Chevy Volt sales triple in 2012.

[Whitehouse]

Chevy Volt sales are cranking up. General Motors sold three times as many Chevrolet Volts in 2012 as it did in 2011, which was the car's first full year on the market.
GM sold 23,461 Volts in 2012 compared with just 7,671 in 2011. While it's an impressive jump, the Volt is still one of Chevy's lowest-selling cars. However, the Volt greatly outdid the Corvette, for instance, of which only 14,000 were sold last year.
Its 2012 sales also put the Volt well ahead of its nearest competitor, the Nissan Leaf. Nissan sold about 9,800 Leafs in 2012, an increase of just 1.5% over 2011.

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I still have to see my first one. Over here in the Netherlands we only see the Volt's sister ship the Opel Ampera. They are the same cars, albeit with cosmetic differences.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

It sells low volume because it's too expensive. Not sure if the gas savings is worth the $40,000 sticker.

[leapfrog]

It sells low volume because it's too expensive. Not sure if the gas savings is worth the $40,000 sticker.

Agreed! I'd love to consider it for my next purchase, but not at that sticker price.

[corktownyuppie]

It could be that Chevy is still looking for the early adopter wanting to be first, knowing that as economies of scale work they will eventually price down.

For example, 3 years ago I though people were off their rocker paying $400 for an iPad. Well, now they're everywhere.

[Johnnny5]

GM has to be losing a bundle on each one of these Volts with the $289 per month lease deal. I know the Volt's not in production to make a profit [[At least not anytime soon), but to me these sales numbers are surprisingly low given the low monthly payment they are offering.

[DetroitPlanner]

The Volt is a low volume car. Doubling sales is not a big deal. Now if you doubled say Malibu sales, then you're talking.

The Volt really needs much better sales in order to reduce the cost per vehicle. The 2 door Caddy version will help, but even that will be a low volume car.

Compare that price to the new Plug-In C-Max Energi. The Volt while a revolutionary car, needs a lot of help, and it ain't getting it.

[Novine]

Volt sales are consistent with what the Prius had in the US when it was first introduced. Not saying that the Volt will follow the same path but the early sales aren't bad considering the cost and some of the misinformation that's been spread about the car.

[Whitehouse]

I don't think the Prius and the Volt are comparable since the development costs are very different. The Prius has a conventional powertrain with electric assistance. The Volt has an electric powertrain that runs on batteries that can be charged with a combustion engine. I think Chevrolet has a winner now that the concept is working. What stops them from applying the same technique in other vehicles like the Corvette? That would be a car in direct competition with the Fisker Karma.

[oladub]

GM has to be losing a bundle on each one of these Volts with the $289 per month lease deal. I know the Volt's not in production to make a profit [[At least not anytime soon), but to me these sales numbers are surprisingly low given the low monthly payment they are offering.

My son took out a two year lease at that price but there was $3,000 paid up front which was not returnable so its more like $405/month. He loves the car. Where he lives, electricity sells for 4 cents/kwh at night. On a warm day, it goes 48 miles without the motor coming on. Besides the fuel advantages, it has very good pick up, a good sound system, and he says that it's great on snow.

I have heard, but have not confirmed, that the $289/month deal is not presently being offered.

[p69rrh51]

Its easy to triple sales from less than nothing! Lousy design, and extremely over priced automobile! With performance less than electric cars that are over 100 years old why would anyone want to buy/lease the Volt?

[DetroitPlanner]

Its easy to triple sales from less than nothing! Lousy design, and extremely over priced automobile! With performance less than electric cars that are over 100 years old why would anyone want to buy/lease the Volt?

Come on now! The Volt is hardly able to be compared to a 100 year old vehicle. It does as Whitehouse points out has expensive development costs and this is reflected in its pricetag. In my mind Ford has done this the right way in that it is basing the C-Max Energi off of an existing product [[Focus) and shares many of its components with both the Focus and the C-Max. The C-Max while new to the U.S. market is been in Europe for a few years.

