SHOCKER! GM Sells Just 281 Volts In Feb, Nissan 67 Leafs

Is Government Motors and the Chevy Volt going to be official sponsors of the Day of Rage in Riyadh next Friday? That might be a way to 'encourage' sales. Just go over there with a few of Barakeh's street organizing Chicago union fellows to help encourage the rage and take it to a much higher level. You know...throw rocks and snipe protestors so the rage will spread rapidly throughout the Kingdom. We'll get oil to $200 in no time and everybody will be lining up to buy the $45,000 Volt since gas will be at $15. Problem solved.

We live in Cuba now.

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Originally Posted by BonMallari

these type of cars do not fit Americas driving style right now, who is going to drive them, only someone who has to commute daily in a bigger city or from rural to urban...but can they tow a boat,have a dog topper...America still loves their SUV's and pickup trucks, this isnt China and we dont all wear the Mao jackets and all work at the same factory

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Bingo!

But maybe not in our driving lifetimes, but someday not too far off, there WILL be consumer grade PUs and SUVs with this technology.

This is a paradigm shift.....and those don't occur overnite.

Well it certainly couldn't be because of this:
You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, uh, you know — Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Barack Obamadescribing one of the direct effects of his proposed energy policy on consumers - skyrocketingt costs for electricity. The statement came in January of (2008) in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle

And I'm sure it isn't because of reports saying that there won't be a sufficient amount of electricity during the summer to recharge large numbers of PEV's ie "charging patterns wil deend on consumer behaviors"

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Originally Posted by huntinman

GM sells just 281 Chevy Volts in February, Nissan only moves 67 Leafs
by Sebastian Blanco (RSS feed) on Mar 1st 2011 at 7:47PM


Peruse Chevrolet's February sales release, and you'll notice one number that's blatantly missing: the number of Chevy Volts sold. The number – a very modest 281 – is available in the company's detailed data (PDF), but it certainly isn't something that GM wants to highlight, apparently. Keeping the number quiet is a bit understandable, since it's lower than the 321 that Chevy sold in January.

Nissan doesn't have anything to brag about here, either (and it didn't avoiding any mention of the Leaf sales in its press release). Why? Well, back in January, the company sold 87 Leafs. In February? Just 67. Where does that leave us? Well, here's the big scorecard for all sales of these vehicles thus far:

•Volt: 928
•Leaf: 173
Ouch. The big questions, of course, revolve around one word: "Why?" Is ramping up production and deliveries still a problem? Is demand weak? Are unscrupulous dealers to blame? When will sales start to climb? And what are these numbers doing to plug-in vehicle work at other automakers? We don't know all the answers, but for more on February auto sales, click here.

[Sources: General Motors, Nissan]

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Hmm, $40,000 for a run of the mill $20,000 car? That might be your answer.

Before you get too gleeful over your perceived failure of the Volt so far, there are some other factors that have to be taken into consideration. First, you mentioned that February Volt sales were less than January sales. However, February sales volumes for most models are traditionally lower than other months because there are fewer selling days in February. Second, Volt is only currently being sold in 10 states. Production ramp up has been slow by design, and even most dealers in those 10 states have only gotten allocation of a few vehicles. Apparently, there must be some demand for the vehicle because some dealers are asking, and getting, sticker price for them. Third, most of Volt’s initial volume was scheduled to go to government, municipalities, and electric utilities. Those units were pre-sold, but haven’t been produced and delivered to the customer yet. I don’t know how many Volt’s have been produced so far, but from what I understand, all scheduled production for the 2011 model year has been presold, and new orders have been cut off.

I don’t know if Volt is going to be a success or not. However, it would seem to make sense to wait until it goes into full production and nation wide distribution for the 2012 model year before coming to any conclusions.

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Originally Posted by Blackstone

Before you get too gleeful over your perceived failure of the Volt so far, there are some other factors that have to be taken into consideration. First, you mentioned that February Volt sales were less than January sales. However, February sales volumes for most models are traditionally lower than other months because there are fewer selling days in February. Second, Volt is only currently being sold in 10 states. Production ramp up has been slow by design, and even most dealers in those 10 states have only gotten allocation of a few vehicles. Apparently, there must be some demand for the vehicle because some dealers are asking, and getting, sticker price for them. Third, most of Volt’s initial volume was scheduled to go to government, municipalities, and electric utilities. Those units were pre-sold, but haven’t been produced and delivered to the customer yet. I don’t know how many Volt’s have been produced so far, but from what I understand, all scheduled production for the 2011 model year has been presold, and new orders have been cut off.

I don’t know if Volt is going to be a success or not. However, it would seem to make sense to wait until it goes into full production and nation wide distribution for the 2012 model year before coming to any conclusions.

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Buyers who had no choice...didn't want them but got them anyway. So the sales numbers are artificially inflated, is that what you are saying Blackstone?

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Originally Posted by huntinman

Buyers who had no choice...didn't want them but got them anyway. So the sales numbers are artificially inflated, is that what you are saying Blackstone?

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I guess I don't understand your point. Buyers always have a choice whether or not to buy. Who do you think is forcing them to buy a Volt? They wanted electric vehicles for their fleet, and have been standing in line to get one or more since the vehicle was announced. I have electric utilities where I am that are mad because they won't be able to get one until the 2012 model year.

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Originally Posted by Blackstone

I guess I don't understand your point. Buyers always have a choice whether or not to buy. .

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EXCEPT when it comes to health care....oh I forgot, you don't have to buy....but you will get an extra "present" at tax time.

Blackstone, what is being said is that for the most part, private parties, the people, are not buyers of the Volts. Mostly the purchases are from governement entities with our tax dollars. Thus, buyers without a choice/say in the matter.

And if weren't for the gov purchases (who have a vested interest in GM's investment) the Volts numbers would be even lower, hence the "artificial" inflation of the sales numbers.

Gee. How fast did the horse-less carriage catch on?
Did everyone immediately sell their horses and buy a god-awful expensive smoking, belching "automobile" when they first hit the market?


I think not.

Big changes take time and adjustment. The volt may not get any more acceptance than Mr. Ford's first model run. But its a first step in an inevitable change.