Mark Reuss: Volt Price To Decline Gradually

[JamesMcQuaid]

Good news from Mark Reuss on the Volt's future pricing:

http://www.mlive.com/auto/index.ssf/...ark_reuss.html

Five Questions: GM's Mark Reuss on smaller market share, pickups and Chevy Volt sticker

—When does a new Volt electric car come out and when does the price drop? (Volt has a base price of just over $39,000): The cost will drop with each model year as engineers make the car more efficient, Reuss says. The battery could get smaller, and the engine and transmission parts will become lighter and cost less. "I think the car just naturally comes down in price and becomes much more efficient year after year after year."

[tboult]

So did they announce 2013 pricing yet? what was the price drop ? I recall seeing people here having ordered them but nothing different in pricing.

[solar_dave]

So did they announce 2013 pricing yet? what was the price drop ? I recall seeing people here having ordered them but nothing different in pricing.

I would expect prices to remain firm as long as orders line up with production capabilities. It would not make sense to lower prices anytime before the market demands it. As long as they give 0% financing and good lease terms that should be considered a discount.

[BAZINGA]

I think he's talking about 2014 and beyond. If the 2013 is cheaper it most likely will be the results of de-contenting the car and making some items optional.

Just a guess on my part, we'll know in a month or so.

[volt11]

The price going down would be a switch, because similarly optioned cars went UP for 2012, and with less free stuff (like years of OnStar.) Fortunately for buyers, however, the deals got better. 2014 will be the one to watch, when we can expect Volt 1.5 (mid cycle refresh.)

When I think about it, what's really disappointing on the part of both Nissan and GM is that they have no initiative for helping to broaden the charging infrastructure. I realize that the Volt has the ICE range extender, but the Spark EV will not. At least Tesla is talking about installing a network of Tesla "superchargers", which for the Tesla cars can pump up to 160 miles of range in just 30 minutes. GM really needs to be a lot less tepid about their commitment to the EV if they really want to grab the Toyota green halo that Bob Lutz had his eye on in the first place. Negative press has essentially thwarted that dream so far, and GM's next moves could make or break their positioning in the green market for the next decade at least. Like publicly shutting down the Volt plant recently was the exact opposite of what they need to be doing.

[jeffhre]

When I think about it, what's really disappointing on the part of both Nissan and GM is that they have no initiative for helping to broaden the charging infrastructure... At least Tesla is talking about installing a network of Tesla "superchargers", which for the Tesla cars can pump up to 160 miles of range in just 30 minutes. GM really needs to be a lot less tepid about their commitment to the EV if they really want to grab the Toyota green halo that Bob Lutz had his eye on in the first place...

An excerpt from -

Meeting Future Demand for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Created: 2012-02-23 14:54 EST

By Heide B. Malhotra
Epoch Times Staff

"California has the most electric car charging stations in the United States with 1,458 stations. Texas follows with 462 stations, Washington state with 459 stations, and Florida with 386 stations.

As of February, there is not a single electric car charging station in Alaska, Delaware, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyomin.

“Charge station installations are on the rise. In April of 2011 there were 750 stations. By August 2011, the number had grown to 2916, and close to 5,000 by the end of 2011,” according to an article on the EVs Roll website. The EVs Roll website states that according to the DOE, there are 5,507 stations throughout the United States as of February.

Concerning charging the vehicle at home, Chevy Volt owners may charge their car on a standard 1102V wall outlet, while owners of the Nissan Leaf must buy their home charging station from Nissan at an average cost of $2,200, as estimates differ across locations."

Less than two years and by February, 5507 stations. And for the Volt they are optional. I just wish they could concentrate on making, marketing, shipping and selling the cars. Volts are still in very limited supply in California, all of Canada, and in Europe the back orders for Ampera's are...are...well just pick a really bad adjective to sum up that situation. No one else has an EREV and GM seems to have no intention of pressing the advantage. Even the GM web site that Jeff Cobb featured in a recent write-up for counting Volt EV miles, has had Volt information off line for days.

There are not enough Volts in inventory to capture buyers and there are not enough dealers that know what to do with them. Those are the problems I would like to see GM work on. Serra Chevrolet in Michigan and a few others know what to do with opportunities created by a halo vehicle across the entire selling continuum. Has GM used those capabilities to help dealers that are just wasting real estate and Volt inventory?

Edit: 5/22/12 >10,000 public charging stations - http://www.greencarreports.com/news/...alt-fuel-types

[volt11]

I just wish they could concentrate on making, marketing, shipping and selling the cars. Volts are still in very limited supply in California, all of Canada, and in Europe the back orders for Ampera's are...are...well just pick a really bad adjective to sum up that situation. No one else has an EREV and GM seems to have no intention of pressing the advantage. Even the GM web site that Jeff Cobb featured in a recent write-up for counting Volt EV miles, has had Volt information off line for days.

There are not enough Volts in inventory to capture buyers and there are not enough dealers that know what to do with them. Those are the problems I would like to see GM work on. Serra Chevrolet in Michigan and a few others know what to do with opportunities created by a halo vehicle across the entire selling continuum. Has GM used those capabilities to help dealers that are just wasting real estate and Volt inventory?

Well I agree with you there as well. GM is obviously still willing to gamble on sinking money into red-ink Opel, yet one gets the impression that they took 4 out of 5 toes out of the water on the electric and EREV car front. They are in real danger of squandering what should be a great technological lead by playing it safe financially. And if they don't get the Volt up to an 80 mile EV range (at least optionally) soon, they're going to blow their green appeal quickly as competitors come online. The Tesla S in particular (with up to 300 mile range) is the kind of car that should be coming from GM, plain and simple. An 80 mile Volt with extended range would be a credible technological competitor to that; I would argue that the 35 mile Volt isn't quite so much, especially when they originally targeted a 30K introductory price and landed at 40K. Don't get me wrong, I love my Volt, but this market will require commitment and agression to stay relevant, no less be a leader, and I'm sad to say that I sense GM moving in the opposite direction. Hopefully I'm wrong.

[Henry_FL]

Gm can do nothing and just do cosmetic tweeks for the next 10 years and the Volt will still be the sales leader. All this talk about having to cost less or have more range and features is silly. There is no competition, there is no real products that will roll out in any numbers close to what the Volt is currently selling and no other manufacture will have the capacity GM currently has.

All the others are just marketing hype, just like the Leafs saying they would sell 150K year, same goes for Telsa and the rest. the Volt is the only real car and GM won't drop the price a dime, for by the time anything new comes along, the value of the dollar would erase any hope for lower prices.

[jeffhre]

Nothing ever sits still and stagnant for manufacturers. And the auto business is changing faster right now than it has at anytime in the last 70 years.

[jeffhre]

Well I agree with you there as well. GM is obviously still willing to gamble on sinking money into red-ink Opel, yet one gets the impression that they took 4 out of 5 toes out of the water on the electric and EREV car front. They are in real danger of squandering what should be a great technological lead by playing it safe financially. And if they don't get the Volt up to an 80 mile EV range (at least optionally) soon, they're going to blow their green appeal quickly as competitors come online. The Tesla S in particular (with up to 300 mile range) is the kind of car that should be coming from GM, plain and simple. An 80 mile Volt with extended range would be a credible technological competitor to that; I would argue that the 35 mile Volt isn't quite so much, especially when they originally targeted a 30K introductory price and landed at 40K. Don't get me wrong, I love my Volt, but this market will require commitment and agression to stay relevant, no less be a leader, and I'm sad to say that I sense GM moving in the opposite direction. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Well said, I hope they can turn this around.