New Year - and Volt Sales

2012 New Year-Volt Sales

Here we are. Round II. GM's production line is (ostensibly) ready to spit out tons of Volts .... and yet:

DailyTech - January Chevrolet Volt Sales Plunge

Volt January sales take a jolt, worst since August | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com

ok . . . . finally . . . the 1st bit of honesty I've heard from GM in longer than I can remember. In the "Volt Sales Figures Thread" PC members went back and forth ... back and forth whether the sinking economy had anything to do with Volt sales. Or, is it the $40K price. Or is it both. Or, is it a different question altogether - namely fire/quality fears. Or, is the question one of supply being short. Or, is the question whether or not the Volt will continue ... especially at just 600 units per month. In any event - GM has finally thrown in the towel ... at leat as far as 45,000 Volts in 2012. Even if they doubled the 600/month January sales, that'd only be 12,000 sales ... about 3 to 4 times less sales than set for the wish list. That's a bummer.

With the PiP arrival just around the corner - these kind of sales figures will likely be seen by Toyota as the coups de grâce as far as competition. This will leave the Gen III Prius' 50 mpg ... and the PiP's 95mpge and thousands cheaper price - untouchable. I know Toyota's business philosophy is such that they're too contrite to brag ... but MAN ... that REALLY is bragging rights. As much as I despise GM's ex-exec's Rick Wagoner (who, under his leadership, GM suffered more than $85 billion in losses) and Bob Lutz - I still hope the best for Bob's so-called "legacy" car, the Volt.

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