Some real competition for the Volt - just around the corner

[Noel Park]

Meh. If you want a Prius V then you may want the C-max. If you want an electric drive then it's not of much interest. But anything that gets anything close to 50 MPG is welcome. Just not for me.

My sentiments exactly. Heavy on the "Meh", LOL.

[bonaire]

Competition is good. This will just ensure that EREVs and plug-in hybrids will continue to grow and that in turn cuts manufacturing costs until more and more people can afford them. EV motors are just so much more efficient than ICE, it just makes too much sense.

[Steverino]

Concept cars and cars not yet available have a lot in common. Until they are actually being sold, you can't really call them competition. As we have seen with the Volt, things can change a lot from concept to actual vehicle. Until then, it's hot air and hype mixed with hope and dreams. None of which are available for a test drive.

[larry4pyro]

I think the real issue is the driving experience associated with a parallel (Prius/Ford) verse serial (Volt/Fisker) hybrid. The parallel hybrid is more efficient but has the traditional underpowered economy car feel. The serial while less efficient has a torquey, smooth premium drive.

[Henry_FL]

Unlike Henry_FL... I think more EREV choices the better. It helps raise market awareness and makes the EREV concept seem more "mainstream".

Could you expand on this? I don't see how it can be good as manufactures will have to sell 20K units/year minimum to break even. Since the market is stalled in sales, adding more vendors means all will fail. If there is only one, at least they can stay in the business until market ( higher gas prices ) return

[marlow]

I think that all of this (not exactly) competition will help increse puplic acceptance of all of these cars, yes some will fail to hang in there, but I believe that the Volt has and will continue to prove it self. The Fords sound like excelent US compition for the Prius, not so much the Volt. The only thing about them that will draw some potential volt customers away is for thoes that realy feel they need that 5th seet.

[Fulgerite]

Could you expand on this? I don't see how it can be good as manufactures will have to sell 20K units/year minimum to break even. Since the market is stalled in sales, adding more vendors means all will fail. If there is only one, at least they can stay in the business until market ( higher gas prices ) return

Yes I can expand. People did not buy the Prius in qty for the first two years either. (Even less than the Volt for the first year.) People did not trust them. It seemed like a science experiment. Consumers were distrustful of the technology. As other hybrids came onto the market the public awareness that hybrids actually worked and saved real money spread. People started to trust the technology. Owners helped spread the word that hybrids saved money. More choices from different manufacturers also helped the perception that hybrids were here to stay. (Not just a science experiment from one company.)

Today... The Prius is one of Toyota's most popular models.

Personally... I did not like the Prius.... but the Camry Hybrid was better suited for my needs. My business partner needed an SUV. The Highlander hybrid was perfect for his needs. The Ford Escape Hybrid also helped raise public awareness that hybrids actually worked for NY Taxi Cabs. People now TRUST hybrid technology. Toyota did not prevent GM, Ford, Honda, Hyundai from building successful hybrids. The hybrid technology spread because of the diversity of brands and models convinced the public that this new car technology was trustworthy.

More models and brands of EREV's will help build public trust of the technology just like it did for hybrid technology. More choices of sizes and brands will help this new EREV technology seem more "mainstream" and trustworthy. Just like it did for hybrid vehicles.

[Henry_FL]

I think the biggest difference between the Prius history of 1997 to 2012 and the Volts of 2011-2013 is that

1) the price difference is much smaller on the Prius to other cars that got high mileage
2) The world economy was going thru the end of its bubble during the Prius sales peak years

The second I fear is what has the potential to do in this rounds of EV/EREVS. We all agree you need substantial sales volumes to support more than a single manufacture, and we are just at best 3 years into a 12-13 year depression cycle, look at the period of 1929-1932 for parallels.

The only reason the US is treading water is the 1.3+ Trillion a year deficit spending, this can't continue for more than a couple of years and what is really going to hurt is that Europe is full tilt into a depression, no one dares to call it that yet. For GM, it really needs the Ampera to be a success, to makeup the volume of the Volt sales not increasing in the US despite give-away prices ( 5K lease cash ). No ones mentioning it yet But after the first wave of Ampera sales, its come to a compete halt, and with the EU broke, that doesn't seem encouraging.

So, this is why I see it being a negative and possible doing in many manufactures that venture into EV/EREV. Nissan will be bankrupt in a year thanks to the leaf, its just basic math, you can't spend 3 billion and then have no sales and everything is OK. The republicans will squeal with glee and if they take power in the fall, it will become very hostile to anything but drill-baby-drill

So this is 2012, not 1998 and its a very different world ... For everyone's sake I hope I'm all wrong

[montgom626]

The Volt shares the high-volume global Delta II platform with the Cruze, among others

The Cruze is a great car. The Volt is a great car. The Delta II platform is a very good choice for both.

[montgom626]

The republicans will squeal with glee and if they take power in the fall, it will become very hostile to anything but drill-baby-drill

Great post until you wrote the above.