$10,000 Off a Volt, Haters Gonna Hate?

by Sajeev Mehta

September 24th, 2012 1:58 PM

The latest from USA Today suggests now is a good time to buy a Chevy Volt, if that’s what you really want. I checked in with former(?) TTAC scribe Captain Mike Solo, currently helping someone lease a Volt, and he says about the same: lease for $270 a month, with $1500 down. Which includes the government tax credit built into the residual…probably. So what does this all mean?

So far this year, the Volt’s outsold half the cars currently on sale. And while a $40,000 Chevy (that isn’t a Vette or a truck) is a hard sell, cash on the hood gets everyone hot and bothered. Especially truck buyers, regularly seeing discounts of $10,000 or more. Sales rise, then fall. A dealership’s floorplan falls, then rises once again. Automakers calm down, then heat things up. And now we know that it’s no different with the Volt. Surprised?

Unless you have Ferrari’s rabid customer loyalty, this is just the game in action. No matter the Volt’s cutting edge technology, no matter what was sold to us in Washington by people no longer in play, it all comes down to the Money, Honey. And this incentive cycle is just business as usual, so you can decide if the Volt is a success…or a flop.

Off to you, Best and Brightest.

#Chevrolet #Chevy #GovernmentIncentives #Incentives #Volt

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13 of 89 comments

Dimwit on Sep 24, 2012

Everyone loves rewriting history. The Volt was an engineering feat. Until the fiasco, the likelyhood of it ever going to be put in production was remote. It would have been another Chryco turbine car. Interesting, but not relevant to the day to day operations of the Corp. Then the meltdown. It became the rallying flag around which GM could something than no other company had that also fulfilled a political agenda. A Green car and technology that no one else had that would surely die if GM wasn't bailed out. It became a linchpin of GM's bailout and from then on, it must be made! No matter whether it made economic sense, that wasn't the point. And now we have this. Because it is a political football, not a car, we have subsidies, tax relief and manufacturing schedules that defy ROI protocols. As long as you remember that, then it's an acceptable tradeoff to keep this thing alive. Just remember, it's not just a car.

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- Pch101 on Sep 25, 2012
  
  "Everyone loves rewriting history." Apparently, you're one of them. The Volt was Bob Lutz's answer to the Prius. Circa 2006, TMC had established that there was a market for hybrids (or at least for Prius hybrids) in the US, and TMC had announced that it was working on a plug-in hybrid. Lutz wanted to get a piece of that action, rather than allow TMC to kick GM's backside yet again. Also around that time, the agitprop film "Who Killed the Electric Car?" lambasted GM for killing off the EV-1 and scrapping them. It would seem that Lutz was a bit miffed, and wanted to prove the critics wrong.
  
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- Dimwit on Sep 25, 2012
  
  @Pch101 But Lutz was having a hard time making a case for it as a production vehicle. That prototype went around to showcases for years. No engineering was done for production at all. When GM went hat in hand for 2008 that's when suddenly the Volt was pushed as a viable vehicle and was instrumental to getting funds. That's why it took two more agonizing years to get a *lot* of bugs worked out before it was ready to be made.
  
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- Pch101 on Sep 25, 2012
  
  @Pch101 "But Lutz was having a hard time making a case for it as a production vehicle." You were right about people making up history. Why do you keep on doing it? Here's some actual history below. Note the date of the articles, and the degree of progress made by early 2008. There were over 200 engineers working on it. They had planned for a late 2010 launch as early as 2007. What's surprising is that they were able to make it more or less on schedule. There is no way that this car was created in the short timeframe that you claim. Your position would suggest that you don't know much about the sort of time that is required to develop a new vehicle. You aren't close to being accurate. http://www.gizmag.com/go/8213/ http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/news/2008/01/lutz_volt_qa http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/17/autos/chevrolet_volt/index.htm http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/16/spy-shots-chevy-volt-caught-testing-for-the-first-time/ http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/05/01/us-gm-wagoner-idUSN0145819820080501
  
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Ex Radio Operator on Sep 24, 2012

There are two GM vehicles in my drive way. They were purchased before the bailout. They will be the last GM vehicles purchased by me. Ask the GM shareholders and white collar employees that were thrown under the bus what they think of the bailout. The only ones to benefit were obama's cronies. They are the biggest bunch of thieves this country has ever seen.

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- Mnm4ever on Sep 24, 2012
  
  To be fair, they weren't really Obama's cronies, they were Bush's cronies. But they are thieves no doubt.
  
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- Wheeljack on Sep 24, 2012
  
  I would imagine the white collar staff are happy to still be working. Not all of them are high level management who can easily land another similar level job in another corporation by virtue of the fact that they made it into the "club".
  
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- TCBRacing on Sep 25, 2012
  
  @Wheeljack Exactly! I am a white collar GM employee (and my opinions are my own) since 2006 and am very happy to still be working there. Most of the salary people that lost their jobs retired or were the lowest performing anyway. The few that had low seniority and got caught up in the downsizing are back to work here now. The company is leaner and stronger and most of the people here now are pulling their weight. We are streamlining Management and Processes everyday and it is showing. The reviews of the latest vehicles have all been positive, warranty costs continue to drop, we are managing recalls (Ranked 5th of all auto manufacturers in 2010 and 2011 for number of vehicles recalled behind Ford, Toyota, Honda and Chrysler) and our stock is up almost 30% this year compared to Ford who is down 4%. Definitely on the right track!
  
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- Mikey on Sep 25, 2012
  
  @TCB.....I'm a retired GM Canada hourly guy. Your information, and informed opinion, helps me sleep better. Keep up the good work. BTW Don't let the 08 Mustang fool you. Thats a new Camaro parked beside it
  
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Gentle Ted on Sep 25, 2012

Some AMISH people in this area do drive Trucks, they also use Computers, they have them in the Barn, right next to there Milk Cooler, they probably would not like a Volt but as long as the Vehicle was Black in Colour, it would be just fine too. This is a Smile for Today!

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Domestic Hearse on Sep 25, 2012

It is interesting in America today, the number of people who act (or vote) against their own best interests. The chorus of "This car is a waste, I'd never buy it." As well as, "I'll never buy a Government Motors car ever again," reminds me that: The majority stakeholder now in New GM is the US government. The US government is you. Us. We. The. People. So in effect, New GM is...ours. And it will continue to be ours until such time the government sells off its shares. But it cannot (or will not) do that until New GM's share price hits a break-even or profit level. And to hit that, GM needs its owners -- you and me and everyone else -- to become owners or service customers. Well, not all of us. But a good few of us. So when I hear someone belly-aching about GM's bailout, or being Government Motors, I can accept that someone may have disagreements with how this situation came to be. But the fact remains, it's here. It exists. Now we all must deal with it in a way that reflects our own best interests. OUR own best interests. ALL of our best interests. And hating New GM, or boycotting its products and services is not in your -- or my -- best interests. Excuse me now while I call me Chevy dealer and get a quote on a new Volt. Cuz if I can all-in buy one of these for mid-20s, I'm going to exercise my own best interests and drive one'a these home.

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- AJ on Sep 25, 2012
  
  Do even more... buy two! You'd be such a wonderful person. We'll sing songs about you!
  
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- Domestic Hearse on Sep 27, 2012
  
  @AJ Alas, no. There is no $10k discount. Not even close. At least, not any at any Chevy dealers near me. So no Volt, let alone two. That does not prevent you from singing or writing songs about me, AJ. I ask that you stick to the key of D minor (I like to drop-tune to D, it's darker, and gives a grungier, grittier vibe). I like mixed meter, too. Weeds out the time impaired.
  
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