Bob Lutz revealed to the Seattle Times that the price point for his company's Chevy Volt series hybrid electric vehicle will be $40,000, or around $10,000 more than originally estimated. Lutz also told the paper that the first-generation of the Volt would generate no profit for General Motors. There's still hope for buyers who were hoping to snag a Volt closer to $30,000, as potential tax incentives on state and federal levels could trim the price substantially. Congress is currently considering proposed legislation for plug-in hybrid tax credits on the order of around $7,000. Still, there's no telling what demand there will be for the Volt, and if it's higher than the supply, we could see markups on GM's high-tech hybrid from dealers who are trying to survive this transition from a market dominated by profitable trucks and SUVs to smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles. According to Lutz, however, cars like the Volt are the way of the future, and GM's car czar expects that between 2020 and 2025 a quarter to a half of all vehicles sold will be either electric- or hydrogen-powered. We'd put our money on electric, as this country has not gotten serious yet about building a distribution network for hydrogen.
[Source: Seattle Times via AutoblogGreen, Photo by STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty ]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
tankd0g @ Jun 19th 2008 11:20AM
I thought this was going to save the company? A no profit replacement for highly profitable SUVs. I hope the unions are up for some concessions in 2012.
Keat @ Jun 19th 2008 11:34AM
This car will save the company. Once production ramps up, and the cost of the vehicle drops, this thing will start to make them some money. Plus this will act as a halo car for the other chevy cars coming out at about the same time (the cobalt replacement and the new aveo).
tankd0g @ Jun 19th 2008 11:39AM
Yes, yes, we all know how economy of scale works. However, GM is on borrowed time, they can't afford a couple years of pissing money away on this thing. Besides, every single vehicle GM has lost money on (all those AU and EU imports), they limit the production to lesson the impact, which means they will probably never reach profitability. Perhaps once all the old men in charge die things will improve.. I don't unerstand what part of the car they are losing money on, if it's the li-ion battery or the aluminum, that's going to be a problem, because the cost of metals ls only going to go up, WAY up.
Dude @ Jun 19th 2008 12:08PM
It's not the materials per vehicle that will make them lose money.
The money losing part has to do with the massive amount of capital invested to get the project started. That's why he said the second generation would be profitable. The initial setup cost would no longer be part of the equation.
tankd0g @ Jun 19th 2008 12:13PM
If the second generation requires no development or retooling it's not going to be much of an upgrade.
Dude @ Jun 19th 2008 12:25PM
The second generation will require retooling and further R&D costs, but not nearly the amount that this one received. The first generation is the building block for which the next generations will improve upon. It's easier and cheaper to improve something than to start from scratch.
johneboy @ Jun 20th 2008 12:49AM
It always comes down to unions taking concessions. What about the jackass management who decided to roll the dice on sport utilities and pickup sales, even with unstable gas prices since 2005. Are they expected to take concessions? Put the blame at the right person's door. The big three deserve a serious spanking. But don't blame the autoworker. It was shortsighted management that decided to keep building 5500 lb. personal trucks that get 9 mpg. So now when you have no good or even average small fuel efficient cars, and your bloated trucks aren't selling, what do you do? Let's cut shifts and shut down plants and lose more market share. What a great plan. Actually if your average autoworker was as unskilled and stupid as most commentors like to think, I would be willing to bet Joe Lunchpail would have done a better job running the big three.
tankd0g @ Jun 20th 2008 9:36AM
People think of CEOs as employees, in fact that have the control of owners with none of the risk. If anyone is going to take a pay cut it's not going to be them.
carsteve @ Jun 19th 2008 11:20AM
Cool.
Thomas @ Jun 19th 2008 11:23AM
$40,000 for a Malibu with an extension cord and leaky batteries OR a next generation, plug-in Prius with lithium ion batteries, leather seats, and a Lexus logo for, probably, a lot less?
I wonder which one will sell better?
oZ @ Jun 19th 2008 11:27AM
And since both are still vaporware at this point, I'd close my mouth, if I were you.
Andrew @ Jun 19th 2008 11:36AM
Well, based on looks, I think the Volt wins hands down. It has some of the edgy, Cadillac-like styling, proving that an electric/hybrid car doesn't have to look dorky. I wouldn't mind driving the Volt...a Prius, not so much.
Will @ Jun 19th 2008 11:40AM
It won't even vaguely resemble this concept. The Aztec concept actually looked good!
