The most recent estimates indicate that GM plans to make 200-400 Chevy Volts in 2010 and then about around 10,000 in 2011. These numbers are down significantly from predictions a few years ago of 60,000 Volts in the first year. CNET, though, thinks that the actual number of plug-in hybrids, like the Volt, that will use LG Chem's lithium-ion packs that GM can make a year is actually 70,000. CNET is also willing to put a price on the Voltec system's pack: $8,000.
Hey, that’s great but who’s going to buy this car? We’re reasonably confident it won’t be the people who cashed-in on the Cash for Clunkers program this past month.
And this represents why the Cash for Clunkers program, though in existence for just a matter of weeks, will have aftereffects that will be felt for years. By effectively shifting the demand curve to the left, C4C displaced a whole group of buyers for these allegedly green cars.
The instant gratification promised and delivered by C4C has distorted and damaged the marketplace for the Volt. Your tax dollars that propped up a stimulus program that destroyed hundreds of thousands of perfectly serviceable cars will now be used to manufacture and market a car for which there will be a drastically reduced market demand.
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2 comments:
40 grand for this car... and that's not the final price because we don't know. GM will take one in the shorts like they did with the EV1.
I had almost forgot about the EV1. What the heck happened to that? If I remember correctly, it didn't get down the street before it needed a re-charge and at that, it took like what, 10-12 hrs. to recharge?
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