| Green Cars Cost too much Green |
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| by Tom McGregor | Wed, Jul 28, 2010, 10:28 AM |
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According to the Washington Times, “General Motors Corp. announced Tuesday that it will start selling its first mass-market electric car, but consumers will have to shell out a bit more for environmental appeal. The Chevrolet Volt has a price of $41,000 before government rebates, several thousand dollars more than the comparable electric-powered Nissan Leaf and about twice what a comparable gasoline-powered car costs.” Joel Ewanick, GM’s vice president of U.S. marketing, told reporters during a conference call Tuesday, that, “this is one of the most important days we’ve seen in a long time for General Motors. It’s been 1,297 days since the introduction of the Volt concept car, and every day since we’ve been asked a single question: How much is it going to cost?” As reported by the Washington Times, “GM began taking orders Tuesday on its website, www.getmyvolt.com. According to the automaker, delivery will begin in certain regions later this year, including New York, Michigan, Connecticut, Texas, New Jersey and the Washington D.C. area.” To compensate for the Leaf’s lower purchase price that will begin at $32,780 when it goes on sale in December, General Motors will attempt to attract drivers with alluring lease terms. The Volt could be leased for $350 a month for 36 months with a $2,500 down payment a deal that compares with a Nissan model. Additionally, several government rebates and tax credits will make the cost less formidable. A $7,500 federal tax credit will be available to most buyers, and GM will be guaranteeing the battery of Volt for eight years or 10,000 miles. Buyers in California may receive an additional $5,000 tax rebate through the state’s Air Resources Board. To read the entire article from the Washington Times, link here:
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Comments (18)
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written by Jason k , July 28, 2010 Why even make these cars? It's not as if there's some magical notion called economies of scale that will lower their price. I mean, the first cars ever produced were only affordable to the rich, and look how that turned out.
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written by rufuslevin , July 29, 2010 I am going to buy a 1975 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible at 10 mpg, and ride down the road in comfort and safety. To heck with this junk...it will do bupkus for reducing world polution, and until we get nuclear electricity generation, it just means more coal powered power generators...and a distribution system that does not exist. More fools Detroit.
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written by Minacars , July 29, 2010 When you buy a new car, you have to pay sales tax only on the difference between the purchase price of the car and the trade-in amount. sell cars Sydney
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written by Ken Dickson , July 29, 2010 Who want's to ride in a "go cart"! ...or have Obama tell us what to buy? More B. S. from a "Bull Shooter"!
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written by Austin , July 29, 2010 A lot of car features we take for granted now came about via government mandate. Seat belts, catalytic converters, unleaded gas, plexiglass. And now no one in their right mind would go back to what they replaced. Cars that pollute even less than the current ones - what is wrong with that?
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written by G S , July 29, 2010 You would have to be dumb as well as rich to spend $41K for an enclosed golf cart.
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written by rufuslevin , July 30, 2010 Prior to all the cat converters and electronic do nothing junk, autos could be fixed by mechanics with normal tools. Today, when something goes bad, unless it is under warranty, you are looking at $600 just to take it into the dealership for a fix. Seat belts were put into cars in the 1950s. Smart people used them. Dumb people had to wait for the insurance companies and government to pass laws to keep the dummies from getting all messed up in a wreck and costing the insurance companies a bunch of money. Government regs were for the ins companies, just pretending to be for the folks. Dumb folks need regulations. Smart folks are naturally careful without have to have a nanny state tell them when to go pee and to wipe their behinds. That came along with the kids of the 1970s that found out that women were more powerful than men because Gloria Steinham said so, and their wives dictated the where, when, how, and especially IF for everything...and the little whimpy men becames whimps...and then learned about video games to have something to do with themselves while their wives got the good jobs. Yep...1975 Cadillac Eldorado...big 500 cube engine, no cat converter, float down the road and blow the doors off of minicoopers, VWs, and golfcarts. Would a MAN actually drive a car called a Leaf???
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written by furrpiece , July 30, 2010 This is a golf cart without the panoramic view, and a place to put your clubs. It's also beyond the grasp of most families in the United States. Congratulations to Obama and his crack team of marketing geniuses.
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written by Austin , July 30, 2010 Funny how makers of "enclosed golf carts" (Renault, Peugeot, Fiat, Mercedes Benz, Subaru, VW) are making scads of money while Ford and GM and Chrysler are begging for government handouts to stay alive.
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written by furrpiece , July 30, 2010 Only an idiot with a death wish would drive a golf cart on the road.
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written by Ken Dickson , July 30, 2010 Austin, you need to move to that socialist "utopia" & leave us alone!
