GM has cut the offering price for the latest Chevy VOLT by 13% expanding a small price war against other PHV and EV offerings. This price cut is in response to sluggish demand for plug-in EVs and PHVs.
Overall, plug-in vehicles sales are rising, driven by offerings such the Tesla Model S from Tesla Motors, but despite government subsidies they remain a niche’ market. Limited driving range is an obstacle for most of EV (all electric). However, this does NOT apply to the VOLT which has an ICE to extend the range to 380 miles. GM says it still has to compete with Chevy’s own gas only cars that sell for less than half of the VOLT asking price.
The sticker price on the lowest cost 2014 VOLT will still be $35,000 which is down from the $40,000 and could be down to $27,500 if federal tax incentives are applied. GM claims that within the month consumers will be able to lease a 2014 VOLT for as low as $299 per month. Auto makers sold about 7,442 EV type and PHV vehicles in July according to data compiles by Electric Drive Transportation Association, a WDC Industry group.
Tesla’s soaring stock price is more of a reflection of the enthusiasm that their car is drawing---but not really sales volume. It is still well below expectations. What is holding potential buyers back? For the EV the still lack of an in-place fast charger network is a real concern. It continues to be what seems a “work-around" to provide the necessary charging sources for each EV and PHV. The PRIUS which is a PHV attempts to ignore this concern and simply state that the car electrically recharged from home quarters and if range dictates the additional mileage required per day is simply going to require gasoline for the ICE in the PRIUS. Now the writer can attest to this attitude and is acquainted with PRIUS owners that do simply ignore the situation if they cannot get electrical power for battery recharge whilst they are on the road. So far we have talked only about GM.
Ford Motor CO. and Nissan Motor Co. have made similar moves to GM and Ford last month dropped the sticker price of its all-electric 2014 FOCUS to $35,000. A $4200 dollar reduction. Nissan earlier in 2013 dropped $3023 from the LEAF to $28,000. HONDA Motor Co. cut the lease price for the FIT EV to $259 from $389 this last June.
GM sold 1788 VOLTs in July which was down some 3% from a year ago. A bad trend i.e. trending downwards not upwards! GM VOLT management says that the ray of light in all this is that the manufacturing personnel are reducing the actual man hours that a VOLT required so true manufacturing costs are reducing---just not fast enough to satisfy all the VOLT management.
So the PHV looks like a winner---BUT just now it looks more like a work in progress. INTERESTING--
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