July Plugin Sales : Leaf 395, Volt 1849, PIP 688, FFE 38

[smkettner]

Very few consumer cars are made to order. The marketing and sales people are focused on moving product that is sitting on the lot. I think GM is focused on getting the transition made to selling off the lot and phase out the ordering system as much as possible.

Nissan would seem to be a year behind GM on this transition. Not necessarily better or worse either way.

 

[TomT]

I clearly am an exception to the rule as every vehicle I have ever purchased has been special ordered to get exactly what I wanted... I'm not adverse to waiting...

Very few consumer cars are made to order. The marketing and sales people are focused on moving product that is sitting on the lot. I think GM is focused on getting the transition made to selling off the lot and phase out the ordering system as much as possible.

 

[dgpcolorado]

FWIW, from yesterday's Nightly Business Report on PBS:

Another big American company, General Motors, is putting the brakes on plans to add a second shift at the factory making its Chevy Volt electric cars. GM will make one shift more efficient so it can produce the same number of cars as two shifts. Fewer than 4000 Volts have been sold, far less than GM sales 2011 target of 10,000. Its main competition is the Nissan LEAF, which is currently outselling the Volt with more than 6000 sold between December and August.

http://video.pbs.org/video/2149760210" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The brief Volt segment begins at 17:00

 

[evnow]

Today, it goes without saying that a manufacturer would rather sell a car than demo it. If they have to demo cars then the hope is it will attract buyers/sell more cars later.

GM seems to actually believe Volt is a halo car i.e. they want to put a Volt in every showroom with the hope of pulling in people into the showroom to take a look at Volt - but given its price - settling for a Cruze. This is the theory - I've my doubts about the reality. Neverthless, this explains GM's eagerness to send demos rather than sell cars.

Ofcourse the other thing not to forget is that GM is a huge bureaucratic company. What they do can't always be explained in rational terms.

Does anyone know of someone still waiting to get a Pre-Ordered 2012 Volt? Just deciding recently to get a 2012 Volt, and getting one is also helpful. It would show that 2012 supply has managed to get ahead of 2012 demand.

There are a lot of people waiting for Volt - as you can see in gm-volt.com. Infact they get much better online tracking that we do - and people frequently post their car's status.

For eg. ordered on 6/6 and delivered 9/24. Not dissimilar to Leaf delivery times.

http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?9233-Long-Time-Coming-but-My-Red-Volt-went-home-Yesterday" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;!

2012 Crystal Red Metalic, Premium Black Leather, Backup Camera, Nav with Bose system
Deposit 4/18/2011, Ordered 6/6/2011 (1102), 7/4/2011 (2000), 7/5/2011 (2500), 7/6/2011 (3000), 7/29/2011 (3100), 7/29/2011 (3300), 7/30/2011 (3400), 8/22/2011 (3800), 8/22/2011 (4000), 8/22/2011 (4150), 8/22/2011 (4B00), 8/25/2011 (4B00), 8/26/2011 (4200), 8/26/2011 (4300), 9/19/2011 (4800), 9/22/2011 - (5000). 9/24/2011 (6000)Delivered! MY 2012 #C-2215

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Hmmm a lot of people waiting for a volt. Alot of volt s built but not sold. Wonder how many Leaf owners wanted a Volt but g out a Leaf instead.

Ihadbig questionson Chevysinital launch states and its prettyobvios that they used non existentbrand loyalty launching in areas where cars used to be built insteadof afeas where the car might actually sell

 

[adric22]

FWIW, from yesterday's Nightly Business Report on PBS:

Another big American company, General Motors, is putting the brakes on plans to add a second shift at the factory making its Chevy Volt electric cars. GM will make one shift more efficient so it can produce the same number of cars as two shifts. Fewer than 4000 Volts have been sold, far less than GM sales 2011 target of 10,000.

My question is, why are the sales short of expectations? Is production running behind schedule? Are dealers trying to charge too much for the cars? Is the price of gasoline going down affecting sales? Or is there just less interest than they believed?

