Will American Buyers Subsidize The Chinese-Market Volt?

by Edward Niedermeyer

Published: August 31st, 2010

will american buyers subsidize the chinese market volt

GM is announcing the arrival of the first “driveable Volt” in China, in a move that GM’s China boss Kevin Wale calls a sign of The General’s “long-term commitment to bringing our industry-leading technology to China.” And despite a distinct lack of Chinese demand for green vehicles, a recent survey that shows as much as 75 percent of Shanghai’s drivers plan to purchase an EV in the next three years (not to mention government plans for increased EV subsidies) is giving GM hope that its plug-in will take off there. But in order to achieve Chinese-market success with the Volt, GM will likely have to offer the vehicle at a price point well below its US-market MSRP of $41,000.

GM tells Automotive News [sub] that its Chinese Volt pricing “will be competitive,” although it’s not clear what the Volt’s competition is exactly. GM may be referring to the Chinese Volt purchase price compared to the US Volt purchase price, as the Chinese government is offering a $7,320 incentive for hybrid car purchases in five Chinese cities, while the Shenzhen government is offering a further $4,413. Those incentives should bring the Volt’s price to under $30k, but it applies equally to Chinese-market plug-ins such as the much cheaper BYD F3DM. That vehicle, which starts around $22k before government incentives, may not have the capability of the Volt, but after incentives it is priced competitively with a number of regular Chinese-market cars. Even so, the F3DM has sold only 500 units this year.

At about twice the price of the Chinese-made F3DM, the Volt has an uphill battle ahead of it… unless GM prices the Chinese version below the US price. But then The General has to worry about the perception that it’s forcing US consumers to subsidize Chinese sales of the Volt. Considering that American taxpayers bailed out GM just last year, that would make for some cold thanks. But that’s what you get when you bail out a multinational company on patriotic grounds, right?

#Bailout #China #EV #GM #Marketing #Pricing #Volt

Edward Niedermeyer

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2 of 11 comments

DenverMike on Aug 31, 2010

Speaking of government subsidies, the Volt will be selling at a loss, in the U.S. as well, according to Bob Lutz when he appeared on Late Night /David Letterman.

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Steven02 on Sep 01, 2010

I am guessing that it will be very low volume and the price won't be too much if any lower. It will be interested to see if this goes off of a lease in China.

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