Chevrolet Volt Crosses 2,500 Sales In US For First Time This Year

Will The Knowledge That The “Next Gen” Chevy Volt IS Coming Next Summer Hurt Sales Today?

2nd Gen Cruze (sister car to the Volt) Launched This Month In China

Heading in August, the Chevrolet Volt had managed to best the prior month’s sales for each month so far.

And this month was no exception, except that GM did it in style by passing the 2,500 unit mark for the first time in 2014

For August Chevy sold 2,511 Volts, good for a 24% improvement over July when GM sold 2,020 Volts.

Excluding Nissan LEAF sales, the 2,511 figure is the 2nd best monthly sales result for any plug-in vehicle sold in America (6th best overall).

Unfortunately the year-over-year numbers continued to fall, as thebuzzsaw that was August of 2013 – when GM set the all-time US record for most plug-ins moved in a month with 3,351 Volts sold easily outpaced 2014′s number by 25%.

Overall 13,146 Volts have been sold in the US thus far, which is down by 12.3% on the 14,994 sold at the same point last year.

On the production/inventory side of things – while we thought that we might see a bit of a sell down of inventory during August, the opposite happened with close to 10,000 Volts being available for sale on deal lots; about 40% of which are new 2015s.

GM Launched An Aggressive Incentive Campaign In August To Move Excess 2014 Inventory

Also during August, General Motors promised to show the next generation of Chevrolet Volt at the Detroit Auto Show (NAIAS) in January, while teasing a picture of the rear hatch of the car.

Before then however, InsideEVs has learned there will be a least two more company “events” toying with our emotions and teasing the future Volt further.

On the ‘premium’ extended range side of things, the Cadillac ELR also set a new personal best with 196 notches during the month.  On the small EV side of things, we just spoke to a GM exec and 80 Spark EVs were sold in August as well…which doesn’t seem all that great, but we have to note that these were ALL retail sales this month, and in that regard, it was pretty decent.

High fives all around for GM this month.

GM Reveals All New EcoTec Engine Lineup

GM revealed its new line of EcoTec small gas engines that includes 11 variants of three and four-cylinder engines that’ll service 27 different models. Ranging from 75 to 165 horsepower and designed to integrate alternative fuels and hybrid drivetrains, these new engines are among the most important projects in GM’s portfolio.

The first production application of the new EcoTec engines will be a 1.0 liter three-cylinder in the new Opel Adam, an engine that could also serve the next-generation Chevy Volt. GM also mentions a turbocharged 1.4 liter and a naturally-aspirated 1.5 liter tailored specifically to China. The new EcoTec engines are designed with a modular nature allows greater flexibility among the engine line, while making tooling a lot simpler as well.

Other enhancements include less noise and more fuel economy, with the new 1.4 liter turbo being 5% more efficient than the engine it replaces. That means in most cases an extra 2 MPG or so on the highway, and it’s hard to find anything to complain about that. At 148 horsepower the new 1.4 liter engine makes as much power as the outgoing motor, but is rated at a much-better 173 ft-lbs of torque…at least in China.

Ultimately GM plans to fit EcoTec engines into 27 models across 5 different brands, including the next-generation Chevy Cruze, which should also debut sometime in the next few months. I’m most excited to see the improvement in MPG and all-electric range a new engine gives the next-generation Volt.

It’s a competitive lineup of motors that helps GM keep pace with other automakers, but nothing really jumped out and grabbed me either. What’re your thoughts on GM’s new line of little engines?

Source: Gas 2.