Chevrolet Dealers Not Keen On More Volt Orders
General Motors wants to ship more Volt EV cars to dealerships, but the dealers are saying no, and with good reason. Sales of the hybrid electric sedan are lower than originally anticipated. Higher pricing (Volt is, on average, $5000 more than foreign hybrids) and stories of EV batteries causing vehicle fires turn customers away from this green Chevy.
In the New York City market, GM allocated 104 Volts to 14 dealerships last month. Dealers took 31 of them, while snatching over 90% of the other vehicles they were eligible for.
Brett Hedrick, an employee at Hedrick’s Chevrolet, said he sold only 10 Volts last year. GM’s “thinking we need six more Volts is just crazy,” Hedrick adds. “We’ve never sold more than two in a month.”
GM recently announced a “voluntary repair” to protect the battery pack. NHTSA officials stated in its now closed investigation of the battery pack, saying it “poses no significant fire risk.”
Although, at the Detroit Auto Show, GM said they wouldn’t follow with their production target set for 60,000 units in 2012. GM sold 7,671 Volt EVs in 2011, short of the 10,000 goal.
Source: Auto Week
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