 

[Herm]

Note the Volts battery assembly factory will go into 3rd shift soon, running 2 shifts now..

 

[navidad]

Wonder what the JP number for Aug is ...

The JP AUG-11 number was 529 units reported by following post from the JADA documents.
http://logsoku.com/thread/yuzuru.2ch.net/auto/1314545920/#356" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yoshi@Japan

The first table of this topic is wrong....

 

[TRONZ]

What are the correct Japan numbers?

 

[navidad]

529 is righy.
But it is written 463 in the first post.

 

[Herm]

GM seems to actually believe Volt is a halo car i.e. they want to put a Volt in every showroom with the hope of pulling in people into the showroom to take a look at Volt - but given its price - settling for a Cruze. This is the theory - I've my doubts about the reality.

They do want people to visit a dealership and look, then those people at work mention to their co-workers that GM seems to be offering a lot of nice cars this year, and other people go look and so on. Mighty oaks from little acorns grow. Its a halo car for geeks like us

 

[navidad]

http://logsoku.com/thread/yuzuru.2ch.net/auto/1317208860/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Leaf Japan September : 807

 

[TRONZ]

So that means Japan has a few more LEAFs sold than the USA. 7,275 to 7,218 for a 3rd quarter total of about 14,493 (who knows UK numbers). I say Nissan stands a fair chance of getting to their 20,000 by the end of the year.

 

[Yoshi]

The JP SEP-11 number was 807 units reported by following post from the JADA documents.
http://logsoku.com/thread/yuzuru.2ch.net/auto/1317208860/#537" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Please correct the AUG-11 number on the post#1.

Yoshi@Japan

Wonder what the JP number for Aug is ...

The JP AUG-11 number was 529 units reported by following post from the JADA documents.
http://logsoku.com/thread/yuzuru.2ch.net/auto/1314545920/#356" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yoshi@Japan

 

[tps]

I say Nissan stands a fair chance of getting to their 20,000 by the end of the year.

20,000 worldwide is much scaled down from their original predictions. Not sure why hitting what I consider to be a fairly wimpy target is important... Maybe this just means that the tsunami really hurt Nissan a lot. However, my vote is mostly for the scenario where they intentionally limit their Oppama LEAF production because of the unfavorable exchange rate until Smyrna comes on-line with US LEAF production. I can't say that I blame them, but I still don't like it because I don't have my LEAF and will not have it until late next spring at the earliest (unless I make a trip to Maryland in a month or two when orphans start to appear there).

 

[TRONZ]

I say Nissan stands a fair chance of getting to their 20,000 by the end of the year.

20,000 worldwide is much scaled down from their original predictions.

??? And what were those original production numbers?

 

[evnow]

??? And what were those original production numbers?

50K per year.

After all that happened - earthquake, tsunami, nuclear melt down, lots of power problems - I'm glad they will be hitting even 20K, though.

 

[tps]

??? And what were those original production numbers?

50K per year.

After all that happened - earthquake, tsunami, nuclear melt down, lots of power problems - I'm glad they will be hitting even 20K, though.

Easy for you to say. You've had you LEAF for a while now...

 

[scottf200]

Note the Volts battery assembly factory will go into 3rd shift soon, running 2 shifts now..

It may end up being a more efficient (assembler<->supplier) operation in 2012 as well. Holland Michigan is where new 2012 LG Chem battery plant is located. The 650,000 square foot LG Chem plant is expected to produce 300 USA jobs. Aside: It should be noted that out of 161 battery components, 95 percent of which are designed and engineered by GM.

I did not recall that LG Chem is building battery components for Ford as well:
http://www.hollandsentinel.com/news/x909207385/LG-Chem-building-new-plant-in-Holland-lands-Ford-contract" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[evnow]

Easy for you to say. You've had you LEAF for a while now...

I know - you guys have been waiting for - far too long. Looks like Focus EV is getting delayed too.