- $41,000 base price includes $720 destination fee.
- Some buyers will be eligible for $7,500 federal rebate.
- 3-year lease available for $350/month.
SAN JOSE, California — GM on Tuesday said the 2011 Chevrolet Volt will be priced at $41,000, including a $720 destination charge, when it arrives in select launch markets later this year. That is $8,220 more than the 2011 Nissan Leaf electric car — even though GM insists that the Volt is "in a class by itself."
Nissan in March said the Leaf will be priced at $32,780.
GM said Volt owners can qualify for up to $7,500 in U.S. federal income tax credit, as well as "other potential state and local tax credits, depending on location." The Leaf is also eligible for the federal tax credit, which could bring the price down to $25,280.
GM also said that it would begin taking orders for the highly anticipated Volt today, although the Volt will be initially available only to customers in California, New York, Michigan, Connecticut, Texas, New Jersey and the Washington, D.C., area.
Like the Leaf, the Volt is available for purchase or lease. GM said the lease payment on a 36-month Volt lease is as low as $350 a month with $2,500 due at lease signing, including security deposit. Leasing a Leaf will require a $1,999 down payment, plus $349 per month.
Potential Volt owners got a clearer picture of what it will be like to own the vehicle on Tuesday. GM said it will come standard with a 120-volt charge cord that can be plugged into a standard home electrical outlet. In addition, 4,400 Volt buyers in launch markets could be eligible for a free 240-volt charging station, including home installation.
Standard features on Volt include eight airbags, electronic stability control with traction control, a 7-inch touchscreen navigation system and a Bose premium audio system. Five years of OnStar is standard. The Volt's battery pack gets an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty.
A Volt dealer locator will be available on Tuesday at GM's Get My Volt Web site. Potential customers can also call a Volt advisor at 888-VOLT-4-You.
Volt orders are starting out as gas is relatively inexpensive versus $4-a-gallon pump prices two years ago. The AAA Daily Fuel Gauge on Tuesday pegs the current price for a gallon of unleaded gas at $2.74.
Inside Line says: The Volt will be expensive, even with a federal tax credit. Will the masses be willing to take a chance on untested technology at a premium price? — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
Add A Comment »
tbone85 says:
08:33 PM, 07/28/2010
QDP, if you can't make reasonably cogent comments, at least try growing up a bit. No one needed to guess the price, GM's marketing machine has been hinting at it for over 6 months. You hate the idea of the Volt to the point of spreading misinformation. I've taken a wait and see attitude. I don't need you to agree with my opinion. In fact YOU disagreeing makes me feel better about my position.
tdiluv says:
05:51 PM, 07/28/2010
Not to be positively negative, it's hard to make we Americans do anything like having to buy a car that you must plug in everyday, NOT! We don't even bother to change the oil or clean the car or check tire pressures. What happens when a harried women arrives home late with the groceries and runs to the kitchen to cook and then has a fight with hubby then comes to the garage in morning and had forgotten to plug it in. OK it's DIVORCE time because it was his idea to buy it!! And he was no help because he's always falling asleep watching sports all night!
We wan't jump in, fast start, rip down the road and gas it up when the empty light comes on and don't bother with maintenance cuz the lease will be up soon!!
speedrcr says:
06:38 AM, 07/28/2010
So much negativity...think positive (pun intended!)
qdp says:
08:59 PM, 07/27/2010
@tbone
Are ordinary consumers be able to predicte Volt's price? No way, an so-called experts not. It is GM that released bits and pieces of Volt's information for some time with the purpose to shape people's mind that $40k is about the right price for Volt. You are a jerk habitually policing readers's comments
tbone85 says:
04:46 PM, 07/27/2010
The price is too high, but it's almost exactly at the price point everyone has been predicting for over a year. Just a few weeks ago a bunch of folks were foaming at the mouth claiming the Volt was vaporware. Now some of the details are out and many think it's destined for failure.We'll see how the predictions sync up with reality.
Justify a car purchase? Are you kidding? There's no way to financially justify buying ANY new car over one that is 2-3 years old. People buy cars because the WANT to buy the car they select. They don't have to justify their purchase to anyone other than a spouse or banker. For everyone who thinks the Volt is overpriced by $15k, there's someone else who thinks the Veyron is overpriced by 80 times that figure. Different strokes.
I hope the technology costs drop and there's enough success to drive scale efficiencies to make similar techology more affordable in a few years. If it were available for $25k today and it performed well, I'd go get one tomorrow.
elducko says:
04:25 PM, 07/27/2010
The perfect car for the idiot in the total North Face wardrobe to be ssen in as he/she he triple parks outsitde the Starbucks on Saturday morning.
Just a cross between and Industrial age machine (car) and a nerd plaything (iPhone/Pad.) Too expensive even with tax breaks. PLUS it has to have premium gas....
This is another GM screw up that should have spent more time in R&R as did the swing-axle Corvair, the Aluminum engined Vega, the underpowered Fiero, the diesel Cadillac, the 4/6/8/ Cadillac and many more...
bearsdkillz says:
03:50 PM, 07/27/2010
ROFL, is this a joke GM? Please don't tell me you're serious. All that bailout money and you used it to build a $41 grand electric car?
This has failure written all over it.
ferenc says:
02:34 PM, 07/27/2010
maybe obama and his czars and bailed out bankers can afford it.
soobiedew says:
01:58 PM, 07/27/2010
wow...what a big piece of fail this will be... So here are the GMs highlights of the 21st century... Bankrupsy, and a failed attempt at an EV vehicle. May as well have given the car some cadillac clothes and pitted it against the lexus hs hybrid to at least somewhat justify the price.
qdp says:
01:56 PM, 07/27/2010
Instead of setting $39.9K, GM priced Volt at $41K to try to create a presitage,or high-end image of the car. To our commonsense, is it a strategically wise pricing or not?
At price of either $41k or $25k, this type of cars ONLY makes sense when used for long-range daily or weekly drivings for the price-tag and environment. However after 40miles-battery range, Volt seems getting even lower fuel-economy than ordinary gas-powered cars on the roads. Up to now, GM has never disclosed the ture fuel economy on Volt's gas-engine-driving mode.
Guess, with batter down to zero, the fuel economy for the gas-engine-driving-mode is 23mpg. Thus, as the pluging-in costs 0 gasoline, GM claimed Volt's mpg was 230mpg. Just a joke.