GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

Upon taking the helm, GM CEO and Chairman Ed Whitacre recognized the tremendous value and importance of the Chevrolet Volt.

He has admitted he wanted the Volts to roll out prior to the planned launch date of November 2010, even in small numbers. In an exclusive one to one interview with him, Mr. Whitacre told GM-Volt “I did ask them (the Volt team) ‘If I gave you another billion dollars could you get it out sooner? They said no because its all about testing.”

Even though full scale rollout couldn’t be done, Whitacre still wanted at least a few cars to get in the hands of the public early on. “We’re going to have a few out early,” he said

However, the Detroit Press has just learned that the company is becoming fearful about even letting a few cars into the public early.

Though some executives still want it to happen there are apparently obstacles. The plan has “a number of problems, and the car isn’t one of them” one source told the Free Press.

The Volt team is concerned the cars will still need routine “tweaks and changes” that go on right until rollout, that early cars won’t have in place. The could result in creating public misunderstandings that could lead to a public relations problem. The Volt is after all GM’s most important public relation move in decades.

Some executives therefore don’t want to chance any potential for a flawed launch and are strongly considering sandbagging the early Volt plan.

“There’s a lot of hard work that needs to be done between now and November, but the team remains on target to deliver,” GM spokesman Rob Peterson told the Free Press.

Source (Detroit Free Press)

Though Nissan has recently disclosed some details on how to order the LEAF EV, GM has not officially released the Volt’s MRSP or sales mechanism yet, and claims they won’t do so until the summer.

I did have the chance to discuss issues about how these decisions might be made with Jim Campbell who is GM’s new Chief of Chevrolet

Do you anticipate a conventional pricing scheme for the Volt or are you looking at a surprise or battery lease?

Obviously we haven’t priced the Volt yet.  That’s going to be my job on the Chevrolet side to lead that effort with our team. One of the previous assignments that I had was to manage our retail advertising.  I’m familiar with a lot of the different tools we have in our toolbox, and I’ve been involved in my whole career on pricing activity when I was at Chevrolet previously.  We haven’t priced it yet, we’ll look at all the options we have to make a smart business decision and proposition to the consumer.  That’s going to be one of the tasks at hand as I start my new assignment.

So you have two very dramatic and intense tasks managing the demand and the price of the Volt .

Yes those are both very important.

Do you expect to do a  special pricing/selling scheme or straight MSRP?

That will be part of the whole pricing process.  We’re already deep into it but I don’t have anything to announce yet.  The pricing  responsibility is in my shop.

Can you say if battery leasing is being considered?

No.

Is there any chance GM will get the cars out earlier than November?

I would just say we’re on our plan to bring it out by the end of the year, and that’s where we’re at right now.  I’m excited to be back at Chevy on this team to prepare the launch of that vehicle and other new vehicles like the Chevy Cruze.  We’re on our plan, well produce them by the end of the year.

I heard Maria Rhorer was reassigned.  Will there still be a position of Global Volt marketing director?

There definitely will be, there’s no question about that.  I’m in the process right now of identifying the person.  In the meantime, I’m heavily involved with members of my executive staff.

I’m in the process right now of identifying who’s going to lead that process for us leading the Volt.

What do you anticipate the lifecyle to be from when Gen 1 launches to Gen 2?

We talked about early adoption of technologies.  If you look at new technologies in other categories sometimes those generations one two and three come very quickly, sometime it takes a little more time.  So I’m really counting on our engineering leadership to really set the timing on that and to make the right decision on that front.

I just had the opportunity to interview Jim Campbell who is GM’s newest Chevrolet brand director.  I raised with him the issue of how the company will deal with the possibility demand could far outstrip supply of initial Chevy Volts.

Are you worried that since you will be making a very low volume of vehicles and that there may be a very tremendous demand, that the supply demand equation could create a negative backlash if people want them and cant get them?

Clearly those are scenarios that are possible so we will prepare for those.  I’ve managed other products in my time in the industry where we’ve had very very high demand and supply that we always wanted to be greater, and  there were ways to manage it.

Its always a challenging (scenario) but what I think is the positive side of it is that the fact there is that much interest keeps the enthusiasm high for Chevrolet overall.  I think that provides benefits to the Chevrolet brand and all of the other vehicles that people start to notice and get introduced to that maybe they weren’t even thinking about when they started their level of interst in in this case the Chevy Volt.

I’ve had other (vehicles) where there has been high interest.  Really it’s a great way to introduce customers to the entire lineup.  In some cases, cusomters will stay very focused on the brand they’re interested in.  In other cases along the way they will discover other offerings we have and so we’ll be able to meet another need in their lives or a family member’s.  So its going to be an exciting year, Im really looking forward to it.

You mentioned three rollout locations.  Will they get the very first cars in November?  What is the timeframe from going from those locations to the full nation and are you going to go to every market in the nation?

A lot of those details we haven’t revealed yet and I’m not going to make any announcements right now.

