General Motors saw a profitable 2011 despite decreased Chevrolet Volt Sales – Part 1
Friday, January 6th, 2012 5:24:22 by Usman Khalid
General Motors released the financial statement of 2011 operations earlier this week. According to the report, the company has seen profits for the first time after bankruptcy in 2009. The US government extended a helping hand in bringing one of the biggest
companies to shore and now has a 27 percent share in GM.
The overall sales of the company to promising numbers but the Chevrolet Volt saw a loss in sales figures. The company had set a sales target of 10,000 of its flagship electric vehicle in 2011 but it could only sell 7,671 units, which is a massive backdrop.
However, other vehicles like subcompacts and hatchbacks like Sonic and Cruze saw increased demand in the market.
Although the electric car was down the whole year, its sales in December soared up exponentially. GM sold almost 1,500 Volts in the last month of the year. December is considered the heaven month of the year mostly because, that is the Christmas shopping
season and every other thing is on discounts and being the last month of year, financial instruments start flexing their muscle and offer interests on the savings.
The decreased sales figures in the electric cars can mostly be credited to the high prices of these vehicles. A normal sedan can be purchased within a budget of 20 to 25 thousand dollars whereas, electric cars start at a whopping $35,000. The Nissan Leaf
is available for $35,000 and Ford’s Focus Electric is All Yours for a $40,000 and it is a hatchback.
Although the government provides a $7,500 tax rebate on the purchase of any electric car, it still remains on the high end of price graph. On the other hand, gasoline engines are gaining more and more efficiency and the hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius
are becoming a sweetheart of environment cautious public, mainly because of fuel efficiency and the initial expenditure on purchase.
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=8363
Posted by Usman Khalid
on Jan 6 2012. Filed under Automobiles.
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Decrease Volt sales? Decrease from what? The Volt is new and one can not compare to a years sales. The media will do anything for attention, even in Pakistan, but guess what? This site is not in Pakistan, it’s in the USA judging from it’s IP address.
@ john787 Thank you for your reply, the article is basically about the slow sales in last year. The Chevy Volt did not meet its target set for 2011, hence decreased sales. There was nothing mentioned in article about a comparison. This was part 2 and I guess if you had read the full article, you might have found the answer to your question.
And it is a Pakistani website.