I’ve been seeing a lot of commercials for the Chevy Volt, and this advertising blitz might be paying off. The Chevy Volt outsold the Nissan Leaf for the first time in October. In October GM sold 1,108 units of the Volt, which is a significant increase over the 723 units sold in September.
The Volt is still running behind GM’s sales targets, and it seems like the company was banking on all the PR buzz around the vehicle to drive sales. Perhaps a marketing push was also needed. The commercials are pretty good. They stress the gas savings of an electric car with some humorous situations at gas stations.
As more and more automakers go electric and introduce plug-in hybrids, it will be interesting to see if this segment really takes off. Right now the sales numbers are miniscule but that could change quickly.
Earlier this fall, Dan Patrick of The Dan Patrick Show took delivery of his 100% electric Nissan LEAF. Nissan wanted to capture his first thoughts as he gathered up his radio crew – The Danettes and hit the road.
Check out the crew’s reactions to the first mass produced, 100% electric, zero emissions vehicle!
The Detroit News is reporting that the Nissan Leaf is the winner of the 2011 World Car of the Year Award!
New York— The Nissan Leaf won the 2011 World Car of the Year, besting the Audi A8 and the BMW 5 Series.
“It’s a great honor,” said Brian Carolin, senior vice president of ales and marketing for Nissan North America. “The Nissan Leaf truly is a game changer.”
The award was the latest sign of the ascendancy of fuel-efficient models over high-performance models at this year’s show in New York.
General Motors Co.’s extended range Chevrolet Volt won World Green Car at the New York International Auto Show today, defeating BMW 320d and the Nissan Leaf.
The World Car Design award went to the Aston Martin Rapide, defeating the Alfa Romeo Giulietta and the Ferrari 458 Italia.
There has been a lot of fanfare surrounding the GM/Chevrolet/Chevy Volt recently and I must say the press has mostly been pretty darn good. I’ve been sitting back trying to learn as much as possible about the Volt while keeping an open mind. Then the NY Times has an opinion piece that doesn’t read to well for the new GM product. Matter of fact the piece pretty much rips the new car for the lackluster styling compared to the 2007 concept we were shown and the heavy price tag of $41,000! Must say that many valid points were made here and one has to wonder how well (profit wise and branding) this car will turn out to be for the New GM? If the price scares away customers and the competition gets stronger (ie..,Nissan Leaf) the Volt could turn into a blown circuit for The General.
From the New York Times:
GENERAL MOTORS introduced America to the Chevrolet Volt at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show as a low-slung concept car that would someday be the future of motorized transportation. It would go 40 miles on battery power alone, promised G.M., after which it would create its own electricity with a gas engine. Three and a half years — and one government-assisted bankruptcy later — G.M. is bringing a Volt to market that makes good on those two promises. The problem is, well, everything else.
For starters, G.M.’s vision turned into a car that costs $41,000 before relevant tax breaks … but after billions of dollars of government loans and grants for the Volt’s development and production. And instead of the sleek coupe of 2007, it looks suspiciously similar to a Toyota Prius. It also requires premium gasoline, seats only four people (the battery runs down the center of the car, preventing a rear bench) and has less head and leg room than the $17,000 Chevrolet Cruze, which is more or less the non-electric version of the Volt.
The beat of the electric car goes on with the 2011 Nissan Leaf gearing up for launch. According to CEO Carlos Ghosn 2010 production is already sold out! With a suggested cost of $25,000 after U.S. federal and state incentives for clean car purchases the Nissan Leaf finds itself in the sweet spot of many U.S. and overseas car buyers.
From the Detroit News:
Nissan Motor Co. has collected nearly 20,000 pre-orders for an all-electric Leaf car that it plans to start selling in the United States and Japan in December.
“The production for 2010 is already sold out,” said Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of Nissan and its French partner and shareholder Renault SA.
Nissan has gathered 13,000 pre-orders from prospective American buyers who paid a $100 refundable deposit, and 6,000 pre-orders in Japan, Ghosn said. The automaker will start taking firm orders in August.
Looks like demand is there for the new Nissan Leaf but how many can they build? With this type of excitement and demand around vehicles like the Leaf and the upcoming Chevy Volt electric cars might finally be for real in the marketplace. Both companies need to answer the call and get these machines rolling off the assembly lines early and often.
From AutoNews.com:
In three days, U.S. consumers gave $656,865 to Nissan for the chance to buy a Leaf electric sedan when it arrives in December.
