GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

The Chevrolet Volt received favorable reviews at the UK’s Goodwood Festival of Speed over the weekend, where its price was announced, and it received a bonus plug from American car enthusiast Jay Leno.

The “world’s first E-REV car” will cost £28,545 (including £5,000 government grant), when it is released though UK dealers some time in spring, 2012.

If the exchange calculators are correct, this is about $45,726 (with pre-incentive price being around $53,735 before the British government kicks in an $8,009 grant).

The occasion for the Volt’s presence was Chevrolet’s celebration of its centenary, and the company said the car represented the ideal symbol for another hundred years of innovation.

Chevrolet Volt. Due for sale in UK next spring.

“We wanted to back up a century of progress with our vision for the next century,” said Chevrolet UK Managing Director, Mark Terry. “Except it’s more than a vision, it’s a reality.”

As for one of America’s most famous celebrities and collectors of many cool vehicles, Jay Leno shared his enthusiasm for the Volt with Telegraph UK writer Chris Knapman from the seat of a 550-horsepower Jaguar.

Here’s the exchange recorded by Knapman:

That’s a great car,” yelled Jay Leno through the window of his Jaguar XKR-S.

“Sport mode,” he replied. “You’ll have great fun. I’m trying to drive my Volt for a year without putting any gas in it. I love it.” And with that he was gone.

Leno has already shown himself to be a fan of the Volt.

Leno – and the Volt – apparently had a positive effect, as Knapman had only good things to say.

“Judging from this brief blast at Goodwood it’s going to be an impressive machine,” Knapman wrote, “not to mention a genuinely viable alternative to traditional petrol and diesel models, and a different approach to the hybrids offered for sale by Toyota and Honda.”

Chevrolet is similarly emphasizing the basic virtues of the Volt, prepping journalists and would-be Volt buyers to fully grasp the car that will run on (exorbitant) petrol, but does not need to.

“The Volt is a truly incredible car – the first ever compromise-free electric car with zero-emissions capability,” said Chevrolet’s Terry. “You can use it for going to work and back during the week without ever putting fuel in, but it’s also an electric car that you can use for a family holiday. There are never any concerns that a flat battery will leave you stranded.”

Of the Volt’s pricing, Chevrolet said it is “less expensive than some traditional petrol or diesel engined five-door hatchbacks. Of course, by plugging it in, you’ll save yourself a fortune.”

All UK Volts will come with full leather interior as standard. The Volt is due to cost a little less than a Vauxhall Ampera.

Source: GM UK, Telegraph UK.

June was a strong month for domestic and most import auto sales, but with the Japanese industry still hobbled by the March earthquake, the “Detroit Three” led with a 50.2 percent majority of light vehicle sales making this their first time to do so since August 2009.

General Motors reported a 16-percent year-over-year increase in retail sales, finishing the first half of 2011 having sold 192,056 more units than in June 2010 and allowing it to net an 11-percent overall sales increase.

GM’s June retail sales were up 4 percent overall compared to May, with the biggest boost coming from the Chevy Volt’s ICE cousin, the Cruze, which out-distanced the previous Cobalt it replaced by 153 percent, and beat the usual sales leader, the Toyota Camry, as top seller.

The Volt, with the Detroit-Hamtramck plant still closed for upgrades, sold 561 units, for a year-to-date total of 2,745 units.

With the Volt’s assembly plant closed, dealers reported 561 units sold in June.

Not that we are sure it is really a race, but the car most media compare the Volt to, the Nissan LEAF, sold 1,708 units in June, giving it a total of 3,875 for the year.

Both manufacturers have said they will each sell 10,000 units this, the inaugural year for these electric cars. Despite headlines saying the LEAF is winning, we see no reason that either company will not achieve its conservative goal.

Market snapshot

(Numbers based on press releases by respective manufacturers.)

As mentioned, General Motors’ sales were buoyed by an overall rising market in June for domestic and most foreign-based manufacturers.

For year-over-year June sales, Ford was up by 14 percent, and Chrysler Group LLC was up by 30 percent, which, now partnered with Fiat, said this was its best sales performance since 2007.

As for major import brands, Audi USA was up by 16.9 percent in June, and recorded its best all-time sales of any quarter in the brand’s history. BMW Group was up by 12.8 percent, Hyundai USA by 16 percent for the month.

Mercedes-Benz USA reported its best June on record with sales at 18.8 percent, Mazda USA was up by 5.8 percent, and Nissan North America by 11.4 percent.

Notable June winners aside from Chrysler, were Volkswagen of America, up 35 percent, and reported as the company’s best June and best first-half year since June 2002, and Kia USA trumping all at 41.2 percent reported year-over-year sales for June. The company said this was the best quarter in Kia’s history.

Suffering in the aftermath of the March disaster in Japan were Toyota Motor Sales, down 24.1 percent (alternately reported by the Detroit News as -21.1 percent) in June, and American Honda, down 24.5 percent (alternately reported by Autodata at -21.3 percent).

In all, it was a strong month for automobile sales, except for those automakers most affected by the natural disaster in Japan.

GM’s strengths

GM reported also a 15-percent overall increase for full-size pickup sales in June compared to May. Retail pickup sales were up 20 percent over May.

Despite increases in not-as-efficient light trucks, the big news for GM was robust sales for crossovers and automobiles, particularly Chevrolet brand.

Among crossovers, the 32 MPG highway-rated GMC Terrain and Chevrolet Equinox compact crossovers saw a combined retail sales increase of 78 percent during the month. Overall GM passenger car and crossover retail sales also rose substantially, up 33 percent and 24 percent, respectively.

