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While the Chevrolet Volt has been a distinct symbol of green energy within the auto industry, some continue to argue against the auto maker and its push for cleaner auto emissions. Despite these criticisms, the Volt has continued to rise and become a top seller throughout the year of 2012.
According to a report by HybridCars.com, the Volt sold extremely well compared to many different vehicles including hybrids and those running on natural gas. With 2,831 of the Volt’s units being sold in the month of August, it was only outsold by four other hybrids within the U.S. including the Camry Hybrid and Toyota Prii.
August 2012 Plug-In Electric Car Sales
Against all other plug-in electric cars sold within the U.S., the Chevy Volt came out on top. Just under the Chevy Volt was the Prius PHV with 1,047 units sold and the Nissan Leaf with 685. Each other vehicle on the list of 11 had 40 units or less sold throughout the month of August.
How are other Auto Makers Doing in Plug-In Sales?
Despite the Volt having top sales numbers for the month of August, the biggest dominator in auto sales was Toyota and the sale of its Prius Liftback. Selling around 13,300 total units of the Prius Liftback, Toyota holds the top four spots of hybrid vehicle sales throughout August.
Why would this be selling more than the Chevy Volt? After all, the Volt gets a much better battery range. Despite this benefit, the fact is that the Prius comes in many different models and is a lot cheaper. The Prius Liftback starts at $23,000. This is significantly cheaper than the Volt, even with the applied $7,500 subsidy.
Chevy Halts Production of the Volt
August has been the best record so far in terms of sales for the Chevy Volt and GM says that this is a 35 percent jump compared to sales throughout July. Despite these strong sales numbers, GM has plans to close the Detroit-Hamtramck plant that manufactures the Volt between September 17th and October 15th.
According to an article by the Detroit Free Press, GM has chosen to shut down the plant during this time in order to update the equipment to prepare for the manufacturing of the 2014 Chevy Impala.
The interesting thing to note is that this isn’t the first time this year that GM has opted to close down the plant for a few weeks. During March, GM decided to stop Volt production for 4 weeks and then chose to lay off 1,300 workers because of low sales numbers.
Despite the increase in Volt sales, GM announcing that they have to shut down the plant shows that they still have some things to fix. According to earlier reports, GM originally had projections of selling 45,000 Volts by the end of the year. How many have they sold so far? That number is around 13,500 so far.
Future Chevy Volt Projections for 2013
Let’s face it. When most people are shopping around for a car and check out the 2013 Chevy Volt, the $40,000 price tag isn’t exactly appealing for most. Even with an additional $7500 off from the government, the price still may feel too steep. Because of this, future projections report that new customers may be able to score the Chevy Volt for a much more affordable price of $159 a month.
According to a report by Forbes, some Chevy dealers may be offering 2012 and 2013 models of the Chevy Volt for $159 down with no money down. As it currently stands for a 3 year lease, Chevy asks for $1529 down and $299 per month.
It’s important to keep in mind that this deal is only available through a limited amount of dealers. These dealers have typically hit top sales numbers and have, therefore, received extra cash incentives from Chevy.
As Motor Trend reports, the production of the Chevy Volt at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant isn’t just to prepare for the 2014 Chevy Impala, but also to help lower inventory levels in order to increase demand for the Volt. As it stands now, reports have stated that GM has a Volt supply of around 84 days – thanks to consumers being able to gain access to car financing from sites like Car Loan 4 U easily, alternative energy car sales should continue to rise throughout the rest of the year.
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I drove a friends Volt a couple weeks ago and was very surprised by it’s quality and driving dynamics.
Hopefully Chevy will be able to use what they learned from the Volt to create a cheaper version that will be provide enough profit to be viable.
It was a valiant effort and an incremental move forward toward the automotive future.