Then it went to the Model S, at $65,000 and up, approaching double that price for the highest-end models. Tesla, on the other hand, started with a limited-production Roadster priced over $100,000. From automatic transmissions and disc brakes to fuel injection and turbochargers, the cost and complexity of new components can better be offset by the higher prices of top-end models.Ĭhevy is at the bottom of the GM hierarchy, but the Volt’s mission to counter the Prius meant it had to be associated with the mass-market brand that competes with Toyota-even at a starting price of roughly $40,000 (later reduced).
Traditionally, new technologies enter the auto industry at the top of the product line, in the most expensive vehicles. The traditional way may be the right way. None will have the Volt’s plug-in hybrid powertrain, however.Ĥ. With fully electric crossovers in the market or promised over the next two years from Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Tesla, and others, we may get a market test of that proposition. In hindsight, perhaps it should have been.Īs longtime electric-car advocate Chelsea Sexton notes, the Volt’s withdrawal “exacerbates the degree to which lack of model variety remains the biggest issue facing EVs today.” The Volt was never going to be a crossover under any stretch of the imagination. The Volt, however, was the opposite of the upright Bolt EV hatchback, which GM has laughably attempted to market as a “crossover.” The plug-in hybrid was low and sleek, and its bulky T-shaped battery compromised interior room. What is clear, though, is that over the Volt’s nine years, consumer preferences turned decisively away from the passenger-car segment (sedans and hatchbacks) and toward crossover utilities of every size and shape-including a few that are only front-wheel-drive hatchbacks in disguise. Would the Volt have done better if the second-generation 2016 version had been a small crossover utility vehicle? We’ll never know.ĭespite rumors that the second-generation Volt would be replaced by a crossover, it’s entirely unclear if the Voltec powertrain (nee E-Flex) will live on anywhere in the GM lineup. In 2011, that chorus was much louder-and GM wanted recognition for its EV expertise, and perhaps absolution for what were perceived to be its sins. Lindland, founder of, also notes, “Toyota buyers are very different than Chevy buyers.”įinally, for electric-car fans, GM was the company that destroyed the EV1 fleet, as chronicled in “Who Killed the Electric Car?” Even today, this site occasionally hears from people who claim they will never buy a GM car because of that action (despite the subsequent Bolt EV and Volt).
While Prius owners did that too, Toyota soon expanded its hybrid technology across its model lineup, washing the whole brand with the Prius halo for those who wanted it. That was GM’s first and very, very critical error.” Innovators and early adopters are financially secure and risk-oriented: They want luxury, and will put up with inconveniences to be seen in the first of something. “It’s critical to understand the technology adoption curve, and the people who live there. The problem, suggests auto analyst Rebecca Lindland, was that “Chevrolet is not an aspirational brand for innovators and early adopters.” Often you’d hear owners saying they drove a “Volt,” entirely ignoring the Chevrolet part. The first Bolt EV was delivered in December 2016.Īll of a sudden, the Volt plug-in hybrid had sibling rivalry: a car priced about the same, but a “pure” electric vehicle with usable range.Ĭhevrolet Bolt EV electric car and Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid The answer was almost surely yes, because in January 2015, the Chevy Bolt concept was announced, with 200 miles of range and a price of just $37,500. GM convened a task force to ascertain whether Tesla posed a competitive threat.
#2013 chevy volt release plus#
When the first Volt was sold in December 2010, Tesla was struggling to recover from production delays for its Roadster, including a two-speed gearbox that had to be replaced entirely, plus the general effects of the economic recession.īy 2013, however, it was clear that the Tesla Model S-however slowly it entered production-was an entirely different kettle of fish. The Chevrolet Volt concept was revealed at the Detroit auto show in January 2007, only a few months after a crazy California startup called Tesla announced it would build battery-electric cars with 200 miles of range or more.
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