Chevy Volt misses first-year sales target

[Snake Alchemist]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-57352046-54/chevy-volt-misses-first-year-sales-target/?tag=TOCcarouselMain.0

I considered getting one of these, but I do not have an enclosed garage and any charging equipment would disappear quickly in my neighborhood.

[MichiganVote]

1. Nice car. Too pricey and storage is an issue.

[Ian David]

2. Finally, a car that saves you the money you would have spent on gasoline...

... but is priced out of the range of people who need to save the money they spend on gasoline.

But just think of how much money rich people can save!

[spin]

3. It not only takes money to make money...

It also takes money to save money.

[HuckleB]

6. Only if they were going to spend that much money, anyway.

The problem is that one can get a similar vehicle for much less money, even with the tax break. We just purchased a Chevy Equinox for about $20,500. A similar Chevy Volt would cost around $41,000 - $7500 in taxes, and I'm left with $13,000 to spend on gas over the years. We put about 10,000 miles a year on our main vehicle (which is now the Equinox). At $4 a gallon, and 25 mpg avg. (we've been getting more than 27 combined), our annual fuel costs would be $1,600, meaning we would have almost eight years of fuel money in the bank by comparison. Further, electricity is not free, so that's not a part of the equation here, though it should be. And then there's the lack of cargo space and passenger space that the Volt would offer by comparison.

I would love to go down this road, but it just does not make financial sense for our family.

[Snake Alchemist]

7. Not much price difference between the Volt and the top selling cars

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/kicking-tires/post/top-10-best-selling-cars-of-2011/2012/01/04/gIQA1cc5aP_blog.html

[SammyWinstonJack]

17. Exactly! nt

[librechik]

4. Price it at 18,000-24,000 and see them fly out of the show rooms.

ridiculous. Even lower would be better.

[Snake Alchemist]

8. The top selling cars sell at similar prices.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/kicking-tires/post/top-10-best-selling-cars-of-2011/2012/01/04/gIQA1cc5aP_blog.html

[msongs]

9. sorry but trucks are not "cars" and cannot be compared to the volt nt

[Snake Alchemist]

10. I suppose the question then is why are so many trucks sold as opposed to Volts.

There were quite a few cars on that list as well.

[unionworks]

18. Companies always set unrealistic

Sales goals and production goals. Ask any steelworker trying to meet company imposed production goals.

[joeglow3]

19. Give them away and I bet their "sales" would go through the roof

Sadly, there is little interest in them at a price needed for offset their cost. Hopefully, like many products, we will see the price drop over time, before the plug is pulled (so to speak).

[lacrew]

5. The Tax Credit is Non-Refundable

What does that mean? If your total tax liability in 2011 is only $5,000...that's all you're going to get as a tax credit.

I.E. your tax liability has to equal $7,500, in order for you take take full advantage.

Depending on number of children and other things, I guesstimate that you would have to make around $120k to get the full credit.

Which leads to the question - should the US taxpayer be giving subsidies out to people who make triple the median household income in this country?

[Johonny]

11. a lot of the prius first buyers aren't moving towards the volt

the technophiles tend to be the first responders to this market. Prius was very popular among that crowd when it first came out. However these people haven't moved from their Prius to the Volt nearly as quick as they moved to Hybrid technology. Why?

No sure but the decline in home ownership among the 25-40 technophiles might be as good an explanation as others. I'm certainly within the "Volt" purchaser market, yet the Hybrid or other fuel efficient cars fits my lack of a house with an enclosed garage more than the Volt. Neither my work, nor housing area has the infrastructure.

I will be interesting to see how the Volt, Tesla and CODA do in the market place. So far the environmental concerns, pricing or coolness factor hasn't overcome peoples concerns with being able to have access to recharging infrastructure.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

12. If I was going to spend that kind of money on a car...

It would be a BMW 135i or a Mercedes Benz C300. That being said my daily commute is barely twenty minutes each way. When somebody brings an affordable electric to market I will be first in line to buy it.

[high density]

13. I saw one today parked in a driveway and charging

Kind of made me laugh for some reason. I wonder what the battery performance is like in the chilly winter.

[FarLeftFist]

14. I WANT A VOLT!

[Canuckistanian]

15. This may say more about the target setters than the sales figures

Anyone remember what happened to the EV1?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F

[Snake Alchemist]

16. what happened to the electric RAV4? NT