[douglasm]

A couple of points. First, the Volt had a reletively soft rollout, opening in markets that have a history of going for this kind of thing [[California, for example). And being GM's first "electric" car, has had the stigma of the full on "electric" vheicle to overcome, even though it ish't. I've seen it compared to the Leaf, which is an unfair comparison for both cars.

Also, it IS eligable for a $7.500 rebate due to it's higher battery capacity. That should help on the price side.

[Whitehouse]

So which one is more your taste?

Volt or Ampera?

[p69rrh51]

Come on now! The Volt is hardly able to be compared to a 100 year old vehicle. It does as Whitehouse points out has expensive development costs and this is reflected in its pricetag. In my mind Ford has done this the right way in that it is basing the C-Max Energi off of an existing product [[Focus) and shares many of its components with both the Focus and the C-Max. The C-Max while new to the U.S. market is been in Europe for a few years.

What development costs? Far more advanced designs have been around since the beginning of the 20th century. In 1900 Dr. Ferdinand Porsche was designing electric automobiles for Lohner in Austria with the motors in the hubs also including a gasoline powered generator. This system is the basis for all locomotives built by Electomotive Corp and General Electric. GM was approached by EMC to help in development but GM refused their help[[how stupid is that). So what you have is an overweight design that is less technically advanced then a 113 year old automobile that set the standard for the most advanced Diesel Electric locomotives in the world. By the way the Lohner got 50-70 miles on a charge, while the EPA estimates 38 miles for the Volt. Leave it to GM to set back electric cars over a 113 years!

[Pickford-Bentler]

The primary problem with hub motors is unsprung weight. This is an interesting article on the subject: http://machinedesign.com/article/hub...to-overcome-08 Note that Porsche's work is mentioned. This part of the article notes that eliminating the weight of the friction brakes and going with 100% regenerative braking could solve this problem.

The obvious solution is to cut the weight of the hub motors, and engineers have been trying to do this for the last 50 years. Some use lightweight, yet powerful, rare-earth magnets. In one program, General Motors engineers designed a hub motor with stator windings fixed in epoxy rather than wound around a heavy iron core. Others use Litz wire in the windings to cut eddy losses, which also reduces motor weight for a given output. Another approach is to remove the cast-iron friction-brake assembly, replace it with a hub motor that weights about the same as the assembly, and let the car rely on regenerative braking. Current designs can supply about 1 g of braking.

IMO, a compromise that keeps friction braking as a safety back up would be RWD full 100% regenerative braking hub motors with friction brakes kept at the front wheels. The vehicle stability control algorithms have reached the point where a car can be kept stable if regen is lost at the rear due to some electrical failure. A lot of the basics are old technology that needed modern control systems with massive computing power. The much touted Prius is based on an architecture utilizing a planetary as a torque divider that was patented by TRW in the early 1970s.

[CassTechGrad]

I bought my first Chevy Volt in 1966. Here’s a picture of it on Joseph Campau in front of Babicz’s while I was seeing Dr. Stein about a foot problem.

[CassTechGrad]

I bought my first Chevy Volt in 1966. Here’s a picture of it on Joseph Campau in front of Babicz’s while I was seeing Dr. Stein about a foot problem.

[AUSSIE]

Not related, but still a car *they* [alleged auto experts] claimed that the FIAT 500 would never work and sell in USA

Happy to report just before XMAS they sold there 50,000th unit

Amazing results [hands hankee to auto experts]

[p69rrh51]

Not related, but still a car *they* [alleged auto experts] claimed that the FIAT 500 would never work and sell in USA

Happy to report just before XMAS they sold there 50,000th unit

Amazing results [hands hankee to auto experts]

The 500 was not biggest part of the problem it was Fiat's abysmal reputation in the US. Although small cars of the size of the 500 usually are not that popular here. Fortunately the Italians had their ducks in a row and gave us a terrific automobile. Personally the first time I saw the US spec 500 I knew it would do quite well here.

