Chevy Volt sales triple in 2012

[Welcome_hubby]

Source: CNN

Chevy Volt sales are cranking up. General Motors sold three times as many Chevrolet Volts in 2012 as it did in 2011, which was the car's first full year on the market.

GM sold 23,461 Volts in 2012 compared with just 7,671 in 2011. While it's an impressive jump, the Volt is still one of Chevy's lowest-selling cars. However, the Volt greatly outdid the Corvette, for instance, of which only 14,000 were sold last year.

Its 2012 sales also put the Volt well ahead of its nearest competitor, the Nissan Leaf. Nissan sold about 9,800 Leafs in 2012, an increase of just 1.5% over 2011. Still, Nissan pointed out, it was a record year for Leaf sales.

The single biggest factor driving the sales increase, according to both GM and industry analysts, was the Volt's increased popularity in car-clogged California. Sales there jumped thanks to a few engineering tweaks that made the Volt eligible for California's highly desirable carpool lane stickers for the first time.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/03/autos/chevrolet-volt-sales/

[jpak]

1. This is great - the GOP hates GM and especically the Volt

Which creates teh dreaded "green jobs".

yup

[TheBlackAdder]

12. Republican Bob Lutz's car, created during GWB's administration. eom

[jpak]

17. Obama's car - cuz he saved GM from Bush's Depression

Fuck the GOP

yup

[Psephos]

88. Only a few years ago, GM got nothing but derision and insult on DU...

I used to defend GM back then. (I drove, and still drive, a Saturn.) The bile that was hurled my way (and the few other GM boosters here) ranged from petty to vicious.

Times have changed.

[Fuddnik]

2. I'm glad someone can afford them.

At $40,000+ they're way overpriced. Nice car, but I wouldn't buy one at that price when you can get a Prius for half the cost.

[exboyfil]

7. Hasn't Prius come up with a plug in version at

$32K. They need to get the price down for a plug in to $15K (assuming on a Cavalier sized body) for me to jump on an electric plug in. I like the Leaf but they have to do better than more than $30K. I don't need the gasoline engine - just a plug in electric. You would think they could get the Leaf down to that price (maybe in a few years). If you figure they can remove an expensive IC engine and associated systems along with a transmission, why can't the Leaf go lower in price?

[Fuddnik]

15. The plug in Prius isn't feasible yet.

It's only available in a few states right now (mainly Northeast), but it's range on all electric is only 11 miles.

[Ash_F]

8. Give it time, they will become cheaper than all ICE using cars; including hybrids.

Less moving parts = less work to construct and maintain; less energy lost to heat and vibration and cheaper fuel costs

[Posteritatis]

39. That and new technology's pretty much always really expensive

Remember when desktop computers were $4-5000?

[RickFromMN]

86. I hope you're right. I only wish I knew when.

[TheBlackAdder]

9. The comparable Prius Plug-in Hybrid is $32,000, gets only a $2,500 credit.

The Volt gets up to a $7,500 Federal tax Credit along with up to $1,500 state credits.

[RedstDem]

10. I'd love to get a prius

and crush it.

[obamanut2012]

30. Why do you want to crush a Prius?

[RedstDem]

36. to improve it's looks

lol

[DBoon]

59. then just buy an old VW bug

you don't have to crush it to give it the same look

[RedstDem]

22. Only problem with that is

you'd be stuck driving a prius..lol

[obamanut2012]

31. And why is that a bad thing?

[AlecBGreen]

34. my wife and I bought a used Prius in 2006.

It had 26k miles on it. We bought it for $13,500. It is now at 193K miles and it has required no maintenance other than oil changes & new tires. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. It can haul 10 foot lumber. It can fit as much gear as my Dad's Subarau outback. It has hauled 300lbs of concrete, hay, goats, and a 140lb English Mastiff. It has been as trouble-free car as I can possibly imagine, and it gets 45mpg+. Whats not to love?

