 before a $7,500 federal tax credit, General Motors said Tuesday.

G.M. will also lease the Volt for $350 a month in the hopes of attracting consumers who want lower monthly payments or would hesitate to buy the vehicle until they are more comfortable with its technology.

The carmaker has begun taking orders for the Volt, using the Web site to direct consumers to a participating dealer. Dealers in selected states, including California, New York and Michigan, are scheduled to begin receiving the vehicle in November.

G.M. had kept the Volt’s price a secret since introducing the model as a concept more than three years ago, though executives had hinted that it would cost about $40,000. The price is considerably more than the Nissan Leaf, a pure electric car that goes on sale for $32,780 in December, but G.M. insists the Volt is a better value.

“You can drive it cross country, and our competition can’t do that,” Joel Ewanick, G.M.’s vice president for United States marketing, said. Nissan’s Leaf is expected to have a range of about 100 miles on a battery charge. The Volt has a small gasoline engine — which will require premium fuel, G.M. said Tuesday — that will give the car a total range of about 340 miles and allow drivers to fill up at a gas station if they cannot immediately charge the battery.

Both G.M. and Nissan are counting on the government’s $7,500 tax credit for plug-in cars to go a long way toward making their vehicles more affordable.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: electriccar; generalmotors; gm; volt
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To: al_c
Then they should rename it the femtovolt.

With the emphasis on 'fem'.

121 posted on 07/27/2010 1:29:18 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear (These fragments I have shored against my ruins)
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To: Dallas59
The car at the time was an initial concept. It's not unusual for the concept to be radically different from the final model. What killed the concept is that it did poorly in wind tunnel tests. So they had to change body styling to get the drag coefficients required.

The second picture is that of a mule. It's a Volt Car with a Chevy Cruze Body. So you are really off and deceptive in showing these pictures.
122 posted on 07/27/2010 1:30:17 PM PDT by truthguy (Good intentions are not enough.)
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To: A message
The Focus? Are you sure it wasn't the Fusion? My wife and I ended up with a rental Focus in Seattle this past spring. Easily the worst rental car I ever had. It had no power, rattled intensely over 50 miles an hour and the brakes shuttered so much, my wife was scared to drive it.

I jokingly called it the Ford "F#@$ed Us". I have had Fusions for rental and I rate them highly. Perhaps my Focus was faulty, but it sure convinced me to never buy one.
123 posted on 07/27/2010 1:30:37 PM PDT by Codeflier (Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama - 4 democrat presidents in a row and counting...)
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To: al_c

Anyway to drop a straight 6 and transmission in it?


124 posted on 07/27/2010 1:32:10 PM PDT by Dallas59 (President Robert Gibbs 2009-2013)
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To: Dallas59

Put a super charged v-6 in the first verson, have Ford build it and I would buy two!


125 posted on 07/27/2010 1:32:32 PM PDT by dangerdoc
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To: Disambiguator

It’s still WAY overpriced, but I think everyone here is missing a fundamental point about this car:

Yes, it goes 40 miles on a charge, but it also includes a gasoline engine. This is fundamentally different from a standard hybrid though, because the engine is just used to generate electricity.

Before you say “thats stupid,” consider that most Diesel train locomotives do exactly this...the trains are moved by electric traction motors powered by Diesel generators.

The advantage to this is that the engine only needs to be tuned for a very narrow RPM range, and presumably can be made to run very efficiently at this range. Standard car engines however, need to give good, smooth power at a wide variety of RPMs, making it easier to waste fuel.


126 posted on 07/27/2010 1:33:08 PM PDT by billakay
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To: dangerdoc

Environment murderer!/s


127 posted on 07/27/2010 1:33:24 PM PDT by Dallas59 (President Robert Gibbs 2009-2013)
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To: Dallas59

Tell me that 300 HP in that original body style wouldn’t sell.


128 posted on 07/27/2010 1:35:17 PM PDT by dangerdoc
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To: dangerdoc

Lol...oil lover!


129 posted on 07/27/2010 1:38:06 PM PDT by Dallas59 (President Robert Gibbs 2009-2013)
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To: SeekAndFind

200,000 vehicles before the phase out, that’s $1.5 Billion dollars tax payer giveaway to GM. When will the bleeding stop?

