GM Plans to Reduce Volt’s Price by Thousands of Dollars

GM North America President Mark Reuss said that the automaker plans to cut the cost of the next-generation Volt by thousands of dollars.

Although GM didn’t say when the next-generation Volt will hit the market, it announced that the price of the vehicle will be reduced by thousands of dollars. As customers are drawn back from buying electric vehicles due to their high price, automakers are trying to find a solution to this problem. Nissan also announced at the Detroit auto show that it will cut the price for its electric Leaf with about $6,000 to a base price of $28,800.

The base price of the Volt is $40,000 and the vehicle can travel 38 miles on electricity alone and 73 miles on a single charge. Last year Volt sold 23,461 units, up 205.8%, while the Leaf sold 9,819 units, up 1.5%. Tesla will try this year to reach its rivals aiming at sales of 20,000 Models S vehicles.

“We’re not everywhere with Chevrolet and I don’t think we should be,” said Reuss. “I’m not sure we have the right market scope with Chevrolet. There may be some changes there because we’re participating in some places where it’s not a place that’s going to change and grow. Therefore we have to go after the places where we can capture the growth first.”

On Tuesday, January 15th, GM revealed at the Detroit auto show the all-new Cadillac ELR, a competitor for Tesla’s Model S. Reuss also said that the electric vehicle is still alive and that developing a vehicle with 300 miles of electric range is an achievable plan.