[bro1999]

http://insideevs.com/chevrolet-bolt...but-volt-steals-the-show-selling-record-3691/

The Volt was pretty much drowned out by all the Bolt news, but the Volt still set a new record for best monthly sale count ever!
2016 ends up being the best ever Volt sales year too, with 24,739.

 

[Jim Fallston Md.]

That's great Volt numbers. I hope that is the new norm or more.

 

[ghostgs1]

Great numbers! Looks like electric vehicles will only continue to grow in the market.

 

[dutch husky]

That is a great month, and a good year, for the Volt. It will surely drop in January though because of the tax credit effect.

I am optimistic though that the attention the Bolt is getting will actually help the Volt, rather than hurt it, since now EV buyers have two reasons to check out their local Chevy dealer. No doubt, the two cars will be cross shopped, but in the end sales for both will be higher than if they had to stand on their own in the Chevy showroom.

 

[stuart22]

Great news. Contrary to the momentum of thought over at IEVs, I always felt the Volt would continue to shine despite the presence of the Prius Prime. Its superiority in range and performance just cannot be denied. All the Prime did was to confirm all that. And the greatness of the Gen 1 Volt did a lot to open people's minds up to the fact that American brands are as good as the revered Japanese and German brands.

 

[Ziv]

Great news about the Volt sales number and a pretty darned good number for the Bolt! As Bolt inventory rises, I would bet that January will be a good Bolt month, despite the historic slowdown January has seen in the past for other electric cars. And I can't wait to see Tesla numbers, they should be pretty good as well. Throw in the recent bullish press release from formerly laggard Ford and this week is one of the better ones for electric cars in some time.

 

[bro1999]

Explains why my sales rep was mostly incognito the last few days of the sales month....was probably selling tons of Volts, since his dealership is one of the highest volume Volt dealers in SoCal!

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

That is a great month, and a good year, for the Volt. It will surely drop in January though because of the tax credit effect.

I am optimistic though that the attention the Bolt is getting will actually help the Volt, rather than hurt it, since now EV buyers have two reasons to check out their local Chevy dealer. No doubt, the two cars will be cross shopped, but in the end sales for both will be higher than if they had to stand on their own in the Chevy showroom.

There's also the Prius Prime. If the Prime piques a Prius buyer's interest and they do any plug-in research they should come across the Volt, so unless the buyer's an ardent Toyota fanboi the tax credits and incentives are bound to make a lot of people switch to the Volt.

On top of that, Prius sales were 100k in 2006, and then jumped to 180k in 2007 before falling to 160k in 2008 and then settling down to the 130k-140k range before the recent fall-off. So we'll now be getting to the peak of CARB battery warranty expiration and that could mean lots of Prius owners looking at their next car.

 

[bro1999]

There's also the Prius Prime. If the Prime piques a Prius buyer's interest and they do any plug-in research they should come across the Volt, so unless the buyer's an ardent Toyota fanboi the tax credits and incentives are bound to make a lot of people switch to the Volt.

On top of that, Prius sales were 100k in 2006, and then jumped to 180k in 2007 before falling to 160k in 2008 and then settling down to the 130k-140k range before the recent fall-off. So we'll now be getting to the peak of CARB battery warranty expiration and that could mean lots of Prius owners looking at their next car.

The fact that the Bolt AND Prius Prime were available, yet the Volt was still able to set a new monthly sales record (and by a good margin) is pretty impressive.

 

[mpmoore1979]

We sold out of our Volt's in December, only 8 but twice the normal sales!

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

The fact that the Bolt AND Prius Prime were available, yet the Volt was still able to set a new monthly sales record (and by a good margin) is pretty impressive.

Well, the Bolt was "available".

 

[Taser54]

It'd be nice if we could see a CA breakout of the numbers. Reportedly, CA had some crazy deals in December. The breakout would give us some idea if the jump in sales is a CA centric event or more of a nationwide event.

 

[bro1999]

It'd be nice if we could see a CA breakout of the numbers. Reportedly, CA had some crazy deals in December. The breakout would give us some idea if the jump in sales is a CA centric event or more of a nationwide event.

Whelp, we have that one probable AZ dealer just post that they sold out of their Volts and doubled their normal sales numbers. CA was probably responsible for a good chunk, but I bet Volt sales across the board were up.

 

[viking79]

Bolt EV only had a few selling days this month, that is an impressive showing. Great to see strong Volt sales too.

Prius Prime sold half of the Volt, and mostly at expense of regular Prius. I imagine it is slightly supply constrained still, but few people actually want a Prius. Toyota designed a car for high gas prices, not that users actually want (besides some practical "green" people, not enough for mass sales). They need to develop some more interesting vehicles. I am pretty sure moderate gas prices are here to stay for at least a decade, especially as competition from EVs and fuel efficient vehicles increases.

 

[baragona]

Over 4200 plugins sold in one month!

Now that's making some headway....

 

[VoltenRock]

This explains why I've had a hard time getting a good deal. A few years ago, I got 14K off MSRP of a 2013 (granted a rare deal), but I've noticed very few of the highly-desirable Volt models (especially the jet black/brandy interior) sitting around for months and months (which gets dealers itching to move iron off the lot). Heck, GM offered 20% off most ICE models in December, but Volt was only getting a $1,500 "bonus tag"--now I know why!

I'm glad to see this and I believe the sales numbers speak for themselves--despite my fondness for the "quirkiness" of the Gen 1 in looks, a more mainstream car is what seems to sell.

 

[baragona]

That is a great month, and a good year, for the Volt. It will surely drop in January though because of the tax credit effect.

I am optimistic though that the attention the Bolt is getting will actually help the Volt, rather than hurt it, since now EV buyers have two reasons to check out their local Chevy dealer. No doubt, the two cars will be cross shopped, but in the end sales for both will be higher than if they had to stand on their own in the Chevy showroom.

I would agree. Folks may come in looking at the Bolt and drive home in a Volt.

The Volt now becomes what it always was.... An EV not bound by the limitations of slow charging and lack of available public charging. This still has great appeal.

 

[hellsop]

Great news. Contrary to the momentum of thought over at IEVs, I always felt the Volt would continue to shine despite the presence of the Prius Prime. Its superiority in range and performance just cannot be denied. All the Prime did was to confirm all that. And the greatness of the Gen 1 Volt did a lot to open people's minds up to the fact that American brands are as good as the revered Japanese and German brands.

Yup, there's very little reason for the Prime to cut into Volt sales -- if you like the concept of the drivetrain but not necessarily a Prius fan, the Volt does it harder, better, stronger, faster, and becomes the natural choice. If you're a Prius fan, then you're not going to buy a Volt regardless of sensible it might be, but you MAY buy a Prime. (And might eventually become harder, better, stronger, faster (Hour After Our Work Is Never Over) and end up considering a Volt later.)

 

[Sheldon]

I did my part to support GM's great engineering by trading in my MY2014 for a 2017 Premier, with all those safety options. Its a great car, and I have fallen in love with it the last couple of weeks.

 

[jehrler]

We totally agree up here in MN.

Part of what made it possible was that there was, finally, enough inventory so we could take one off a lot rather than order one. It allowed us to make use of a lease pull forward, a 1,000 private offer and the Costco $700 gift card offers.

Without having the inventory here in the Twin Cities, we would have put off ordering/buying until April. So we were just a pull ahead but are also an indication that there is *some* inventory of Premiers with ACC outside of CA. They have been pretty rare around here previously.

Edited to add: We love this new version so much that we expect to order another (for me...yay) when our son takes our Ford Fiesta to college.