Ain’t capitalism grand.
Starting on Tuesday, April 20, consumers could pony up $99 for what was called a refundable reservation fee. By Friday morning, 6,635 would-be buyers had charged the fee to their credit cards.
For their money, they got…well, nothing, really.
This is not a deposit on the car. It doesn’t count against the $32,780 sticker price.
Will the upcoming Nissan Leaf Electric car sell at a price of 38k in the U.S.? Looks pretty price from my perspective, but if this new technology can deliver as promised Nissan might hit a solid double here.
From Autoblog.com:
Interest in, and “pre-orders” for, the Nissan Leaf remains high, but a report from the Japanese newspaper the Mainichi Shimbun might put a damper on things. Apparently, the price for the all-electric car in Japan will be somewhere between 3.5 million and 4 million yen, which is about $38,667 to $44,191 U.S. at today’s exchange rates. Granted, even if these prices are accurate, they certainly don’t automatically equal the MSRP for the U.S. market, but they are higher than what we’ve been expecting – i.e., under $30,000 after the $7,500 federal tax credit. We went and looked at the prices for a couple of other cars in Japan, to see how the Leaf’s 3.5 million compares. The Toyota Prius runs between 2.0 and 3.27 million yen ($22k–36k USD). The Honda Insight? From 1.89 to 2.2 million ($21k-24.4k USD).
Word on the street is that the Nissan Leaf is the real deal and coming to showrooms near you in 2012. One-hundred miles per charge is what we hear and that is music to our ears and wallet.
From AutoGuide.com:
With no official presence at the Detroit Auto Show, Nissan couldn’t resist showcasing its new Leaf electric car. On display alongside several other electric models in an area of the show dubbed Electric Avenue, Nissan claims that the Leaf is no concept, but an actual production model. It certainly looks the part, with a production quality exterior and interior, high-tech features and plenty of functionality.
The Leaf is powered by lithium-ion battery packs and is rated at 80kW/280Nm, (107-hp and 207 ft-lbs of torque), which should make this sub-compact a sporty little car.
GM is looking for a big PR push with the Chevy Volt, and their announcement that the new Chevy Volt will get 230 miles per gallon will certainly grab some positive attention for the beleaguered company.
General Motors Co. said today the Chevrolet Volt, its extended-range electric vehicle due out in November 2010, will get an estimated city fuel economy of 230 mpg, or 25 kilowatt hours per 100 miles.
GM will unveil 25 new models between now and the end of 2011, president and CEO Fritz Henderson said during an hour-long webcast this morning.
“When the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle rolls off the assembly line late next year, it will be the first mass-production automobile to achieve triple-digit fuel economy, with an expected 230 mpg in the city, or 25 kilowatt hours per 100 miles,” GM said.
The Environmental Protection Agency declined to confirm the figure, which was based on a draft testing procedure. GM said the calculation is based on more than one vehicle electrical charge, since the average driver travels far less than 100 miles in a single day.
“EPA has not tested a Chevy Volt and therefore cannot confirm the fuel economy values claimed by GM,” said EPA spokeswoman Cathy Milbourn.
“EPA does applaud GM’s commitment to designing and building the car of the future: an American-made car that will save families money, significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create good-paying American jobs.”
In recent days, GM had launched a “viral” marketing campaign featuring a green background and a “230″ logo — with a plug in the place of the 0 — to build interest in today’s announcement. Many auto bloggers correctly guessed that the figure was connected to the Volt’s city fuel economy rating.
The viral campaign is another good idea, and it looks like we really might have a “new GM.”
That said, the important story here is we’re seeing a plug-in hybrid that will potentially be a game-changer in the auto business. For a country that imports a ton of foreign oil, it’s refreshing to see real progress on electric vehicles.
Of course, not everyone is impressed, including Nissan.
But at least one competing automaker isn’t convinced. “Nissan Leaf = 367 mpg, no tailpipe, and no gas required. Oh yeah, and it’ll be affordable too,” the folks over at Nissan’s electric vehicle Twitter feed wrote today. About an hour later, they added this statement: “To clarify our previous tweet, the DOE formula estimates 367mpg for Nissan LEAF.”
That’s even more great news. It looks like there will be serious competition here from other automakers, so perhaps consumers will have real choices, and we can make real progress towards a goal of eliminating oil imports.