Hoffy @ Jun 19th 2008 11:42AM
The Volt is actually being built on the new Delta platform, so it would be much more closely related to the next-gen Cobalt than the Malibu.
And with the price of the Prius climbing what makes you think that the new Lexus branded Prius (which has never been stated to be a PHEV) loaded up with options will be any less than 40k?
Not to mention the next Prius and it's Lexus counterpart will still be hybrid drive vehicles, while the Volt is an electric drive vehicle. Either way you're still comparing apples and oranges.
Thomas @ Jun 19th 2008 12:25PM
The Volt is a Hybrid. It has a gas engine. The only difference is that the gas engine will not turn the wheels. Why does less capability costs more??? If you could answer that question, the Big 3 wouldn't be in such a mess today!
DKB_SATX @ Jun 19th 2008 1:22PM
Thomas: "different capability" != "less capability"
While the Volt doesn't have Hybrid Synergy Drive, the Prius (as sold by Toyota) doesn't run 40 miles without starting up the engine. You say the series-hybrid layout is less capable, others say it offers more electric-only operation. I suggest you wait and see what the actual product can do before dismissing it. I also like the bias in your original comment... the Volt is a "Malibu with an extension cord" while the Prius is a "plug-in."
Torrent @ Jun 19th 2008 1:22PM
The Malibu.
Lithous @ Jun 19th 2008 1:57PM
Less compatibility with what? It is by far more compatible with... the future.
You know how independent companies are making Prius cars into plug-in Prius cars (for way too much money though) well think of having a Volt for 3 or 5 years and then a company comes out with a conversion kit (or they do it) where they turn the Volt into an all electric car. Well, they could do that with the Prius, right? It could go something like this though...
Assuming a do-it-yourself kit for Volt:
Step 1. Remove 1.0L engine. Free (your labor)
Step 2. Remove gas tank. Free (your labor)
Step 3. (Remove old or supplement) new longer life batteries when technology is better.
$5k-$10k
Assuming a do-it-yourself kit for Prius:
Step 1. Remove 1.0L engine. Free
Step 2. Remove gas tank. Free
Step 3. Remove old and/or add new longer life batteries.
$5k-$10K
Step 4. Remove Electric motor. Free
Step 5. Add new more powerful electric motor $5k-$10k
Step 6. New controller $1k
Step 7. New transmission maybe? $1k
Even if the cost even out (because the Volt cost more at first) I'd believe in the reliability of everything factory in place except the new and/or add on batteries. If the system worked for 5 years with the drive train (remember, the engine on the Volt is not part of the drive train) then that probably won't be the worry.
Yup, the Volt is so much less compatible with something I'm sure. Wake up to the real world where GM engineers continually pwn Toyota engineers with technology.
I see commercials for Toyota rain sensing wipers a couple years after my GM truck had it. HUD, OnStar, night vision Cadillac, HyWire, Sequal, world record distance hydrogen Equinox, etc., etc. Oh yeah, one of my favorites: emails about foreign cars in the garage with their lights on. My $20k GM vehicle has automatic headlights standard.
Anyway, I will buy a Volt the first year if for $40K it has OnStar, automatic lights, Bluetooth, tire pressure through DIC, XM and Sirius, Navigation, rain sensing wipers and whatever GM calls the functionality where your radio and windows, etc. stays operational until the doors open (one of my vehicles has it and the other doesn't).
Another nice feature one of my GM vehicles has and the other doesn't: a button that disables the inside lights for when the doors open. When my son falls asleep in the car it is nice to hit that button on the dash and when we open the doors he isn't woken up by lights. Yes, that is simple if you only have the one light top center of the ceiling and it has a switch but many modern vehicles have the ceiling lights in the corners so a dash button would be necessary.
Anyway, those features aren't too much to ask (I'm sure others would want more but that would make it worth it to me) for $40k
One other thing of interest about the Volt on the Saturn fans site apparently someone who has seen the near production Volt IIRC says the front end is Saturnish. It was in an article not just a forum post.
Bryan @ Jun 19th 2008 2:18PM
Toyota/Lexus will win, hands down.
dac @ Jun 20th 2008 6:30AM
@thomas and DKB
You both have valid points, so I propose a solution. Have electric motor(s) powering one set of wheels and the gas engine powering the other with something similar to Hybrid Synergy. Electric on the front would probably work best to get the most regenerative braking, but I may of a flawed understand here. Also, electric power is easily torque vectored resulting in a high stability, simple awd system.