[RedeemerKid]

It is true that in raw numbers, tripling the sales volume of an already low volume vehicle still yields yields a relatively low number. But it is directionally positive for the number to triple. The volumes didn't stay static. They didn't shrink, and they didn't grow by 25%. They tripled. Regardless of the cold water being splashed here, it's not bad news.

The Volt team is likely happy about it and not dwelling on on still relatively small sales volume number. They are probably even more thrilled with the Volt scoring tops in terms of owner satisfaction.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/11/29/c...er-satisfacti/

I love what Ford has done with the C Max as well. But with its lower pure electric range [[~21 miles and a 14 gallon fuel tank), it's intent is closer to that of a traditional hybrid than the Volt [[~ 40 mile electric range and 7 gallon fuel tank). It's a bit less of a vehicle that could commute daily without ever using any actual gas. But what a great car to get 47 MPG for under $30k. Well done!

Neither vehicle is wrong in it's design approach. I think both are great advancements in fact. It seems like the industry is still finding its way in terms of a true "standard" for alternate energy vehicles, and it remains difficult to truly compare and contrast some of these vehicles side by side.

[canuck]

I bought my first Chevy Volt in 1966. Here’s a picture of it on Joseph Campau in front of Babicz’s while I was seeing Dr. Stein about a foot problem.

Impossible. The car didnt exist back then, you made it all up. You are good at the art of deception but you wont fool me. I'm really disappointed in your lack of sincerity.

[p69rrh51]

It is true that in raw numbers, doubling the sales volume of an already low volume vehicle still yields yields a relatively low number. But it is directionally positive for the number to double. The volumes didn't stay static. They didn't shrink, and they didn't grow by 25%. They doubled. Regardless of the cold water being splashed here, it's not bad news.

The Volt team is likely happy about it and not dwelling on on still relatively small sales volume number. They are probably even more thrilled with the Volt scoring tops in terms of owner satisfaction.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/11/29/c...er-satisfacti/

I love what Ford has done with the C Max as well. But with its lower pure electric range [[~21 miles and a 14 gallon fuel tank), it's intent is closer to that of a traditional hybrid than the Volt [[~ 40 mile electric range and 7 gallon fuel tank). It's a bit less of a vehicle that could commute daily without ever using any actual gas. But what a great car to get 47 MPG for under $30k. Well done!

Neither vehicle is wrong in it's design approach. I think both are great advancements in fact. It seems like the industry is still finding its way in terms of a true "standard" for alternate energy vehicles, and it remains difficult to truly compare and contrast some of these vehicles side by side.

Great advancement on what level? Weight its the killer of all electric vehicles and in today's market with all the amenities demanded performance will never be what it should be plus battery technology has not progressed much in the last 100 years. The designs being offered have all been tried in the last 100 years and failed! Why do we keep banging our heads into the wall for a type of vehicle that has been a proven money loser for the last 100 plus years? I cannot wait until these very expensive batteries start failing and the enormous replacement costs plus ecological problems inherent with them rear their ugly heads! Also for those whose laptop batteries have been a big headache your car's battery is pretty much the same technology. Good luck dealing with that!

[bailey]

I've never understood the visceral hatred of this vehicle and the very clumsy disinformation campaign about it. Clearly a lot of it is whipped up by Fox , Limbaugh et al. in an anti Obama fervor. I am absolutely convinced that if a republican was in the white house, the Volt would be the official car of the right wing. It's American made [[well assembled here anyway) and it's a pretty great piece of technology that is a giant middle finger to OPEC...what's not to love?

Now, whether we are just trading one evil for another [[oil production vs. battery production) remains to be seen. But I'm hopeful it's just a start and the next versions improve on the concept.

Is it for everyone? Clearly not. However, from everyone I've talked to that actually owns [[or leases) one, they love it.

[rex]

i like how it looks. At this point a car that gets 35-40 mpg is good enough

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Impossible. The car didnt exist back then, you made it all up. You are good at the art of deception but you wont fool me. I'm really disappointed in your lack of sincerity.

It's not that serious man, that's what photoshop is for.