Whenever we’ve introduced products, not in all cases but in some cases, we do kind of market by market launches.  So that allows us as we ramp production up to sequence the production, focus our communications efforts, training efforts, making sure the delaer network is ready when we go market by market.   We have number of examples in our history where we’ve done that.

As we ramp up production then we look for the opportunities to expand the distribution.

Do you think it will eventually be in all the US markets?

Yes, I think it will.  (The timeframe) is exactly what we’re working through as we speak.  The three initial markets; California, Michigan and Washington DC will be the initial markets.

You don’t anticipate there will be more initial markets?

We’ll see.  More to come.

An area about the Volt that remains unknown is exactly how GM plans to roll out the car.

So far there have been announcements about California, Michigan, and Washington DC being initial markets, but the exact timing of showroom arrivals isn’t clear.  GM executives over the years have generally stuck to the premise that the cars will gradually and sequentially be rolled out state by state  throughout the nation albeit quickly.

I recently had the chance to go straight to the top and ask GM’s new  CEO Ed Whitacre the question that always nags at me, why not release the car throughout the nation simultaneously?

“Our plan is to introduce it everywhere simultaneously,” he said.

He cautioned that volumes will be low.  ”We’re not going to have a great number of them,” he added.

GM expects to produce about 10,000 Volts the first year.

Whitacre also said there are plans to get some Volts in the market prior to November 2010.

“We’re going to have a few out early,” said Whitacre.  ”We’re in the testing stage now,where its pretty much done.”

He explained how GM’s board offered significant funding to see how soon the car could be launched.

“I did ask them ‘If I gave you another billion dollars could you get it out sooner?” he said. “They said no because its all about testing.”

“Its being tested in the desert and the artic now, the timeframe is dependent on testing,” he added.

And finally Mr. Whitacre told me something about the early Volts that was a gift beyond my wildest dreams.

“I’ll put you on the list to get one,” he promised.

Booya!!!

Today General Motors announced that Washington DC will join California and Michigan as an initial market for Chevrolet Volt rollout.  The rollout region will include the nation’s capital and its suburbs.

“Concentrating Volt sales in these three key initial markets allows us to give our first customers a high-quality experience,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet general manager. “In addition to geographical considerations, each market also has progressive local and state government leaders and utility partners who are crucial in bringing electric vehicles to market.”

GM has also developed an agreement with DC utility companies Pepco and Dominian to take delivery Chevy Volt fleet test vehicles.  These vehicles will join a total fleet of 100 cars nationwide that will remain in the hands of utility companies for a demonstration and learning project funded by a $30 million DOE grant.

GM also reports they have tested the 80 pre-production Volts on over 250,000 test miles, and that some of those cars are in 24 hour/7 day per week operation.  Cars have been tested in the extreme heat of  Death Valley and the extreme cold of northern Canada.  300 pre-production battery packs have already been built.

GM has not confirmed if these three markets are the only initial ones which will be announced, nor how many cars will be allocated to each through the end of this year.  There are reports that the company hopes to begin rollout even sooner than the projected November deadline.

‘We could announce additional retail markets later,’ said GM spokesperson Dave Darovitz.

Pricing has also not been announced, though the GM Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre recently told GM-Volt.com it would be in the “low 30s,” without specifically referring to the $7500 tax credit.

It is expected Mr. Whitacre will be named permanent CEO of GM today.

I am a lifelong new Yorker, born in the Bronx.  It is important to me for my state and city to play a leading role in our country’s exodus from the gasoline-powered automobile.

Part of my effort has been to meet with utility company and government officials to help find and promote ways to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles.

In December I attended a stakeholder meeting at Con Edison (NYC’s utility co) headquarters in Manhattan which was coordinated by Britta Gross, GMs director of infrastructure.  The intention of the inaugural meeting was to see what is needed to get New York City ready for plugin vehicles.

Earlier this week a report was issued by Mayor Bloomberg’s office as part of what is known as the PlaNYC initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2030 and ensure a sustainable city.  The report looked specifically about how electric vehicles would be adopted by New York City.  It was created by McKinsey and Company.

There were 6 major findings:

1.  There is a large early adopter group in NYC who are willing to making lifestyle changes to be able to own electric cars

2.  The early adopters’ demand will outstrip supply for at least 5 years.  14 to 16% of all new vehicle purchases in NYC from 2010 to 2015 are expected to be electric cars.

3.  Policies should be developed to help early adopters enter the market

4.  Early adopters will not require high density public charging nor special tax incentives

5.  The expected level of EV adoption will not threaten the stability of NYC’s electric grid, as the early adopters expect to charge at night

6.  Automakers and utilities have an opportunity to prepare for and  enourgage EV adoption over the next 5 years.

For those that like math, 16% of all cars purchased by New York City amounts to 70,000 electric cars over the next 5 years.

It looks like New York is ready for the Volt, is GM ready for us?

[NYC Electric Vehicle Adoption Study 2010, PDF]