This week Holden announced a total of 49 dealers that will sell and service the Holden Volt “long range electric car” when it becomes available later this year in Australia.
Australia has a land mass of 2,966,152 square miles, and estimated population of around 23 million, and these dealers that will undergo special training and install charging facilities on site are expected to service the whole country.
While saying the car will not be restricted to city dwellers, Holden dealers will otherwise be clustered near denser portions of the population, including 18 in Victoria, 11 in NSW, nine in Queensland, seven in Western Australia and four in South Australia.
Each dealer has committed to achieve environmental accreditation and invest in new tooling and infrastructure to support Volt servicing requirements, said Holden Executive Director – Sales, Marketing and Aftersales, John Elsworth.
“Many Holden dealers already have a strong environmental focus but Volt dealers will also be required to achieve at least a level 2 Green Stamp Plus Accreditation through the VACC Green Stamp program,” said Elsworth. “Accreditation assures customers that the dealer takes its environmental responsibility seriously.”
Elsworth also confirmed the first orders had been placed by dealers who reported strong interest in Volt.
“We asked dealers to place their first Volt orders last month and while it’s too early to confirm numbers, we are receiving anecdotal feedback that there’s strong interest,” he said. “We would urge all customers to contact their dealer in the first instance if they want to secure one of the first Volts when they arrive in Australia.”
Australian customers can find their nearest Volt dealer via the this page on Holden’s Web site.
Pricing, specifications and launch timings will be announced before the end of July, Holden says.
For those inclined to follow social media, Holden invites you to “join the conversation on Volt” at the Volt section of the Holden HQ blog or to register for more Volt information here.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 13th, 2012 at 5:55 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
+3
Jun 13th, 2012 (12:35 pm)Great News for the Aussies
The Volt truely represents a global solution to personal electric powered transportation (well everywhere but the Middle East)
But I guess we owe them for some product.
I drove a Pontiac G8 (a Holden creation) for a year and loved it!
WOT
+1
Jun 13th, 2012 (1:31 pm)How popular is solar energy & wind energy in Australia? I remember it being very hot/sunny in 2004, but don’t recall seeing any solar roofs or windmills. Most I’ve read about Australia is how mostly coal is used for electricity. Just curious if this is changing at all.
+1
Jun 13th, 2012 (1:33 pm)We have had a regular commenter on the board from Australia, haven’t heard from him in awhile. If you’re reading this (hope you are), drop us a line and share your excitement perhaps on this rare Aussie news item!
Jun 13th, 2012 (1:36 pm)Jackson,
Was it Australia or New Zealand?
Jun 13th, 2012 (1:38 pm)While I don’t actually know the answer to your question, I’ve heard that the longest straight rail line in the world links the habitable coasts of Australia through a wide, flat and rainless expanse they call “The Great Nothing.” I’ve had the thought that the train could be converted to electricity and run pretty reliably on solar energy collected along the line (eventually forming a country-wide electrical delivery system; perhaps based on superconducting technology).
If a rainless flat expanse is what you need for large-scale solar, Australia it in droves.
I wasn’t talking about NZ David, I think it was something like Stuey in Australia (I know that’s wrong, he’ll really take me to task if he drops by, LOL).
Jun 13th, 2012 (2:10 pm)I am happy that the Aussies get their Volts. But will 49 dealers be sufficient for the 230,000 Volts that will be sold? I am assuming that only one percent of the Australian population will buy one.
I also believe that GM Holden needs to open an assembly plant there!
Raymond
+1
Jun 13th, 2012 (2:14 pm)It is the end of Fall “down under” and next week it will be Winter, so it isn’t that “hot” now.
Raymond
Jun 13th, 2012 (2:21 pm)Looks like approximately 85K new vehicles are sold each month in Australia. So 1% = 850/month or 10,200 annually. This is what the Volt sold in the US the first year, and we have 1000′s of dealerships. I’m not sure the Aussies will be on pace with the US when their population is less than 1/10th.
Jun 13th, 2012 (4:00 pm)Raymondjram,
GM has had a plant there since the ???? 1930′s ??? They sent a group of Salary and Hourly along with their Shop Committee back in the 1980 timeframe to the CPC Arlington plant looking at our training.
