Volt Order Dropped

[JeremyK]

I wish GM had some control over these so called dealerships and there atitude. What a disgrace to the company. Ford is taking a better approch to the dealerships that will be selling the Focus Electric.

I think it's a little early to call Ford's approach a success. I have a strong suspicion that the Focus EV isn't going to be available in all markets or at least in any significant numbers. This is something Ford is going to trot out when they need some "green" cred.

[JeremyK]

This is a tough time of year to purchase some models. My wife and I were just at a Subaru dealership last weekend and they told us that they're not taking any more 2012 orders after this week. The car companies need a certain amount of time to absorb all/most of the 2012 inventory before they offer any 2013s, otherwise they'd have to heavily discount a lot of cars to get rid of them. This is especially important when going to a new ground-up design. Nobody wants the old model, so OEMs share very little info about the new one until most of the old ones are out of the distribution chain.

[WopOnTour]

And GM says that demand is not sufficient to keep the line going last month. We have Canadians begging to get the car and GM shuts down production. Smacarth, I hope you will wait for your Volt, but this sort of thing is why GM loses buyers because of their inordinate fear of over-producing the Volt. I have spoken to dealership owners and they parrot the same line, "We would rather lose a sale than have a car sit too long on the lot." When I said that there were other car makers out there for the potential purchaser to buy from, the response was, "They will come back eventually."
Well GM, a lot of your former customers are never coming back. You had a great tool to get some of them back, the Volt, and your half measures on production are not doing you any favors.
Sorry, rant over.

Over react much?? lol
WOT

[Fulgerite]

I think it's a little early to call Ford's approach a success. I have a strong suspicion that the Focus EV isn't going to be available in all markets or at least in any significant numbers. This is something Ford is going to trot out when they need some "green" cred.

The new Ford C-Max plugin hybrid crossover looks extremely attractive compared to the Volt.

[CorvetteGuy]

Guys, it's not just the VOLT that has had the production schedule changed. I just got an email from the factory on the 2012 Camaro ZL1 that we have been waiting for. Basically, it said 'if it is not already built and/or in transit, then the 2012 order is cancelled and the customer needs to re-order as a 2013'. I don't know what changed but it seems like they are planning to launch the 2013 models even sooner than before. It won't be long before 'next year's models' come out on Valentines' Day.

[voltedge]

The only thing that I would question is that one response said that there would be a better bargain for your money on a 2013. I hate to say, but if the common trend on new model year vehicles goes on as normal, you can usually expect a price increase each year. I don't see that this will change when the volt is still not a main stream hot seller. I hope that the price does decrease, but that is what the new Spark EV should be marketed as for an economy vehicle. There are still many nice optioned 2012's on dealer lots across the country and a good dealer should be able to do a dealer trade for you to get the car that you want. If you can't get your local dealer to work with you, then purchase what you want elsewhere and have it shipped to you or do a nice road trip to pick it up.

[Ziv]

WOT, I resemble that remark! LOL!
And yes, I did over react but it is still like hearing a dog bark the national anthem when I hear GM dealers tell me that they don't need to supply their customers the product they are asking for because "They will come back eventually." Because a lot of them don't come back. There is a reason Nissan and Hyundai are selling so many more cars than they did 10 years ago and GM is selling less.

Over react much?? lol
WOT

[Top_Speed1]

And our fine President still claims "the economy is on the way up".

Okay

[jeffhre]

Over react much?? lol
WOT

Before the shutdown, going by the seat of the pants estimation process, if GM wanted to keep selling Volts as usual, they were at least 800 cars short in inventory before the shutdown. Gas prices and the end of the exploding battery lies makes even this number smaller than what was really needed.

If GM was to train and equip dealers to sell like Serra Chevrolet in Southfield, then they were from 1500 to 2000 short in inventory before the shutdown. Of course gas prices could have headed the other way and my seat of pants estimate would be off. But for that to happen China, Brazil and India would all have to stop growing and pushing out petroleum demand.

So overall, count me as reacting the same way as Ziv.

[Tumblebug]

I was just informed by my dealer that my 2012 Volt order placed in March has been dropped. I'll have to wait till 2013 model is avalible. He could not tell me when orders for 2013 will begin. Not sure how many months it will be. Some what disappointed but guess I'll wait it out.

Don't feel bad. Just keep a check on ebay and autotrader.com and you can save thousand of dollars. Five thousand dollars off list is not uncommon. Many dealer around the country put new Volt on these sites. I know because I own eight.
You buy one seven or eight hundred miles away and make it an adventure to go pick it up. Also, you will have the pleasure of driving home the best car ever built.