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written by Shadrach , July 30, 2010 Tom: Please at least put a picture of a real Chevy Volt or Nissan Leaf, and not a golf-cart derived elctric car that only does 40 mph. Austin: Every American car maker is now hiring. These were good investments for the US Taxpayer. And Ford only accepted R7D electric battery money, no bailout money. Rufuslevin: The Auto industry has fought every attempt to make cars safer. Seat belts, padded dashes, collapsable steering wheels, airbags, crunch zones,etc... The fact is that Capitalism does not always account for all costs. Sometimes Capitalism's rush to build a cheaper mousetrap means that even minor improvements are avoided. This is often because market prices are driven by the lowest common denominator. When government tells all manufacturers to install a safety feature the market has not adopted, it all raises the denominator for all companies -- Now we all have safer cars, not just people who buy Volvos. And the net cost for these safer cars - about $200 a car per person for billions of saved societal costs for less deaths and less lost productivity due to needless accident related injuries. Yes, the Volt will not sell at $41,000. Chevrolet knows it and is betting on Tax rebates to make the difference. I do not know how Nissan Leaf was able to develop an electric car that sells for 32K, but they have, and I expect it will sell well. BTW- seeing that I spend $35 a week on gas, to commute to my office, if the Volt will really do away with that cost, that is a savings of about $1,400 a year or about $7,000-14,000,000 over the normal life of a vehicle for me (Depending on how much the electricity cost equals out to). So it is still too expensive, but getting close! USing tax R&D funds to push start the electric car market is an importnat means to help capitalism move to non-petroluem cars without mandating or controlling private choices. This is the prudent manner to keep future US economies free from foreign oil price manipulation and is consistent with personal liberty and the US Free Market system.
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written by Jason k , July 30, 2010 Ken, g s , and furrpiece, The car pictured is neither a Nissan leaf or a chevy volt. Go look at pics of both and you'll realize neither is a golf cart. You can even fit four adults in a volt. And please compare safety with a 75 el dorado and any new car. Big doesn't always = safer .... Unless you put horns on it like boss hogg
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written by furrpiece , July 31, 2010 On average, bigger generally means safer, just a smaller generally means less safe.
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written by rufuslevin , July 31, 2010 Shadrach...maybe you won't buy $35 per week of GAS...but what will you pay for ELECTRICITY? TINSTAFL...there is no such thing as a free lunch. If the electric vehicles were to become highly successful in mass sales quantities (all the petro companies have to do is drop the price of gas for awhile and sink the market for them), there is not a power grid capable of providing electricity to the urban target markets that will allow overnight recharging of them at the same time. GMC build a HIGHLY successful, comfortable, beautiful totally electric auto in the 1996 timeframe..sales price was targeted at $33 thousand. It would go 184 mph..altho it was computer controlled to only 80 mph...and got 80 miles per charge. GMC spent a billion dollars to develop it...built 2500 of them and only offered them for a lease, no purchase, and limited the lease only to people making $100,000 income, and only in two cities in California. The people loved them. Then, they killed the program, took up all the cars and ground them up into scrap. The chief engineer is now over at Tesla Motors. They NEVER marketed the auto at all, and killed it in 2001. Go figure now how they are acting like they need an entirely new design. Google EV1 GMC and you can read all about it, plus there is a film called "Who Killed the Electric Car?" This is merely a Green environmental treehugging Obama socialism ploy....not a feasible product as the volt is produced and priced and configured. What do you think is going to be used RIGHT NOW to produce the required amount of ELECTRICITY to stop the auto emissions by using electics? COAL FIRED GENERATION....now where is the carbon reduction here? The public is SO blind and stupid about what is being spoon fed about carbon emissions and cleaning up the air....it is NOT going to happen from a few junk electric roller skates running around the city.
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written by furrpiece , August 01, 2010 With the exception of ORVs, there will not be a market for electric cars until: * They can go over 90 miles without a recharge * The recharge takes less than 15 minutes * The costs of electricity is half that of gasoline * Pickup and acceleration of the vehicle is identical or surpasses that of gasoline cars * Size, looks, and body designs are competitive and not a sacrifice * There are recharging stations ever 45 miles or so all over the United States
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written by rufuslevin , August 01, 2010 I AM putting the steer horns on the Eldorado Convertible..thanks for the suggestion. That will prevent the necessity for giving the driver's salute to the jerks trying to make it up the hill in front in some underpowered little cracker box. Great thought. Never pass up the chance to flaunt superior ownership to the less fortunate or the brain dead zombies. Write comment
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Do you care about the environment and dream of driving a car without leaving a carbon footprint? Well, you need to cough-up some serious cash to make that happen.
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