[RedstDem]

35. wow that thing depreciated fast

I think they're over 21k now.

I own a 92 Jeep Cherokee with 220k and it has cost me Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
well except for oodles of gas & oil...lol

[AlecBGreen]

42. eeep

my mistake. Talked to wife... we paid $17,000. IIRC it was a 2004 so it was 2 years old when we got it.

[Ash_F]

3. Good.

For science!

[Historic NY]

4. Thats the point it out sold the Corvette....

the marquee car. People complained about Volt pricing but it outpaced the overpriced Corvette.

[Robb]

5. That's an interesting point.

Edited to add: I'll be interested in hearing how Ford's C-MAX does, at $25-28K.

[bluedigger]

23. Higher priced, not "overpriced" Corvette.

Judge the Corvette for what it is, not what you value in transportation. Most people think the Corvette is a good value for world class performance. The main point is that demand is higher for what the Volt offers, anyways.

[DainBramaged]

49. You will NEVER convince most here the value of horsepower

Or what it's like to do this in front of Peeus

[NickB79]

52. WOOO, LOOK AT ME!!!!

I HAVE MONEY AND DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT! GLOBAL WARMING'S GONNA STARVE YOUR CHILDREN? FUCK YOU, I HAVE HORSEPOWER!!!! GRAAAA!!!!

Yeah, that's what I think when I see someone doing that in front of my fuel-efficient subcompact car.

But please, tell us of the virtues of horsepower.

[DainBramaged]

61. You'll never understand, to you it's terror to us, well, not worth my time....

I have LOTS of horsepower in my 30MPG Cobalt. But you'll never understand.


Buh bye.

yayayayayayayayayayayaya


ONE factory chicken or pig farms creates more ecologically damaging pollution that ALL of the RARELY driven supercars in the world. Think abut that for a spell.

[NickB79]

65. I understand the world we're leaving for my 3-yr old girl

Want to know what really scares me? What makes me wake up in a cold sweat at night? It's not horsepower: I used to drive farm equipment as a teenager big enough crush a Corvette.

It's this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8364926.stm

[NYC_SKP]

89. Hey, DB!

How are you?

I just bought a used Chevy Volt.

I hope you are well!

[Rain Mcloud]

6. Government Motors

Word will get around,the Volt is an awesome car that you fill up once every three months.
When i think of the oil company execs,the commodity brokers and the oil funded terrorists eating their own hair,i get a jolt.

[TheBlackAdder]

11. The car spearheaded by Republican Bob Lutz during the GWB presidency... is an Obama car?

Bob Lutz, former CEO of GM, pushed for the creation of this vehicle. The Volt was designed and finalized for production during the George Bush presidency - yet it is being deemed an Obama car. Do the people who hate this country so much want to not back an American company because Obama helped to rescue them?

The same could be said of theoil industries, pharmaceutical firms, farmers, aerospace, etc... They all get government money.

I'll always remember the president of American Honda saying that American Honda and a couple other foreign car companies would have gone out of business with GM and Chrysler because they all share the same parts suppliers. Folks seem to think that parts are unique to each assembler, yet, in the case of relays there are only 3 major suppliers: Bosch, Decso and Nipon-Denso.

If you have a car, almost any car, if you are lucky enough to find a parts cross-reference list you can save a lot of money on auto parts. The same part for a VW might be 1/4th the price from a Ford or GM dealer, such as oxygen sensors. They'll be the same part but each car company will have them stamped with their own logo and part number. That's why you can go to a Pep Boys and they'll probably have your car part in stock... That's because the same parts are shared between multiple vehicle brands.

[D23MIURG23]

13. Great news. The more hybrids and plug ins on the road, the better. n/t

[Tom Jeff]

14. I think it you look

who the largest purchasers of the Volt are ya'll see that it is the Fed Gov and GE. Yeah, it's a free market success. I wish it were true.

[James48]

16. It is true that the federal government is buying some Volts

But far more are being purchased by individuals than by fleet sales.

