poita
14th January 2012, 07:25 PM
News of the Volt has come up, will be around $66k on road!!
I hate to agree with one of the comments, but it's soooo true!
http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/aussie-volt-delivers-sticker-shock-20120113-1pxy8.html
Holden fuel miser's price tag is likely to make sparks fly.
The Holden Volt plug-in hybrid electric car may be as cheap as a cup of coffee to run but it will cost more than $60,000 to buy - three times the price of the small sedan on which it is based.
Holden is yet to announce the price publicly but has told its dealer network the vehicle will have a recommended retail price of $59,990 before on-road and dealer costs, which will likely to equate to a total of $66,000 drive-away when it goes on sale late this year.
The Volt is about the same size as a Holden Cruze sedan, the starting price of which is currently advertised at $21,990 drive-away.
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The Volt can drive up to 64 kilometres on battery power alone before the petrol motor takes over for a total driving range in excess of 400 kilometres.
As most drivers commute less than 64 kilometres a day, Holden estimates the Volt will take less than four hours to recharge from empty, using about $2.50 worth of electricity.
Holden has also told dealers only 100 of the US-made cars will be imported this year and no more than 500 will be available in 2013. It says it will only import as many Volts as ordered by customers: ''If demand is 300, we will only bring in 300,'' one dealer says. ''If demand is higher than 500, we will bring in no more than 500.''
By comparison, Toyota Australia last year sold 5400 Camry and 800 Prius hybrids.
A US study has shown more than two-thirds of Volts in North America run purely on electricity.
General Motors had to develop technology that automatically runs the petrol engine for a few minutes each month to keep it maintained.
Furthermore, if a Volt customer does not consume a tank of fuel after 12 months, the on-board computer will run the petrol motor until the tank is empty to get rid of the stale fuel.
US talk-show host and car fanatic Jay Leno reportedly still has the original tank of petrol his Volt came with - despite having travelled more than 16,000 kilometres.
The consumer data was taken from more than 8 million kilometres of customer driving in North America over the first six months of last year.
The Volt is unlike the Toyota Prius, which can travel a maximum of about two kilometres without petrol in ideal conditions and which, to date, cannot be topped up via a power point.
General Motors is in the middle of a recall campaign for the Volt in North America to strengthen the area around the T-shaped, lithium-ion battery pack (mounted in the ''spine'' of the car).
Last June a Volt caught fire in a holding yard three weeks after a severe side-impact crash test by US safety authorities.
In November, the same authorities replicated the test on three Volt battery packs in a laboratory. Two of the three devices caught fire - one after a few hours and the other six days later.
GM has since called back about 8000 Volts for rectification work; a handful of customers have asked for and received their money back.
The US safety authorities and GM said the Volt was safe and no fires had occurred after crashes on public roads. The Volt will be updated before it arrives in Australian showrooms badged as a Holden instead of a Chevrolet.
GM said the Volt's battery should have been drained after the crash but it never told the safety authorities to do that. GM had no formal procedure to drain the batteries until after the June fire.
GM said the liquid solution used to cool the Volt's battery leaked and crystalised, causing an electrical short that set off the fire.
The company now sends out a team to drain the batteries after being notified of a crash by GM's satellite safety system.
Mitsubishi, which introduced a full-electric car last year, and Nissan, which will introduce a full-electric car this year, said they were satisfied with their post-crash battery-safety procedures even though their cars also used lithium-ion packs.
As is the industry norm, car makers introducing vehicles with new technology brief Australian emergency crews about dealing with the wreckage after a crash.
I hate to agree with one of the comments, but it's soooo true!
http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/aussie-volt-delivers-sticker-shock-20120113-1pxy8.html
Holden fuel miser's price tag is likely to make sparks fly.
The Holden Volt plug-in hybrid electric car may be as cheap as a cup of coffee to run but it will cost more than $60,000 to buy - three times the price of the small sedan on which it is based.
Holden is yet to announce the price publicly but has told its dealer network the vehicle will have a recommended retail price of $59,990 before on-road and dealer costs, which will likely to equate to a total of $66,000 drive-away when it goes on sale late this year.
The Volt is about the same size as a Holden Cruze sedan, the starting price of which is currently advertised at $21,990 drive-away.
Advertisement: Story continues below
The Volt can drive up to 64 kilometres on battery power alone before the petrol motor takes over for a total driving range in excess of 400 kilometres.
As most drivers commute less than 64 kilometres a day, Holden estimates the Volt will take less than four hours to recharge from empty, using about $2.50 worth of electricity.
Holden has also told dealers only 100 of the US-made cars will be imported this year and no more than 500 will be available in 2013. It says it will only import as many Volts as ordered by customers: ''If demand is 300, we will only bring in 300,'' one dealer says. ''If demand is higher than 500, we will bring in no more than 500.''
By comparison, Toyota Australia last year sold 5400 Camry and 800 Prius hybrids.
A US study has shown more than two-thirds of Volts in North America run purely on electricity.
General Motors had to develop technology that automatically runs the petrol engine for a few minutes each month to keep it maintained.
Furthermore, if a Volt customer does not consume a tank of fuel after 12 months, the on-board computer will run the petrol motor until the tank is empty to get rid of the stale fuel.
US talk-show host and car fanatic Jay Leno reportedly still has the original tank of petrol his Volt came with - despite having travelled more than 16,000 kilometres.
The consumer data was taken from more than 8 million kilometres of customer driving in North America over the first six months of last year.
The Volt is unlike the Toyota Prius, which can travel a maximum of about two kilometres without petrol in ideal conditions and which, to date, cannot be topped up via a power point.
General Motors is in the middle of a recall campaign for the Volt in North America to strengthen the area around the T-shaped, lithium-ion battery pack (mounted in the ''spine'' of the car).
Last June a Volt caught fire in a holding yard three weeks after a severe side-impact crash test by US safety authorities.
In November, the same authorities replicated the test on three Volt battery packs in a laboratory. Two of the three devices caught fire - one after a few hours and the other six days later.
GM has since called back about 8000 Volts for rectification work; a handful of customers have asked for and received their money back.
The US safety authorities and GM said the Volt was safe and no fires had occurred after crashes on public roads. The Volt will be updated before it arrives in Australian showrooms badged as a Holden instead of a Chevrolet.
GM said the Volt's battery should have been drained after the crash but it never told the safety authorities to do that. GM had no formal procedure to drain the batteries until after the June fire.
GM said the liquid solution used to cool the Volt's battery leaked and crystalised, causing an electrical short that set off the fire.
The company now sends out a team to drain the batteries after being notified of a crash by GM's satellite safety system.
Mitsubishi, which introduced a full-electric car last year, and Nissan, which will introduce a full-electric car this year, said they were satisfied with their post-crash battery-safety procedures even though their cars also used lithium-ion packs.
As is the industry norm, car makers introducing vehicles with new technology brief Australian emergency crews about dealing with the wreckage after a crash.