Little-Acorn
Well-Known Member
To no one's surprise except GM's, it turned out that a $40,000 car with four seats and no interior heater was NOT what millions of Americans had in mind for their next car. Neither was a $35,000 car that couldn't make it from Denver to Colorado Springs in winter without stopping at a kindly Good Samaritan's house for half a day to recharge, as Nissan has now painfully found out after sinking $millions into design, construction, and marketing.
(Government rebates that allow you to take $7,500 from your neighbor's pocket to pay for a car he doesn't get to drive, didn't help either. Perhaps because dealers are marking the cars' prices up by nearly that amount?)
Various "green" advocates have been strident in their insistence that these cars would be a Wonderful Thing. Perhps Nissan and GM (Govt Motors) should send the bill to them, for all the ones that haven't sold?
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http://green.autoblog.com/2011/03/01/gm-sells-281-chevy-volts-february-nissan-67-leafs/
GM sells just 281 Chevy Volts in February, Nissan only moves 67 Leafs
by Sebastian Blanco
Mar 1st 2011 at 7:47PM
Peruse Chevrolet's February sales release, and you'll notice one number that's blatantly missing: the number of Chevy Volts sold. The number – a very modest 281 – is available in the company's detailed data (PDF), but it certainly isn't something that GM wants to highlight, apparently. Keeping the number quiet is a bit understandable, since it's lower than the 321 that Chevy sold in January.
Nissan doesn't have anything to brag about here, either (and it didn't avoiding any mention of the Leaf sales in its press release). Why? Well, back in January, the company sold 87 Leafs. In February? Just 67. Where does that leave us? Well, here's the big scorecard for all sales of these vehicles thus far:
Volt: 928
Leaf: 173
Ouch. The big questions, of course, revolve around one word: "Why?" Is ramping up production and deliveries still a problem? Is demand weak? Are unscrupulous dealers to blame? When will sales start to climb? And what are these numbers doing to plug-in vehicle work at other automakers?
(Government rebates that allow you to take $7,500 from your neighbor's pocket to pay for a car he doesn't get to drive, didn't help either. Perhaps because dealers are marking the cars' prices up by nearly that amount?)
Various "green" advocates have been strident in their insistence that these cars would be a Wonderful Thing. Perhps Nissan and GM (Govt Motors) should send the bill to them, for all the ones that haven't sold?
-------------------------------------
http://green.autoblog.com/2011/03/01/gm-sells-281-chevy-volts-february-nissan-67-leafs/
GM sells just 281 Chevy Volts in February, Nissan only moves 67 Leafs
by Sebastian Blanco
Mar 1st 2011 at 7:47PM
Peruse Chevrolet's February sales release, and you'll notice one number that's blatantly missing: the number of Chevy Volts sold. The number – a very modest 281 – is available in the company's detailed data (PDF), but it certainly isn't something that GM wants to highlight, apparently. Keeping the number quiet is a bit understandable, since it's lower than the 321 that Chevy sold in January.
Nissan doesn't have anything to brag about here, either (and it didn't avoiding any mention of the Leaf sales in its press release). Why? Well, back in January, the company sold 87 Leafs. In February? Just 67. Where does that leave us? Well, here's the big scorecard for all sales of these vehicles thus far:
Volt: 928
Leaf: 173
Ouch. The big questions, of course, revolve around one word: "Why?" Is ramping up production and deliveries still a problem? Is demand weak? Are unscrupulous dealers to blame? When will sales start to climb? And what are these numbers doing to plug-in vehicle work at other automakers?
