This according to Bob Lutz as quoted in an interview with the Seattle Times. Lutz also indicated that Chevy will lose money at this price point.

http://www.autoblog.com

 

Batteries ain't cheap

 

I like the car though, a lot better than the Camaro IMO, though it shows some influence.

 

I think it looks cool too...but 40k? I thought little econoboxes were supposed to be cheap?

 

40k is way to much for me, i'm happy with my sub $14k new purchase on my focus. for the 26k i saved over that car i can buy gas for over 10 years.

 

It ain't no econobox. Presumably it will be cheap to run, not cheap to buy.

Any switchover we're gonna make from gas to something else is gonna be painful at first. We just have to decide if we're prepared to take a lot of pain now...or a WHOLE lot of pain later.

Kinda depressing actually.

 

is it an all ele car or part gas part ele? if its all ele it might be worth it not to have to buy gas ever.

 

Unless gas hits about twelve dollars a gallon absolutely nothing about this car makes it worth anything like 40k. Ironically, this is fundamentally similar to the excess we saw with suv's back in the late 1990's, the only difference is this time it's aimed in the opposite direction. With suv's people rambled on and on about the practicality since they can haul the entire little league team to practice, yada, yada...even though nothing could be further from the truth and those vehicles weren't remotely practical unless you genuinely needed the off road capability. Now with hybrids people ramble on and on about the efficiency since they don't have to buy as much gas which allows them to be green....even though nothing could be further from the truth since these things have a carbon footprint that makes an H2 look like a rolling version of Ghandi.

In both instances we have people lining up to pay too much money for a status symbol.

 

well said.

 

90% of the Prius owners I've been able to talk honestly with have admitted that the car is in fact a pretty poor car all around, and being able to say "I have a Prius" counts for more than any actual benefit from the drivetrain. People who aren't looking for status as much as economy either buy smaller conventional cars or go for the Escape or Camry hybrids, because they like the base vehicle and want to pay less for gas.


Put another way: just about anyone who can afford a base-$40K car, especially one that appears to be Chevy's answer to the RX-8, can afford $4 gas just fine. So the only reason to drop that much on that car, instead of some of the other very nice wheels in the $40K range, is to say you did.

 

You're actually mostly correct in this statement.

But, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and I am glad automakers are at least thinking in new directions - because eventually we will have to.

 

With all of the hybrid/battery cars I have been reading about in car magazines, I figured the Volt would cost at least 60-80K

 

Give it time, It's already gone up $10K since they started dropping info, and we're still 2 years out.

 

I seen the other day on the news the volt only goes 40 miles on a charge then fuel takes over. I didn't catch how long it needed to charge in order to drive the 40 miles. I believe it was over night but not sure

 

True. When they say 40k, that will probably be the actual 'cost' of the car, then when the dealers get it (like they do with GT500s) will raise it another 20K+ for their 'dealer incentives'

All in all, though, I think it is a very bad idea that Chevy is basically killing their suv and truck line; there are still people who want or need an suv or truck regardless of the price of gas.