That is a fact, Tom Jeff.

The VOLT IS a free market success- and it's only just begun.

[Tom Jeff]

19. Where

can I find these facts, James? I think the other fact is obama is forgiving about 15 billion of taxpayer loans. I guess this will help with their free market success

[DainBramaged]

50. I guess you weren't here long enough for me to 'edumacate' you

In the Northeast since Samdy., Volt sales are going crazy because you can charge one from your generator if the power is out and there is no gas in quantity. Can't do that with a Peeus.


Silly Freeper......

[Fumesucker]

83. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense

I doubt the external generators are any more efficient than the on board generator in a Volt and quite possibly less efficient, most of those generators are built to a low price with a not particularly sophisticated engine and alternator setup.

It would be a lot easier to just fill the Volt up before the hurricane or snowstorm or whatever.

[DainBramaged]

85. My area, LOTS of natural gas powered generators

folks be wealthy.......the owners of my place have one at their 'homes'. They was nice and warm during Sandy while the rest of us froze our pattooties off.


http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?965680_g10e

$3200.00. Where we suffer LOTS of outages because Jersey Central Power and Light blows dead dogs, it's necessary.

[PoliticAverse]

21. Considering that each Volt gets a $7,500 federal tax credit/subsidy

it's not the best example of a 'free market' success.

See: http://www.mychevroletvolt.com/chevrolet-volt-tax-incentives-and-rebates

[arcane1]

27. The government props up all car companies in one way or another

From securing the sources of raw materials to maintaining the roads to tax breaks.

[Jackpine Radical]

58. Not to mention the huge military expenditures

to keep the world safe for Big Oil.

[jpak]

18. Viva Obama! Savior of GM and the Volt

[Welcome_hubby]

41. Welcome to DU, and please cite a source

that is, the source where you got the information regarding the number of cars purchased by the Government and GE compared to individual purchases.

[Odin2005]

79. Enjoy your short stay.

[Archaic]

20. I *LOVE* my Volt

3500 miles in, 12 gallons of gas used. Since I have a 15 mile round trip commute, I only use gas if I really feel like going for a drive.

My Volt was built in Detroit by Union Labor as well. So bonus bonus!

Not the car for everybody, by any means. But they can't build one with broad appeal until they've got the tech down.

And my house runs on wind power, so the people who say I'm just switching from oil to coal can go pound sand.

I can't wait until more cars have just a little electric battery power so they can be quiet and not pollute at the stop signs/traffic signals. That would do wonders for the US fleet fuel economy without all the extra it took to make a car like the Volt.

But with a Volt (or other plug-in) I can use a diverse array of energy sources. Not just oil like I have to in my gas tank. So the first 40-50 miles can be from coal, nuclear, wind, solar, bio, natgas, etc.

Chevy knew this car would never sell in big numbers. I can't wait to see what the Gen2 is like. 70+ miles a charge? Or just 25-50% less expensive as they've nailed down the manufacturing process, and battery costs fall? Love it.

[RedstDem]

28. I love your Volt too!!!

i don't have one, but I'm green with envy

All the prius love is weird, they cost less, blah blah blah.
only problem is it's comparing apples to oranges.
Volt gets about three to four times the mileage of that crappy looking imported box, looks way cool
and is domestically produce..the prius, not so much.

I'll be joining you at a Volt rally someday!

[Archaic]

32. I'd been waiting for the next big leap in tech.

I've been driving an Escape Hybrid since it was released. (Union built fuel efficient vehicle, made here in the USA. I'm detecting a trend)

Anyway. I love my Escape, but 260mpg is a little better than the 30mpg I get with the Escape. I kept the Escape for the long drives with a lot of stuff. The Volt is many things, but it's not a moving van. I just brought 12 boxes of stuff back from my folks place 500 miles away. Couldn't do that in a Volt.

I'd said that I wouldn't buy another car until I could get the same capacity/space as an Escape at 70mpg, or would switch to a car if an electric hit that would still let me drive to my folks place. The Volt hit. And it rules.

