Chevy-Dealing Congressman: “There Is No Market†For The Volt

You know how I can tell he is working a political angle and presenting misleading statements rather than the truth --- his lips are moving.


Really this guy is just PO that they almost took away his dealership. He loves to say the EVcredits are Obhama's but all the one being used are still from the Bush version of the bill.


Personally I think the 200K per manufacture was the wrong idea, as it allows companies to try to be fast followers (generally more cost effective) and be on the market later with second-gen products still getting credits while the true leaders have used them all up. If they wanted 1millon credits, they should make it an open competition across manufactures to push them out NOW.

 

I HAD no gripe against the Volt/Ampera other than me having three kids, so I never even considered it.

The Dutch commercial ends with these lines (I obviously translated them for you): Electrically driven. Drives 500km.

That is, in my view, possibly correct strictly speaking, but also very deliberately and knowingly misleading.
If this is how they have to sell their cars, by misleading all customers that aren't engineers who have put several hours reading up on the insides of the thing on the internet, then I'll pass.

Also from Opel's official website supposedly said by a government minister (this is a government official basically advertising a brand, that's sick enough without it containing wrong information...) who was obviously ALSO mislead and not corrected:

Loosly translated:

AAARRRGGGHH this pisses me off.

:focus:

Edit: it bugged me so much I've just filed a complaint with the Dutch version of the FCC. (Special commercial division). We'll see how it goes. Just about the better than 117mpg part after batteries depleted.

 

The Volt sold over 1500 units in December so they are moving much better now

 

Me, too. As a marketer/seller, if you lie you better be careful because you're playing with fire. It will sucker some people but repel others. There is a lot of dislike for the Volt even on the Prius forums and I believe it is the hype and fallacies that GM pedaled as the root cause.

 

i cant believe a chevy dealer would have this complaint. the Volt wont sell without it and i dont think GM will survive if they cant get the Volt in volume so the price can be lowered.

he is cutting his own throat

 

December was the 1st month GM sold to all 50 states. With the larger market, shouldn't this have been the best month for volume sales? Iduno ... maybe christmas season isn't the best car buying time?

.

 

Yes, Yes and Yes. It was the first month full month with cars in all states. (Most could order in Late Oct/Nov, and most dealer had cars sometime in Nov).

Dec sales were up 35% from Nov, making the best month to date.

Dec sales can be mix.. lots of holidays and shopping stop some from looking at cars, but gives time to others. The tax credit probably made some rush, so the two probably cancel.

This particular congresman has just introduce a bill to kill the tax credit for any Plugin EV (including The Volt and PIP). ( My understanding that hee hates the Volt and GM in part because during the Bankrupcty GM tired to force his Caddy dealership to close. Now he is just using it to further his political ambitions)


You can lodge your view on the bill at a VOX Poll at
https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/112/hr3768/report#nation


Your view will also forwarded to your own congressional representative.

 

In fact, all brands appear to sell more in December--significantly--than in November. 20-25% in 2008 and 2009:


And last year, too: Auto Sales - Markets Data Center - WSJ.com

So it's fair to say at least half of the 35% increase between November and December was cyclical. Was the rest true demand increase or last minute tax savings? In any case, 1500 is such a small number of vehicles sold anyway that a butterfly flapping its wings in Australia a decade ago could move it up or down a few hundred.

Whether this Congressman is onto something or full of hot air the Volt continues to be a poor seller to date, whether or not that changes in the future.

 

Mark Twain advised us long ago there were three kinds of lies. Lies, damn lies and statistics.Now this fool wants to pass HR 3768 to end all tax rebates on hybrid,plug in and electric vehicles. I keep saying again and again the employees of GM/Chevrolet are a big problem for the Volt they have an attitude of negativity towards these types of vehicles both spoken and unspoken. I know many of the posters here say they don't act like that in your area. Now that is great and a positive situation but in many blue collar and rural areas of the country it is negative. Along with negative and alarmist media reports, the totality could end the life of these visionary vehicles especially the niche ones.

 

I have read 99% of this forum and not one has mentioned everytime you put gas in a Voly or Cruze it is Hightest. That is 20 to 30 cents a gallon more.

 

I am not aware of any incentive for hybrids. What hybrid incentive would this HR3768 end?

I thought it is only for the plugin and EV tax credit. PiP's $2,500 would be affected, that's about it. With everybody on the same level playing field (MSRP), that'll shift the demand toward PiP for sure.

PiP - $32k
Leaf - $35k
Volt - $40k

 

What kelly is worried about, is the volt may actually sell, and help move people to plug-ins. That would help obama and environmentalists politically, and that is something angry greedy congressmen hate. If gm can't sell any volts as he claimed before, then repealing the law has no effect.
Rep. Kelly's HR 3768 proposes repeal of electric car $7500 tax rebate
Does mike kelly care about fiscal responsibility or revenge?

Only plug in hybrid and bev incentives. The bill would not end say oil drilling subsidies or ethanol subsidies or anything that would have a fiscal impact, only vengence against plug-in cars.

But in mike kelly's level playing field, that prius phv gap is huge to the prius liftback. Would toyota even ship them anywhere that they don't sell hov stickers? The leaf would languish, since they would need to further raise prices as volume would not come about. Nissan built capacity because of those incentives. Getting rid of the incentives would likely most help hyundai, not toyota. Luckily Congressman kelly owns a hyundai dealership.

 

First, specifics. The Cruze doesn't need regular. The Volt runs its ICE at efficient rpm bands, one of which is approaching peak. So the premium is an insurance against knocking under those conditions, but it likely isn't necessary. More importantly, it's for shelf life. As gas ages, octane drops. Not a problem non plug ins, but it can be for cars like the Volt. I'm sure GM could have just had the maintenance mode come on more often, but that kinda of defeats the point of the plug.

In general, a premium tuned engine will get better fuel economy than the regular one with all else being equal. It may not look like a significant increase, but it is usually enough for the fuel cost per mile to work out the same.

 

Rep. Kelly's HR 3768 proposes repeal of electric car $7500 tax rebate

This congressman said he is doing this to relieve the burden on taxpayers. If so, it seems logical to introduce bills against all subsidies, plug-ins/ev, oil, ethanol, etc...as mentioned in earlier posts.

Seriously now, would a Congressman do something like this for political reasons, vendetta or his own self-interests, even put an American Company at a disadvantage in terms of competition, not to mention job losses?

 

Isn't a tax credit a relief on the tax payer that gets to claim it!?!?

Less taxes = good. Tax credits = bad. I'm confused.

 

If the oil companies get tax breaks, so should the utility companies.

If we get rid of the EV/Plugin tax credit, so should the tax incentive for buying gas-only vehicles.

There are incentives for battery R&D (grants) and manufacturing (loans), so what should the oil companies get?

 

It seems like the target of this bill is primarily the Chevy Volt and of course politics which is really sad.
.

 

A tax credit is also a tax increase on someone else. Or at least it is when Congress follows its own budgeting rules, as these things are supposed to be revenue neutral.

 

If you do CBI scoring, removing this incentive will likely reduce revenue not increase it. The biggest impact is the nissan plant in tennesee, it may hire fewer workers if the incentive is rescinded. If the incentive works more plug ins are built in america and less oil imported. If it doesn't it doesn't cost anything. Likely little impact on changing the law Cut the ethanol subsidy or oil subsidies and their is actually an impact If all the plug ins are sold this amounts to $7.5b over its lifetime, and likely would reduce oil imports by $1b/year for the life of the cars.

 

The lives of our sons and daughters to protect their assets.