Will GM honor thewait List, and how long until Mr. 28,817th get's his?

[Brian28,817th]

I am 28,817th on the list. (If you reply tell us what place you are at.)

1) How long until GM Makes my Car?

2) Does living in Canada change the effective place in line?
(Would the guy in Saudi Arabia get his at 28,816 first, or is he too far away? In other words, Is there going to be Country based quotas/limits?)

[JoeReal]

I am 28,817th on the list. (If you reply tell us what place you are at.)

1) How long until GM Makes my Car?

2) Does living in Canada change the effective place in line?
(Would the guy in Saudi Arabia get his at 28,816 first, or is he too far away? In other words, Is there going to be Country based quotas/limits?)

I forgot my number, somewhere around 22,000th. I don't worry about it.

1) Perhaps late 2011 or early 2012. However, the ones in the list are just chock full of email entries and majority did not supply detailed information. The one that would really count would be in the serious list, those that have supplied all the details to find and validate their existence and the seriousness of their intentions. If you have filled that out seriously, in that case, you and I would be around in the 5,500th position, statistically guesstimating. So, the dream cars would make the cut in GM's first year's target of 10,000 Volt cars produced. But still, it would fall into the mid year of 2011 at best.

2) It should not affect the production of your car, but it could affect the shipping and delivery of your car. We hope that your neck of the woods in Canada have regulations that allow electric cars by then.

[mbartosik]

Me #25
I would likely have been in top 10 if I realized what the list was when I first visited the site. I'm in NY - a likely roll-out area.

I think that to the extent that it benefits GM they will use it.

I think that it largely depends on how much publicity they give it prior to release (or prior to deposit taking time), the more publicity they give it and thus the more regular customers they have knocking at their doors at a time they feel like they want to start taking deposits the less use they will have for the list.

Because this car gives GM the green glow they are likely to give it lots of publicity. But if the publicity makes it look like a future car at the time they are taking deposits the list will be more useful.

There are benefits to GM:
1) A bunch of early deposits.
2) An easy way to sell the vehicles with little effort and expense.
3) A lot of word by month from dedicated fans of Volt. Which is something money cannot buy. I have suggested to GM execs that the first few vehicles have option of some serious advertising decals on them. Things like "Powered by electrons", "GM Volt" in BIG letters. I might even get my own made (but peel off).
4) Not have an angry few thousand vocal people from the list if they don't.
5) Easy management of roll-out in first limited areas.

Neutral issues:
1) Dealers are less likely to be able to gouge (this could be an advantage to GM actually as it potentially generates bad publicity, or an advantage because dealers would be happy).
2) More ability to bump the MSRP if they don't use the list, but that is a double edged sword, as it could make the Volt appear over priced (not for masses) long after the price drops.

Disadvantages to GM:
1) Anger by those not on the list or from dealers.
2) Dealer contracts with GM.

What I think will happen, based on nothing other than what I think makes good sense, is that GM will use the list to give an early invite to make deposits for those in areas where the initial roll-out is. They will only use it for those that provided good contact details. They might also use it in conjunction with dealers involved with the initial roll out, thus passing the buck to some extent on whether the list is used by dealers (that may be problematic) and potentially making life real easy for dealers' sales staff (they just have to pick up phone to make a sale).

I don't think that they will use the list in an exclusive way, because they will want film stars and politicians to buy it too.

[jrigg]

I would suggest that you want to make sure that all of your information is current on the list... your contact information info, the amount you are willing to pay, and your location.

Who knows, you might be in just the right place at just the right time. GM will need to test the vehicle in the field... and if your locale is the one chosen, you might get a call from a GM representative asking if you would be willing to be a test driver.

I know I would be willing to. I would love the opportunity to drive the Volt in Tesla country, and to help generate market anticipation for the showroom release in November of 2010.

[Grasshopper]

How can you find your place on the list? It was easy enough to sign up but I didn't bother to write down my number.

[MrBogey]

How can you find your place on the list? It was easy enough to sign up but I didn't bother to write down my number.

Go back to the list. After you put your email address in it you'll see your number.

[Grasshopper]

Thanks. 33,932 for me.

[ajc]

I don't think our specific number means anything.
I thought the list was more of an online poll to see how much interest there is and how serious people are about buying a Volt. Now they have a data base of interested electric car buyers to market to.
I think the best we can expect is advanced notification, via email, of when the Volt will be launched.

[dandurston]

I see the wait list as simple an indication to GM of how much interest there is. GM has nothing to do with the wait list so it doesn't make a lot of sense that they would honour it.

There are a lot of EV/Green/Volt fans that aren't avid internet users that have no idea this site exists. Imagine being excited about the Volt and going into the dealership to buy one, only to be told that there are 40,000 people ahead of you that signed up via some fan website.

At best, the waitlist will be used to notify potential buyers when the Volt goes on sale and perhaps be used to invite said people to Volt events. As mentioned, GM is going to roll out this car to celebrities and important markets first. They're not going to have their hands tied because some nobody from Alaska entered their email address.

There are a lot of ways GM could use the wait list....one interesting idea is that GM could divide the list up and send each dealership a list of local people who are interested. Then as the cars become available in that area, the local dealer could give you a call to see if you're interested (if you haven't already been pestering them).

[silvercorvette]

The list is a double edged sword. It can show GM an the stockholders there is a long list of people waiting to buy the car... But GM should not become over confident and be led to believe people will be willing to buy an overpriced car over list and without the comforts I expect in a car.