After Reuters’ claim that GM was losing $49,000 per vehicle on the Chevy Volt, former GM CEO (and Volt developer) Bob Lutz came to its spirited defense at Forbes.com with an article titled “The Real Story on GM’s Volt Costs”. One of the things he didn’t specifically address was sales.
Not to put too fine a point on it, for the umpteenth time concerning the Volt, GM is playing fast and lose with the facts.
GM is giving away rent-a-Volts. While the claim of 2800+ sales in August is certainly enough to still the Volt’s critics, at least until Election Day (which is all that really matters to the current management), that number is an automotive Potemkin Village, concealing enough rot to make any czar, car or otherwise, proud.
With additional subsidies from GM (that would be you and me), Chevrolet dealers in August were offering two-year Volt leases for as little as $250 down and $199/month. Fully 2/3s of the “sales” were leases, leaving around 925 cars that were truly sold. Prior to the giveaway leases, GM says that 40% of 2012 sales were also leases. The number remains the same—an average of about 925 cars really sold each month for this year.
Automotive News recently reported that the feds have purchased 182 Volts so far in 2012. Now we’re down to 900 real sales per month.. Corporate (fleet) sales are conservatively estimated at 5% of the total, putting the consumer number closer to 850.
Don’t forget that the Department of Defense has committed to buying 1,500 of these wallet-hogs. These aren’t combat vehicles and will no doubt largely wind up in some Colonel’s driveway.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
