VOLT, @ $32,500, HITS AFFORDABLE PRICE

GM's Lutz discloses to Letterman: Chevy Volt electric car will cost about $32,500
May 21, 2009 (USA Today)

"The much-anticipated Chevy Volt, the little electric car that's about the only good news coming out of America's largest automaker these days, will sell for about $32,500 after government rebates, retiring GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz disclosed…on CBS' Late Night with David Letterman.

"The $7,500 rebate would slash a window sticker price anticipated at about $40,000, he said. The car is on track to debut late next year, but Lutz says it won't show up in any real numbers in showrooms until 2011. The U.S.-built Volt is being designed to meet all worldwide standards with the hope that it can be exported to markets around the globe…"

Lutz with Letterman (and unnamed girl), announcing the affordable pricetag. (click to enlarge)

"…Lutz explain[ed] GM past electric-car miscues…Letterman explained why Lutz was invited. Letterman said that the invitation was extended after he hosted Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, maker of rival electric cars, on the show and took some swipes at GM and Volt recently. In particular, Letterman said he knocked Volt for its 40-mile electric only range without noting it has an auxiliary gas engine, compared to the 200-mile range of the Tesla roadster, which has no extra powerplant. He wondered why GM built the Saturn EV1 electric car in the 1990s, then abandoned the project."

Volt will save money in other ways, too. (click to enlarge)

"Lutz said battery technology was still too primitive when the EV1 was developed. The twin-seater was costing GM probably $100,000 a copy and could only be leased because of limited demand. There was no demand for an electric car because gas was then, and still is, so cheap. After $1 billion in losses, he said, GM called it quits. Noting the 35.5 mile per gallon fleet average that automakers must hit under the Obama administration plans unveiled this week, Lutz said as long as gas is cheap, Americans will want big, powerful vehicles. He compared to the policy to trying to fight obesity by having the government require that clothing only be made in small sizes…

"Of course, he took a shot back at Tesla. Volt's price will be less than half the tab for a $100,000 Tesla roadster. It will have [an] advanced battery instead of the 6,831 laptop cells at the heart of the Tesla's powerplant. And it will have four seats instead of two. But he did apologize for the way Detroit operated in the 1970s and 1980s…"