AP: "Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf post small December sales"

[volt11]

Relevant article about Volt and Leaf sales on Yahoo news/Associated Press, click here. Includes talk about buyer concern over expiring lease deals.

[Electric Lurker]

Relevant article about Volt and Leaf sales on Yahoo news/Associated Press, click here. Includes talk about buyer concern over expiring lease deals.

Thanks for posting.

[Cari]

What a day! You all know I am so very excited about getting this car. Now my dealership is telling me that they can not LEASE us the car. They will not work with US Bank. Arg. I did not select this car to pay 700/mo on a purchase. I don't even know if I would qualify for a loan like that. I make teacher pay and I am just trying to the do right thing. The dealership is not trying to cheat me, but let's be honest, they won't have a problem selling the car with our without me. In the mean time, we have no way to know if we can work out a way to get our car or not. After watching it for a month...my heart is so tied to it. I just want my car. We have told them we plan to lease from the beginning. They would not talk money with us until they had the invoice. They finally got it this morning. We are trying to work something out before the end of the year (today). We have contacted everyone (as is obvious). Our GM representative (Volt Advisor) is trying to help out. But the fact is this is an independant dealership as all are. They hold the power. We are doing what we can. CBS has contacted us for an interview, but we can't call them back yet until we know what status we are in. I don't want to be mean or angry. I certainly don't want to be negative about the dealership if they work this out for us. They have been nice to us even though they really have been pretty clueless on the whole Volt process along this journey. That is in some ways GM's fault. I just want GM and our dealership to work out a way to lease the car as the ads have indicated. And I want that done at MSRP with the terms of the ADVERTISED National Lease.

Cari (and Paul)
724

Hey Mom, we are famous now even if I didn't say irrational, I am getting close to that point now.

Cari

[Electric Lurker]

What a day! You all know I am so very excited about getting this car. Now my dealership is telling me that they can not LEASE us the car. They will not work with US Bank. Arg. I did not select this car to pay 700/mo on a purchase. I don't even know if I would qualify for a loan like that. I make teacher pay and I am just trying to the do right thing. The dealership is not trying to cheat me, but let's be honest, they won't have a problem selling the car with our without me. In the mean time, we have no way to know if we can work out a way to get our car or not. After watching it for a month...my heart is so tied to it. I just want my car. We have told them we plan to lease from the beginning. They would not talk money with us until they had the invoice. They finally got it this morning. We are trying to work something out before the end of the year (today). We have contacted everyone (as is obvious). Our GM representative (Volt Advisor) is trying to help out. But the fact is this is an independant dealership as all are. They hold the power. We are doing what we can. CBS has contacted us for an interview, but we can't call them back yet until we know what status we are in. I don't want to be mean or angry. I certainly don't want to be negative about the dealership if they work this out for us. They have been nice to us even though they really have been pretty clueless on the whole Volt process along this journey. That is in some ways GM's fault. I just want GM and our dealership to work out a way to lease the car as the ads have indicated. And I want that done at MSRP with the terms of the ADVERTISED National Lease.

Cari (and Paul)
724

Hey Mom, we are famous now even if I didn't say irrational, I am getting close to that point now.

Cari

Does the dealer know about your media attention? Might help, um, encourage them?

[Cari]

Yep. Did not seem to phase them just yet. And we just did a CBS/KRLD interview on the phone. We shall see what else comes up.

Cari

[Electric Lurker]

Hoping for the best outcome for you two...

[MichaelH]

We have told them we plan to lease from the beginning. They would not talk money with us until they had the invoice. They finally got it this morning. We are trying to work something out before the end of the year (today). We have contacted everyone (as is obvious). Our GM representative (Volt Advisor) is trying to help out. But the fact is this is an independant dealership as all are. They hold the power. We are doing what we can. I just want GM and our dealership to work out a way to lease the car as the ads have indicated. And I want that done at MSRP with the terms of the ADVERTISED National Lease.

Cari (and Paul)
724

Cari, one thing I don't understand. Since you wanted to lease from the beginning, and still do, why are you trying so hard to complete the deal in 2010? GM's Rob Peterson has indicated, in that same article that made you guys famous, that after January 3, 2011 there will still be a lease program. If I were you, I'd wait until after the new year and see if GM has someone other than US Bank to deal with for a lease. Other than wanting your car, the only reason to try and complete a deal today is the tax credit for those buying outright. If your dealer doesn't work with US Bank, I don't see what you lose by waiting a couple days. Your dealer isn't going to sell it to someone else while you figure it out, is he?

Just a thought. We're all pulling for you. I'm still at 1100, waiting for my dealer in Amarillo to get an allocation. I'm from New Mexico.

[Electric Lurker]

Cari, one thing I don't understand. Since you wanted to lease from the beginning, and still do, why are you trying so hard to complete the deal in 2010? GM's Rob Peterson has indicated, in that same article that made you guys famous, that after January 3, 2011 there will still be a lease program. If I were you, I'd wait until after the new year and see if GM has someone other than US Bank to deal with for a lease.

Will her dealer provide any lease program now or after? Might be in the same boat with a new lease program (too small a volume).

Will the lease deal in the new year be as good? There is a risk (how big we don't know, that the deal is not as good. Of course, the deal could be even better, but I don't think I'd bet the farm on that?)

[Jason M. Hendler]

It appears that Nissan's early delivery of LEAF's were what some in Silicon Valley refer to as paper deliveries. With less than 10 LEAF's compared to GM's few hundred, it is clear which company is truly in production, and which is lobbing a few token builds towards an unsupported market for the sake of image / publicity.

The article does a good job of conveying the current state of this nascent market segment - the fickle nature of subsidies, lease deals and commodity prices are all putting the mass adoption of electric vehicles at risk - either delaying their adoption or pre-empting it.

[Cari]

Will her dealer provide any lease program now or after? Might be in the same boat with a new lease program (too small a volume).

Will the lease deal in the new year be as good? There is a risk (how big we don't know, that the deal is not as good. Of course, the deal could be even better, but I don't think I'd bet the farm on that?)

The dealership that we used is telling us now they don't lease cars via anyone. SOOO.. perhaps next week might offer a better lease deal or another lender, but could still be same issue.

As for why we are looking to close the deal now, it was mainly because we are off work and will not be next week. Also, because our dealer got the invoice, we didn't want to risk the unknown that next week holds when you are talking lease deals. We don't believe the lease deal will get worse, but we still need that option at the advertised rate or better.

As for the dealer knowing of the AP, we let the salesperson know, but bottom line is they don't have the volume to sign up with US Bank without it costing them. We are upset because we aren't told this until now and don't have a good plan B being offered.

Paul (Cari's husband) ...yes the P&C from AP story