The Prius is a fantastic vehicle in many ways, and has forced their competition to get more efficient. I think they're ugly and have poor sightlines when I drive them. They're not Union built either, nor from a US owned company. So I'm biased there too.

[DainBramaged]

51. The Spark EV is coming end of this year........UNDER $25K with Incentives

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/11/27/chevy-spark-ev-unveiled-priced-under-25k-with-tax-incentives/


So much for the naysayers.

The last veil has been lifted from the 2014 Chevy Spark EV, allowing us to finally view the Korean import in all its aero-optimized glory. While we aren't much surprised by its appearance – the prototype in our First Drive wore only the thinnest of camo disguises – we were a bit taken aback by the announced pricing.

Customers will need to scrounge up almost $25,000 to park GM's first purchasable (you could only lease its predecessor, the EV1) all-electric automobile in their driveways. That's just under $32,500 for those who don't qualify for the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. Or, to put it another way, almost double the base price of the gasoline-powered version after the federal incentive.

In the context of other available electrics, that puts it well below the after-incentive $32,495 for the Ford Focus EV, but substantially higher than the $21,625 needed to bring home a Mitsubishi i. More importantly, it puts it dangerously close to the Nissan Leaf's current post-credit $27,700 pricetag, and perhaps even above the cost of the 2013 American-built model.

Luckily, GM isn't betting the farm with the Spark EV. With its US rollout expanded only slightly from California to include Oregon, the peppy little hatch should find enough buyers to suit its compliance purposes. And, like its plug-in Chevy Volt sister, the Spark shouldn't be seen as a means to an end in itself, but rather a starting point towards further electrification options for future models.

[NickB79]

53. It's a Korean import?

You're the last person I'd imagine would be excited to see a foreign-made car being sold in the US. Sure you're feeling ok?

[DainBramaged]

62. No room to assemble them here. lines are at capacity

It is a means to an end......

[The Wizard]

25. Repubes hate the Volt

because it's electric and has a smaller carbon footprint. They hate it because any American success that can be connected to President Obama must be disparaged as are all things connected to the President. Republicans want GM to fail because the President kept them in business, thus saving thousands of American jobs and bolstering a fragile economy, and by extension making the president successful.
Republicans thrive on the pain of others and as such are suspect in every position they take. And one more thing, they're all jerkoffs and fringe lunatics.

[dpbrown]

26. Why don't people consider the Tesla Model S, that is supposed to have a 300 mile range?

It seems like the minimal ranges on the Volt and the Leaf are purposefully short, doesn't it?

[freethought]

46. I believe it's the price

A Chevy volt, brand new goes for about $40K, give or take. A base model Tesla Model S is about $57K to $60K. The highest end version of the Model S, the one that can go 300 miles without charging, is over $90K, closer to a $100K. That's a pretty high price. Aside from that, there is only one facility that makes the Tesla Model S.

I have seen some Chevy Volts on the road locally and they look like a decent car. I have yet to see a single Tesla Model S where I live. However, I do think the Model S is a very cool looking car and magnificent technical/engineering accomplishment. I do have good vibes about Tesla, but it is going to take a while before people adopt such a vehicle in large numbers and the price will have to come down. As far as I have read Tesla sold every single Roadster they built, which is a good sign and bodes well for the future. On top of that sales of electric vehicles appear to be on the upswing. Face it, $2.00/gal gas is now a memory.

That's my opinion, anyway.

[DainBramaged]

54. FISKER is not a viable alternative

Last edited Sat Jan 5, 2013, 10:18 PM - Edit history (1)

Tesla is expensive and dealers are not convenient, but if you want a real deal, buy three Prius or two Volts instead.

[freethought]

69. Why or why not? n/t

[DainBramaged]

74. You realize they shuttered the Delaware plant for lack of financing?

And production ceased.




Google is your friend.

