By now most Volt followers know the car set another record of 2,851 sales in September – a 0.7-percent increase over the 2,831 sold in August – and the good news for Voltec fans beyond this is GM says it is definitely committed to its plug-in technology.
For all the critical media questions about the Volt’s relative success, the Volt for now remains heads above the plug-in car market but with others gunning for it even so.
Its 16,348 year-to-date sales surpass the March-launched, and not fully rolled out plug-in Prius which may be catching up with 1,652 sales in September, a sizable 57-percent increase from August sales, and 7,734 sales year to date.
Richard Harrison of Keego Harbor, Michigan charges his 2012 Volt Saturday, September 22, 2012 at Serra Chevrolet in Southfield, MI. This month, by the way, the Volt would rank 5th on the hybrid sales chart, but in an a first abbreviated month, Ford’s C-Max hybrid placed 9th and Ford has electrified plans besides this.
Nissan’s Leaf also saw a year-to-date record 984 units sold in September representing a big 43.6 percent rise over August sales but it has just 5,212 year to date.
For all intents and purposes, these are the only solid players in the plug-in market at this juncture – not counting Tesla and its high aspirations but with maybe 250 Model S units sold so far, and Fisker having sold over 2,500 or more Karmas this year, as speculators have guessed.
In trying to learn more about GM’s aspirations for Voltec, and why its next move is up market instead of down, we spoke yesterday with GM electrified vehicle communications personnel, probing for what we could about pending plans.
As you likely know, the Cadillac ELR is the next Voltec variant on the roster pending production. Despite all the rumors, the 2014 model year launch date is not official, but we otherwise have reason to believe it is a good guess.
But what about down-market Voltec options?
Wasn’t the Volt once upon a time during its development supposed to cost comfortably around $30,000 without discounts or incentives?
Wasn’t Voltec an answer to OPEC and environmental concerns? The Volt is the king of a small hill, but as many here have observed, opportunities to flesh out a product line remain. Right?
So, we asked GM, how is it going to change the world if to date we’ve seen 16,000 units sold out of around 10.8 million total vehicles sold in North America?
Of course Voltec is not expected to have taken over so soon, but GM has reduced sales projections, and is saying nothing definitive about variants that could help fill out a bread-and-butter model line and create far more momentum for GM’s E-REV technology.
Unfortunately, the answer is GM is not even prepared to discuss how it sees the upscale ELR fitting into the market, and what its expectations for that car will be. It got started in 2009 as the Converj concept, so the ball was already sort of rolling before Volt was launched.
GM showed the MPV5 crossover in China, and no doubt it has R&D going on to see what other models could be marketable.
So, pressing anyway, we asked, wouldn’t it be in GM’s interest to proliferate cars below the $40,000 MSRP line?
Yes it would, but GM is keeping these details to itself for the time being even as it works on ways to cut existing cost out of the production Volt, and develops other electrified vehicles like the Spark EV and eAssist mild hybrid variants.
And while Voltec is an important part of its strategy, GM is not putting all its eggs in a Voltec basket.
So as much as you’d like to know timing and details of what’s next for Voltec – like in the good old days when the company was more willing to share during the Volt’s development from 2007-2010 – GM’s communications strategy has shifted.
Why? Nearly every other automaker is now working on plug-in cars, including three startups in California, and it is not in GM’s interest to tip its hand.
What is possible in terms of cost, features and performance actually is not something GM sees as in its best interest to broadcast when such news would fall on the listening ears of competitors as well as the general public.
So for now, advanced Voltec news will likely continue to come from rumors, but officially, GM says it is working on a variety of options that will “meet customer expectations.”
Or … we can wait for new light on the ELR at least from George S. Bower, who says he has the ELR “already figured out.”
GSB will have that for us next week, but meanwhile we also have the Volt’s progress to track.
While more often we hear GM is only “matching supply with demand,” Bloomberg reported GM Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson said in June he expected as many as 40,000 global Volt sales this year.
European sales data has been difficult to get in a timely manner, but last we heard from Europe, the Volt/Ampera is on track to exceed its allocation of 10,000 cars this year. And then you have a small number in other markets like Canada, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, China …
To date the Volt has sold 16,348 in the U.S. and there are three months to go. If GM conservatively sells 2,500 per month, that’s another 7,500, which added to 10,000-plus exports would bring the total to somewhere around only 34,000-plus globally, not quite 40,000.
Let’s see if Europe/UK sells more than 10,000, and what Canada and Australia do. If it is only 10,000-15,000 worldwide units exported in all, then GM may either just make it, or need to set serious U.S. sales records each month for the last quarter of the calendar year for the unofficial 40,000 target to be hit.
But again, officially, there is no target since GM revised it from 60,000 globally estimated for 2012, and started saying it would match supply to demand.
But people will nonetheless be watching, measuring, and analyzing the Volt’s progress, and the company’s CEO was quoted mid-year, so we’re down to an unofficial race this year just like last, when 10,000 U.S. units was the goal that was narrowly missed.
Source: GM-Volt.com
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