Jun 13th, 2012 (4:02 pm)#2
Which gives me a nice segue into my OT comment, LOL. +1
Our local paper ran an AP story this AM headlined “U.S. coal use falling fast; utilities switch to gas” It reported that coal is forecast to provide under 40% of U.S. electricity this year, the lowest percentage since the government began collecting this data in 1949. Four years ago it was 50%. By the end of this decade it is likely to be near 30%. So maybe we’ll be taking a little less flak for powering our Volts with dirty coal?
This is all as a result if the drop in natural gas prices. I wonder if we will get blamed for “fracking” now, hahaha.
Jun 13th, 2012 (5:02 pm)This is great news! Too bad we can’t get a dealership in lonely Puerto Rico. I understand there are some eager buyers in both PR and down under.
I was on here early this morning and this page was not accepting comments. (it was broken in general). Glad to see it got fixed around noon.
I hope Holden gets to eventually build Volts there. I hear their quality is rated very high. Shipping those puppies across that big water has got to hurt the MSRP.
+1
Jun 13th, 2012 (5:05 pm)OT: Chevy Volt Eco cab.
https://www.facebook.com/ecocabtaxi
Jun 13th, 2012 (5:21 pm)Noel Park,
I’m surprised that switching from coal is cheaper. Is this only on plants that are past their prime (being replaced) anyway?
With the similar pollution levels it doesn’t make sense from the EPA side either. (Ground water for NG fracking and air for coal burning. Actually both for both. Burning anything causes pollution somewhere, somehow. Digging up anything causes pollution just from the act of digging much less pumping tons of water in there.)
Jun 13th, 2012 (5:39 pm)Loboc,
I think right now the Gov is more OK w/fracking than burning coal.
Jun 13th, 2012 (6:42 pm)#11
I dunno, it doesn’t seem to bother Toyota, et al, very much, LOL.
Jun 13th, 2012 (7:18 pm)Noel Park,
So true!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lets stop wanting all our jobs to be shipped overseas.
Jun 13th, 2012 (8:28 pm)Tex-Arl,
We can start by only buying United States made apparel. That shouldn’t break the bank.
+2
Jun 13th, 2012 (8:58 pm)OT from Lyle Dennis, our beloved founder (this is from his new site at the link below):
Mazda says it will use its hydrogen-fueled rotary engine technology as a range extender for an electric vehicle, a mini-van with a 3rd row of seats it plans to start leasing in Japan next year.*
Could this mean Mazda might beat GM into larger EREV-powered vehicles?!?!?
/*Photo & more details at http://insideevs.com/mazda-developing-range-extended-microvan/
Jun 13th, 2012 (10:24 pm)kdawg,
Hooray the Volt is coming down to OZ, I may finally be able to get one. that said, I’m very keen to see the price, and at the predicted 60-65k, not sure how well it will actually go.
Above said, solar is pretty popular. I myself have a 3.2kw system on my roof at home. There are subsidies to have solar installed. Wind farming exists but is not as popular. There are also solar farms in the works too, but in truth, I’d say we lag behind Europe and the US in terms of renewable energies. We are quite appalling given the amount of intense sun energy we get, and the highest proposed carbon tax having passed into law – a tax that does not actually seem to be putting much back into renewable energies I might add.
Jun 13th, 2012 (11:05 pm)Eco_Turbo,
I would hate for you to have to go out on the street!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jun 14th, 2012 (6:40 am)Well this is good news, I might finally be able to see one in the wild. I have to confess to suffering from a bad case of VES!
Jun 17th, 2012 (8:16 pm)I was playing Forza 4 yesterday found out about Holden reading the info about them.
Who knows they might in the world since 1856 can you believe that!
But as it says on Wikipedia they didn’t start as a car company since 1908 and that’s the same time as you know when General Motors started here in the US.
Not to make this sound boring but I guess Holden is basically The GM of Australia.
that’s 30 years older then Mercedes Benz Since 1886 no joke!
Also congratulations of getting your own Volts and I hope the rest of the world will too.
Here’s a link about them enjoy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden
Jun 18th, 2012 (7:01 pm)The article is also slightly incorrect as there is also a dealership in Tasmania where I am, the state with the least amount of coal electricity generation. Mostly Hydro generation in Tasmania.
The solar on roofs is gaining thanks a large part from the Federal government giving subsidies/grants. There is also a few large wind farms.
The only thing that will probably kill it will be the price thanks in part due to what I would call penalties for non-local manufacturing so the Volt will probably price around the $60k mark and they don’t allow private importation so someone couldn’t buy one from the UK say(also a Right-Hand drive market) and bring it in to Australia.