I’m tired of the libs using OUR own money to force us to do what THEY want!


130 posted on 07/27/2010 1:40:30 PM PDT by winner3000
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To: SeekAndFind

No thanks, I’ll stick with my Jetta TDI 42mpg around town, 52mpg on the highway at 80 with the AC on, all for $25k. I couldn’t put $16k (the difference) in fuel through it for the rest of my life.


131 posted on 07/27/2010 1:43:19 PM PDT by VTenigma
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To: SeekAndFind

400 miles per charge with a good air conditioner, no more than a 30k price tag, no longer than 20 minutes to recharge or replace battery pack.

Last but MOST IMPORTANTLY made in a non-union shop.

THEN and only then will I spend money on a battery powered car. Until this happens, they are toys for the “greener than thou” weenies.


132 posted on 07/27/2010 1:45:03 PM PDT by Dr.Zoidberg (Warning: Sarcasm/humor is always engaged. Failure to recognize this may lead to misunderstandings.)
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To: VTenigma

So, the 2011 Chevrolet Volt will have a base price of $41,000 (including a $720 destination charge) before federal and state tax incentives.

While GM hasn’t gone as aggressive as most people had hoped on the sticker price, the real deal appears to be the $350 per month for 36 months lease. That matches the monthly payment that Nissan is charging for the Leaf EV.

The effective purchase price of the Volt will be cut to $33,500 with a $7,500 federal tax credit (hence the asterisk in the title), but buyers will have to finance the $41,000 and get the credit back on their next tax return.

Lease customers will have the credit factored in to their payment. The Volt lease requires a $2,500 down payment (vs $2,000 for the Leaf), but GM is including a clause in the lease contract that allows leasers to buy the car at the end of their term so that the automaker don’t have another standoff with customers like it did with the all-electric EV1.

Because the Volt’s 16 kilowatt-hour battery pack can be charged in just 8-10 hours from a 110 volt outlet, customers don’t actually have to get a 220-volt charger for the Volt, potentially saving them several thousand dollars compared to a battery EV like the Leaf.

BTW, GM will be naming its preferred charger supplier and a price closer to the car’s on-sale date.


133 posted on 07/27/2010 1:48:03 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: CaptainPhilFan

A neighbor of mine does some business travel and one of the few things he likes is getting to try out different cars. He said the KIA Soul is the biggest POS he’s ever driven.


134 posted on 07/27/2010 1:50:01 PM PDT by Hillarys Gate Cult
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To: SeekAndFind

Lessee, a car built by a government owned car company that gets ~40 miles on a charge selling for $41K!!

I’ll pass!!


135 posted on 07/27/2010 1:50:34 PM PDT by DustyMoment
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To: SeekAndFind

MY question is, “If hybrids are so effective and can give the person that owns it hundreds of miles per tank of gas, why do we need ALL ELECTRIC? There are no passenger sized cars that are not now using a hybrid - why not let the car guys get out of electric - it will solve the CAFE problem and have no need for more electic power structure to recharge the those Volts and Leafs.


136 posted on 07/27/2010 1:51:44 PM PDT by q_an_a (a)
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To: ecomcon

I just read your reasons for not wanting to buy the Volt even if you had the money... it looks like you won’t buy it out of POLITICAL PRINCIPLE, not for reasons of economics or value for money.


137 posted on 07/27/2010 1:53:28 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: DustyMoment
How are people supposed to afford that if they’re all doing volunteer work like Obama wants them to do?
138 posted on 07/27/2010 1:54:33 PM PDT by Hillarys Gate Cult
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To: SeekAndFind

Refuse to buy any vehicle from Government Motors


139 posted on 07/27/2010 1:55:57 PM PDT by DLfromthedesert
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To: Born Conservative

I don’t think that all those chemical-filled batteries are going to do much for the “environment.” And, the batteries still need to be charged. If the car is operated in the US, chances are better than even that we’ll be burning coal to charge his batteries, so that every five years we can add another dozen, or so, batteries to a landfill.

The left are much less about “environmentalism” than they are about control.


140 posted on 07/27/2010 1:56:54 PM PDT by RavenATB
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