Chevy Volt sales triple in 2012

[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).