Consumer demand for the Chevrolet Volt is so strong that General Motors Co. is planning to boost early production of the highly anticipated plug-in vehicle, which rolls into showrooms later this year.
Some dealers are reporting that they have orders and deposits for more Volts than GM has allocated for them.
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Sales manager Matt Stevens said Vic Canever Chevrolet in Fenton is getting one Volt, scheduled to arrive in March when GM begins delivering the extended-range electric vehicle to Michigan dealers.
But there are eight people on Stevens' waiting list.
"We've been taking orders, putting names on a list," since GM unveiled the Volt nearly four years ago, said Stevens, who isn't sure how many more the dealership will get.
"Hopefully," he said, "it will be enough so everyone gets one."
Doug Parks, global vehicle line executive for the Volt, said Thursday that GM will build "10,000 or 15,000" of the extended-range electric vehicles next year, up to 5,000 more than previously announced, and could build 60,000 or more by 2012.
Parks spoke on the sidelines of a Detroit conference, "The Business of Plugging In."
Tony DiSalle, marketing director for the Volt, said GM is "hearing from dealers that many have significantly more demand than allocation."
DiSalle wouldn't say how many dealers expect to sell out, or disclose the number of Volts pre-ordered since the automaker began taking orders in July.
Each of the 633 dealers participating in the Volt's seven-market launch will receive a limited number of vehicles in the first year, said Dick Trost, a Volt marketing manager who oversees dealer relations.
Most will get a few, but some dealers could receive as many as 30. GM is allocating the Volts to dealers based on estimates the automaker has made about demand in specific markets.
The Volt initially will be sold in Michigan, California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Texas and Washington, D.C., before a national rollout 12 to 18 months later.
In Sterling Heights, Buff Whelan Chevrolet has already sold out its allocation of Volts, said general sales manager Tom Bechtell. The dealership has taken deposits for nine Volts but will get six in March. All Volts are being sold at the $41,000 sticker price, he said.
The 2012 model year Volt arrives in July 2011, Bechtell said, and isn't expected to be much different from the 2011 model.
In other parts of the country, reports of Volt price mark-ups have surfaced. One California dealership tried to list the car $20,000 above its sticker price. By law, GM can't tell dealers what to charge, only suggest a price.
Volts will be exported
GM's Parks said the automaker could build up to 60,000 Volts in 2012, up from 45,000 announced in July, a figure that had already been raised from 30,000.
"Starting in '12, we'll be at this max rate of 60,000," Parks said. GM hopes to sell every model it builds that year and could boost capacity further in 2012 or 2013.
"If we think this thing is crazy higher volume than we thought, we have the ability to increase volume and crank that up," Parks said.
GM also disclosed it plans to export 5,000 Volts next year to Canada and other markets.
The Volt will begin rolling off the assembly line at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck factory on Nov. 10, with sales expected to begin a month later, GM Vice Chairman Tom Stephens told The Detroit News this week.
GM began building pre-production Volts in March.
The planned production increases come as GM is in daily talks with the Environmental Protection Agency to finalize the performance ratings that will appear on the Volt's window sticker.
"Within a month, this will be done," Parks said.
GM prints the stickers at the plant and could get approval as late as the day before production begins.
Parks disclosed that the Volt is getting fuel economy in the "mid- to high 30s" when operating in gasoline-only mode, which is when the Volt's battery is being charged by a generator powered by a small gas engine.
Parks expects the EPA will set the expected electric-only range for the Volt "somewhere in the middle of this 25- to 50-" mile range that GM has announced.
He said it's possible the figure will be below the 40-mile range GM had long advertised.
"We're kind of hoping we'll over deliver," Parks said.
It's not clear yet what figures the EPA will assign on the vehicle's gasoline-only range.
Separately, Nancy Gioia, Ford Motor Co.'s director of global electrification, said both the Volt and the electric Nissan Leaf will have "a questionable residual value" because batteries degrade over time.
"I predict this market (for electric vehicles) is going to be fits and starts, ups and downs," she said in remarks at "The Business of Plugging In" conference. "It will not be a smooth adaptation."
"This is a marathon of 50 years to change the fuel source diversity," she said. "This is not going to happen overnight."
Price may get better
Parks acknowledged the residual value, also known as the resale value, of used Volts was an issue. The question is the worth of the battery packs after three years, and whether they would have a second life in another use.
"It is really the $64,000 question," he said. "We just don't know."
Parks acknowledged the initial $41,000 Volt price is a "pretty steep number," but he noted that the price comes down with a $7,500 tax credit.
"Our business model for the Volt is not finalized yet," he said. "We need to continue to make that (price) better as we go forward."
Parks, who is commuting to and from work in a Volt, said both GM's North American chief Mark Reuss and marketing chief Joel Ewanick are driving Volts.
Occasionally, he joked, there's a wait to use one of the charging stations outside GM's Renaissance Center headquarters.
Source: Detroit News
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