Fisker stopped production in the summer of 2012, and was seeking new investment, and further complicated by the bankruptcy of its battery supplier A123 Systems and the costs involved regarding a recall and repairs to customer cars.[11] In addition to to production stopping for over five months, with no date announced to recommence, the planned production of the second model, the Fisker Atlantic was postponed, together with the cessation of development of the new model.[12]



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisker_Automotive

[joshcryer]

76. Fisker is not Tesla.

I was shocked when I saw your headline and immediately Googled this, because I hadn't heard of Tesla "shuttering the Delaware plant."

The facts are actually the opposite. Tesla bought an old plant in CA: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-12/tesla-motors-cuts-factory-cost-to-try-to-generate-profit.html

Yes, Fisker and Tesla did have a production agreement with one another, but Fisker problems are not Tesla's fault.

Tesla does have its faults, it's a new company, starting basically from scratch in the automotive industry, all new companies like that have problems here or there. It's a rough road ahead still as they need to be able to get into the mainstream market, and they're doing it one step at a time (super car, luxury car, then perhaps an inbetween car, then a mainstream model).

Meanwhile Solar City and SpaceX are doing just fine.

[freethought]

77. I was about to post the same thing

I did know that Tesla are located in an abandoned Toyota plant that they bought for pennies on the dollar. In reading the post I was wondering "What is Fisker?".

I would tend to think that Tesla has some growing pains. I beleive Tesla has a bright future.

I will say this for Elon Musk, he's not the most dynamic personality for I have seen him in interviews and doing presentations in front of audiences. He comes across as being a little stiff and unemotional. However, he does seem to have a vision. Let him run with it.

[joshcryer]

81. They have 20k reservations and churn out 400 cars a week.

At that rate it's going to take them an entire year to finish up the reservations.

You can see here: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/5747-Model-S-Reservation-Tally



They are basically over saturated if anything (which I admit can also be a bad thing if you can't deliver to your customers).

I like Musk for his engineering approach to things, and I'm a huge, big fan of SpaceX. I think his heart is in the right place, and I think his three big projects, SpaceX, Tesla, Solar City, are all future looking visions. 1) clean energy 2) clean locomotion 3) getting off this rock to continue the species in case of cataclysm.

[joshcryer]

75. It's a luxury model. Tesla's 3rd or 4th gen models will be more mainstream.

Not many people are going to fork over the $52k necessary to get one right now. Richer people, or people with a nice steady income toward retirement, maybe.

[DainBramaged]

78. Short Circuit, my apologies, I swapped Fisker for Tesla

[joshcryer]

82. Fair enough, thanks for the correction.

We can only hope Tesla succeeds because they'll get GM and Ford and Toyota to follow suit with (potentially) fossil-free vehicles! (I know some, given where you live, can run off of coal power.)

[samsingh]

29. kick

[IDemo]

33. I occasionally walk the dogs through the Chevy lot up the street in the early morning hours

I found myself about needing an extra "poop bag" upon taking a look at the sticker on one or two Corvettes. And yeah, though I could technically afford a Volt, they're not on the map, either.

[RedstDem]

37. dont go near the full sized pickup's

that sticker will blow your mind, and the dogs will probably have to find their own way home!

[IDemo]

38. Oh, I've checked them out as well, and you're right!

I figure my 20 year old Toyota truck is just broken in at 64,000 miles and will likely last me the rest of my years.

[DainBramaged]

64. EVERY manufacturer's crew cab full size pickup can approach $60K

Not just Chevy......

[LW1977]

40. response to this from a right wing dumbass

"Thanks to additional costs for services and repairs, some Chevy dealers are choosing not to carry the Volt.

