Actually, only the rich, and you+me+taxpayers.
The Chevy Volt costs $41,000 -- and I think that's AFTER a $7,500 subsidy from the federal government.
As someone pointed out on another thread: if you multiply that by the number of Volts that Chevy wants to sell this year, it's nearly a billion dollars.
However, Chevy has reportedly only sold a few hundred Volts so far this year. So, maybe we don't need to worry much about it.
Incorrect. The tax credit is claimed by the buyer on their income tax.
http://www.chevrolet.com/tools/byo/byoCustomizeVehicle.do?region&zipCode=46112®ion=70&pvc=500&brand=volt&year=2011&zipCode=46112&isMultiCounty=false®ion=70
GE is buying 10,000 of them to test their plug in stations.
Whoops sorry...GE isn’t buying 10,000 of them...They’re buying 25,000 Volts.
Yes, the Volt sales record looks grim for GM: 326 units in December, 321 in January, and a marked drop to just 281 units in February. That's a total of only 928 units in three months, with sales dropping each month.
It looks like even the Edsel might end up with a better record than that in its final year when it sold just 2,846 units --- and if you take the fact that our population now is far greater (180 million then, 308 million now), then the Volt looks like it will be a stunning failure. In contrast, the Prius sold almost 18,000 units in its first year in Japan (Japan had less than half the U.S. population in 1998), and was already selling 100,000 units worldwide per year by 2002.
“The Chevy Volt costs $41,000 — and I think that’s AFTER a $7,500 subsidy from the federal government.”
Wrong. $41,000 gross, minus federal tax credit (not subsidy) of $7,500 equals $33,500 net.
IOW you need to owe at least $7,500 federal taxes, to get the full benefit.
Meanwhile, a Toyota Prius achieves very high mileage, and is priced about $10,000 less, net. Proved versus new technology, and a car company which is expected to last, due to good management.
“The Chevy Volt costs $41,000 — and I think that’s AFTER a $7,500 subsidy from the federal government.
As someone pointed out on another thread: if you multiply that by the number of Volts that Chevy wants to sell this year, it’s nearly a billion dollars.”
To make it even worse, just TRY to get one for 41,000. The typical “premium” at the dealership is 5K - so, actually, the Chinese are subsidizing the government that owns a good part of GM, which is actually subsidizing the dealer, not the buyer of the car, who will be stuck paying for the government subsidy so that the Chinese can be repaid, with, they hope, interest.
The system works! Uhhh.....NOT.
How GM “Lied” About The Electric Car
The Chevy Volt has been hailed as General Motors’ electric savior. Now, as GM officially rolls out the Volt this week for public consumption, we’re told the much-touted fuel economy was misstated and GM “lied” about the car being all-electric.
http://jalopnik.com/5661051/how-gm-lied-about-the-electric-car
The article says that the engine kicks in and provides torque when you are above 70mph. That’s not an all electric, that’s a hybrid.( A hybrid that doesn’t even top 40 mpg.)
GM’s sales goal for the Volt for 2011 is 10,000 units.
At $7,500 each (max) in subsidy, that’s $75 million at a maximum, assuming that every buyer has $7,500 in taxes they can offset.
Not peanuts, not what I would call a wise expenditure, but a LONG way from $1 billion.