Among Chevrolet cars, the Malibu continued to do well, as did its new fuel sipper, the Cruze. Both were among the top 10 best-selling in the industry in May, when the Cruze was also the best-selling compact car in the United States.

“Chevrolet has always been known for building great trucks,” said Alan Batey, U.S. vice president, Chevrolet Sales and Service. “Today, we are in the middle of transforming the brand with a strong lineup of cars that match the appeal of our trucks and crossovers.

Sales to commercial accounts rose 31 percent – the 15th consecutive month of commercial sales gains. Fleet deliveries accounted for 27 percent of GM’s total sales for the month.

Month-end GM dealer inventory in the U.S was about 605,000 units, up about 21,000 units compared to May and about 168,000 units higher than June 2010.

GM’s stock price closed up 0.22 (0.72 percent) on Friday July, 1.

Another Winner

June was also a good month for GM-Volt forum member flmark, who won our create-a-caption contest. As readers know, the caption was in response to Nissan’s LEAF advertisement for the pictured Chevrolet Volt owner. Nissan portrayed the Volt owner as sort of a loser, but Nissan has been reported as misrepresenting the true picture.

Winning caption: “Dear Chevy Volt Owners, Please be courteous and buy a gallon of gas a couple times a year if you desire to continue to use our facilities to clean your windshields. Thank you, The Management.” – flmark

This contest offered a Chevrolet Volt die-cast for the caption winning the most reader votes.

I believe flmark has my e-mail address, and he will need to contact me with a shipping address for his prize.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone who participated – and Happy Independence Day!

Our GM-Volt contest winner will be sent a sealed box and car like this.

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Sources (Note all automakers’ mentioned are linked.) Also, GM, Detroit News, GM.

A couple days ago in Michigan, the Chevrolet Volt was praised by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, even as GM’s Micky Bly was at a nearby function releasing snippets about future generation plans, and more.

LaHood’s comments came during a tour of the Flint Truck Assembly plant Wednesday, where he said the Volt set the pace for all U.S. automakers to follow.

“The Volt I believe can be a model for the American car manufacturers,” he said.

A model for all other American manufacturers to follow.

LaHood, who also visited the Bay City assembly plant, said the Volt showcases the innovation in many of GM’s products that led it to post a $36.2 billion first quarter profit.

His tour of the Flint plant – where the Volt’s gasoline engine will be built – followed a $109 million investment by GM that will add or retain around 100 jobs in Flint and Bay City.

LaHood said also that the $7,500 federal tax credit for EV buyers has been a good thing, and the president wants to amend the tax code to make the credit into a point-of-sale rebate.

Meanwhile on the same day in Detroit, Micky Bly, GM’s executive director of global electrical systems, hybrids, electric vehicles and batteries also spoke about the Volt and related topics.

“It gets heads turning no matter where I go,” Bly said at a Detroit Economic Club luncheon of his personal Volt he has had for about six months. “It’s distinctive.”

With 56.2 mpg as the new 2017-2025 CAFE number being floated by the White House, Ray LaHood had only good things to say about the Volt.

As for the next iterations of the Volt, Bly divulged the majority of GM’s attention is being spent on battery development and confirmed much work has already taken place for gen-two, and gen-three.

“As far as gen-two, gen-three, we really haven’t made any announcements about the car itself, but what I can tell you is the battery side of things,” Bly said. “We’ve already started extensive development of the battery for gen-two, gen-three at a research level.”

Without being more specific, Bly said GM is trying to decide whether to make the vehicle more efficient, or work on the same efficiency at a lower cost.

“That’s where we’re spending all of our time right now is really on that next-generation battery technology,” Bly said. “Still nothing to announce there about other fuel capabilities on the vehicle, we’ll start to see some things later this year we’ll be announcing then.”

Bly’s comments came during a meeting with David Vieau, president and CEO of A123 Systems, and Dan Galves, a member of the Deutsche Bank, where the discussion was on the prospect of Detroit gaining a world leadership role in electric vehicle production.

Micky Bly shares a little on the next Volt batteries.

Galves, who spoke for the Deutsche Bank’s Global Auto/Auto Parts equity research team, predicted 20 percent of the world’s lithium-ion advanced-tech automotive batteries will be made in Michigan by 2015

“The U.S. has about 30 percent of that capacity and Michigan represents about two-thirds of that,” said Galves, a former GM employee, “so 20 percent of the world’s capacity of lithium ion batteries we think will be in Michigan.”

Galves said about 25 percent of the world’s vehicles are made in the U.S., and it is a significant milestone for Michigan to take 20 percent of the emerging lithium-ion battery market.

What is more, the burgeoning battery market could mean new opportunity for the country now weighed down by a foreign trade deficit, Galves said, adding he expects the advanced-tech automotive battery industry to be a $14 billion market by 2015.

“This is not a burden to America,” he said, “This is the biggest job opportunity, the biggest economic opportunity to reduce that trade deficit.”

This video outlines some of the promises and challenges facing electric vehicles today.

Bly noted GM will release its next-gen eAssist this summer, and is looking at ways to incorporate battery assist in many more of its vehicles.

“Now that were on our second – working on our third – generation of technology, you can start transforming that down to smaller and smaller cars,” said Bly. “We need to drive this technology into many different elements.”

The eAssist technology for internal combustion-powered vehicles is estimated to improve highway efficiency by 25 percent, and in light of stricter CAFE requirements looming, is expected to be increasingly utilized by GM.

“We will continue to see that technology grow,” Bly said.

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