According to Automotive News, the sales of the Volt at some dealerships does not justify the cost of special tools needed to repair and service the vehicles. Dealers are spending up to $5,000 on tools, including a new item that is needed to drain the vehicle’s battery to send back to GM in case of repairs.
http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2012 ... costs.html

Ohio State discovery reveals flaw that may shorten lithium-ion battery life
http://green.autoblog.com/2012/12/21/oh ... n-battery/"


The kind of crap I have to put up with right wing dumbasses on this sports radio station's message board.




http://rubechat.kfan.com/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=225110

[jpak]

44. Rightwing dumbasses do suck

yup

[RedstDem]

45. I'm mistified over the right wing hate for a perfectly fine flagship vehicle

more proof republicans "love" America, they just hate Americans.....

[Joe Bacon]

47. 19th Century Fox tears the Volt every chance it can

Every anti-Volt talking point devised by Big Oil is passed straight to 19th Century Fox!

[RedstDem]

48. 19th century fox..lol

how appropriate!

[DainBramaged]

55. These same dealers refused to buy ZR1 and ZL1 tools so they don't sell excitement

just vanilla pudding. Additionally, you need to TRAIN a technician to service these cars. A LOT of dealers don't give a shit about real service, just how many flushes and fake brake jobs they can sell.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

43. Great but I wish that I could afford one

[DainBramaged]

57. Chevy had a $299 lease last fall, $1999 + tax and tags, 12000 a year for 3 years

it will be back

[Rosa Luxemburg]

72. can't afford that on teacher's pay

[DainBramaged]

73. BUT BUT you're SUPPOSSED to be RICH?

[rightsideout]

56. Electric cars are great. True Freedom!

I've been driving EVs for 20 years now.

I converted my Ford Escort to electric power years ago and have saved thousands of dollars in gas. I'm getting ready to install a new lithium battery pack in it now after 19 years of using golf cart batteries. If the power goes out I've used the electric car to power up the refrigerator and other needed appliances.

My kids first car ride home from the hospital was in the electric car. They've grown up with electric cars and think they are normal. They've been in every electric car that's been out including the GM EV-1, Tesla Roadster, Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt since we know alot of people in the EV industry.

I built my son an electric jr dragster which blows the gas jrs off the drag strip. With my Palm Pilot I can tweek out the motor volts and battery volts to where we can dial it in to 100ths of a second.

My wife drives a Prius and loves it. She easily gets 58 mpg it. Our best mileage is 64 mpg on a trip to see electric drag racing in Ohio.

I also own a GE Elec-Trak garden tractor which I use to mow the lawn and haul stuff. Since we bought the house 14 years ago its never had a gas engine mower on it.

And if anyone says we are just using coal to charge our electric toys, that's not exactly true. We have a 5.8 kW grid connected solar system installed on the house and we also signed up for wind energy.

With the Volt or the Leaf you can get a $7500 Tax rebate or credit. When we converted our Ford Escort to electric we were able to get a $1,500 tax credit for the conversion parts.

I love driving electric. My electric Ford Escort with all the torque from it's Zilla Controller and 9 inch WarP motor can blow many cars away off the line. My son loves it when I squeal the wheels taking off from a dead stop.

I really like the Volt. I am seriously considering buying one or the Nissan Leaf. In our electric car club, we have about 6 Volt owners, 6 Leaf owners, 2 Tesla Model S owners, 2 Tesla Roadster owners, 2 Think City owners and several people like me who converted our cars to electric. The library parking lot where we meet for our meetings is filled with electric cars.

What's also cool is there are charging stations popping up all over the place, at least in the DC area. So there are more places to charge. I charge 110 volt so I can charge pretty much anywhere but I usually drive my EV within it's range and use the Prius for longer trips.

[doc03]

60. I have a poor mans Volt, a Chevy Cruze, so far it has been a great car n/t

[DainBramaged]

63. The E-Assist version is coming this year (electric assist, stop/start)

worth another 5+ MPG. Will probably get 47 MPG highway.

[doc03]

66. I kind of wish I would have held out buying for a while and got the

Buick Verano or better yet the Regal Turbo.

