A Tale of Two Different Paradigms: Chevrolet vs Nissan

The Nissan Leaf EV






What's in the news today? Well, figures that tell the story more than all the marketing hype can ever hope. Here is what GM released today about its two year plan for their four remaining brands.

Volt: GM's plug-in hybrid is on target for a November 2010 launch. GM plans to build only 200 to 400 cars in November and December 2010, as 2011 models. The production target for 2011 is about 10,000 Volts. A price approaching $45,000 is estimated.

Wow, 200 cars? Whew, hope they can meet those numbers.

Now let's see what Nissan is planning.

"Larry Dominique says Nissan sees hybrid-electric cars and plug-in hybrids as interim solutions for complying with stricter fuel-economy and greenhouse-gas rules across the globe.

"The only true way to achieve those kinds of levels and to reduce dependency on oil is to go zero emission," he said.

The company plans to be able to build 200,000 EVs annually in 2012."

In other words, Nissan is dissing the plug-in hybrid Volt and declaring pure EV's will be the ultimate solution. We tend to agree.

If GM were serious about alternate energy vehicles, they would announce production numbers similar to Nissan, but all they will accomplish is token manufacturing. Look for an all-electric Nissan in our driveway in the future. Since GM is only producing teeny tiny quantities of their Volt, it will be next to impossible to find one at your dealership. Obviously, GM learned nothing from their bankruptcy and will probably be doomed to failure in the future.