[DainBramaged]

67. I agree, both wonderful cars, HARD TO FIND

Buick dealers stopped the fun a long time ago, like when I bought my Regal Turbo T-Type. They don't stock the Regal Turbo because most are stupid and don't understand the buying dynamic has changed for their cars.

[MightyMopar]

68. Cadillac is getting version of the Volt that should be quite profitable

[rightsideout]

70. What's interesting is Cadillac was originally picked to sell the Volt

Yes, it's true. When the idea for the Volt came up several years ago by Bob Lutz it was originally going to be under the Cadillac name.

I believe the decision to have it be a Chevy was because it was decided that it would be built on the Delta II platform which the Chevy Cruz uses. There were marketing reasons as well. But yes, the Volt was originally going to be a Caddy.

[happyslug]

87. And Chevy is selling 10 Cruzes for every Volt.

You have to understand, for any car to be "profitable" not only the price to make the car exceeds the cost to build it, it must also pay for any overhead. High profit cars, like the Corvette, does this due to high profit margins, even if few are sold. On the other end, Cruzes are profitable due to the volume of Cruzes sold (Total profit exceeds even the profit from high profit models).

All of the Hybrids have a problem, they cost a lot to produce, more then even something like the Corvette, On the other hand, except for a small population, most people do NOT think the Hybrids are worth the higher price. This has been a problem even for the Prius. The key is how to spread the costs of the Hybrids over wider group of cars.

Honda, which actually marketed the first hybrids sold, did the spread, by converting one of their other conventional cars to Hybrids. Thus most of the cost of those Hondas were absorbed by the conventional cars (including the engine, but NOT the battery or electric drive). The problem with this solution was the conversion, while well done, was still a "patch" job, these Hondas lost luggage room and handling (The body were set for most of he weight of the car was in the front with the engine, with the conversion this shifted the weight to the rear where the batteries were).

Prius "solved" this problem by designing a whole new body. Toyota could NOT spread the cost of developing this body over any other cars in production. How did Toyota paid for this design? It seems to be direct Japanese Government Subsidy.

GM, did not want to make the mistake Honda did, nor could it get a subsidy from the government. Thus GM had to come up with a separate solution, and that was the Cruze.

The Volt and the Cruze were developed at the same time. The body was to be both GM's first true Hybrid AND the replacement for the Cobalt. Thus the cost of developing the body and frame could be spread over two cars, with most of the cost of development to be paid by sales of the Cruze.

The Cruze ended up using a 1.7 liter engine, except in its Eco Version, where the 1.4 liter engine of the Volt was used (Except the Volt's1.4 is NOT turbo-charged, while the Eco's is Turbocharged). The Eco uses the same tire and wheels of the Volt.

The Volt and Cruze, share the same body, the same power steering and powered brakes(Both electric assisted, like the Volt's power steering and brakes, unlike traditional Power Steering and Brakes which tend to be hydraulic assisted, something that is unworkable on a electric vehicle like the Volt).

Thus a lot of what was needed on the Volt was also used on the Cruze. Some exceptions, The tire and wheels on the Cruze (except the Eco) were conventional not super slick tires for maximum fuel economy. Some foreign (Australia) used hydraulic power steering in the first year of production of the Cruze.

Just a comment on the relationship between the Cruze and the Volt. They are closely related cousins, almost half siblings as opposed to traditional models of cars from the same maker. Thus my comments, and I also own a Cruze (Manual Eco, I get about 40 mpg). It has been very reliable. When I go into the city, my fuel economy goes to hell, but on the highway I get over 40 mp (and that is in the Mountains of Pennsylvania).

[rightsideout]

71. Volts are also quick. We drag raced these two stock Volts in April 2011. 16 seconds in the 1/4 mile

[billbailey19448jj]

80. I'm glad that Volt sales are increasing

And the GOP who blathered on and on about "Government Motors" are probably eating crow. Pathetic losers. Wish I could buy one (too rich for my blood, even with the tax credit).

[uppityperson]

84. Welcome to DU. Are you Bill Bailey the musician? I like your music.