As word has gotten out that a redesigned 2016 Chevrolet Volt will debut at the 2015 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, there was other news about future Volt: its marketing plan.
Indeed, the Volt’s marketing, much maligned during the car’s introduction a few years ago, will shift gears. The automotive landscape has changed since the Volt’s introduction and, in the words of Chevrolet global marketing chief Tim Mahoney, the 2016 Volt will have one luxury the original did not: existing Volt owners.
Automotive News reports that Chevrolet will use evangelical Volt owners with a regional marketing focus, especially in social media, to advocate for the 2016 version of the battery-electric hybrid. “[While the Volt] is a halo product for the brand and one that’s sort of points to what is possible at Chevrolet, there are clearly pieces of geography where it makes sense. So you’ll see a focus on fishing where the fish are,” says Mahoney.
Comments
While I don’t dislike the Volt’s styling, it’s obvious that SUV’s are hot so GM needs to be playing in that sandbox if they want to be successful.
I also find it disturbing that they are looking to offer a lower range Volt so that they lower the MSRP…..is that really what the customer wants? I would think that Tesla’s marketing strategy — making people pay more for higher range models — makes more sense.
At least the five seat upgrade is in the right direction. The first J cars in the 80s were four seaters too and GM quickly found out that this wasn’t what the marketplace wanted and they quickly changed.
“I also find it disturbing that they are looking to offer a lower range Volt so that they lower the MSRP…..is that really what the customer wants? I would think that Tesla’s marketing strategy — making people pay more for higher range models — makes more sense. ”
Tesla does not have a gas back up so they HAVE to maximize electric miles. It all depends on how you drive. If you do 30 miles round trip every work day and you can charge at work you only need 15 mile range. Why drag around all that extra battery weight and cost when you have a backup plan.
A Tesla with 30 mile range would not sell because it would meet the needs of no one. (well it would be severely limited due to range anxiety)
But a Volt with 30 mile range can meet everyones needs with the gas backup. All about cost.
Well any marketing plan at this point would be an improvement. They started off well and than the marketing dropped from sight.
A SUV version would be nice but getting a taller higher profile vehicle would tax the already short range. You need to give them time to make the vehicle with a better battery or to go full electric with it. GM has already shown a prototype but the range still needs to increase more before adding more frontal area.
As for cheaper that is the main complaint on this vehicle. Get it 5K-8K cheaper and it will attract more people.
As for the expensive car we will see one at some point but it would be a Cadillac or Buick. You could never sell a Electric Chevy for $75K-105K. GM has more in the works than anyone is saying.
Tesla has reviled there is a segment higher up but GM has to use and build the right car for it as the Volt is not it.
quit wasting Li-ION
Wait…. You mean the outgoing car had a marketing plan?? Or are they counting thinking that people will just know about it and walk in and buy it?
Where we live, Leafs are incredibly plentiful, with Teslas a close second (a suburb of Seattle). Surprisingly, very few Volts. No ELRs. Frankly, I think a plug-in hybrid with a good battery range is the way to go. I’ve noticed that in our current vehicle, an MB GLK, I get very good mileage on longer trips, but for the 5-mile roundtrip to the grocery store, awful.
But the current Volt has way too many compromises.
Serious question – will you clarify “way too many compromises”? I’m asking because I’m on my second Volt and I guess there are two areas for improvement that I see; 5th seat and cost. I’m not sure those count as compromises. But hell, maybe I just don’t aim high enough. 😉
I *will* say that the decision to add thermal management, even if it did add cost, seems to be a very good one. I never hear of Volt battery degradation problems.
So it’s got that going for it. Which is nice.
“I thought GM stopped making the Volt!” (That is one of the comments I’ve had from more than one person and one of which was an employee at the Chevrolet dealership where I have purchased a 2012 Volt and my 2015 Volt.) The other remarkable comment I get (numerous) is “Nice looking car, what is it?” And when I say a Volt, about 95% of the time people then say “What’s a Volt?”
I had the windows tinted in my 2015 Volt earlier this week and when I told the owner about my Volt (he had never seen one and I wasn’t able to really able to determine if he was in the “whats a Volt” crowd because he was swamped. He finally took notice when I told him I drove my 2012 Volt 27,000 miles and only used 42 gallons of gasoline. His eyes popped open and at that point, when I had his attention, I told him that at 12.5 cents per kilowatt hour, I was driving my Volt (mile-per-mile) about as cheaply as when I was a senior in high school in 1970 when gasoline was 37 cents per gallon back then. About $4 in gas could get my Camaro down the road 100 miles. Fast forward to 2014 and here I am like “Deja Vu All Over Again” and I am driving my Volt 100 miles for about $4. Although I admit now I am age 62, I don’t drive like I did when I was 18, but both of my Volts enable me to save on the cost of going from “point A” to “point B” as if I were driving the DeLorean in “Back To The Future”…. And when I tell people how inexpensive this car is to run on electric, their jaws drop.
I see Prius cars on the road very frequently here in the heart of Texas, but seeing a Volt on the road is nearly a rare sighting as seeing a Chupacabra. And remarkably, the Volt has worked so well for me in a rural setting (something I believe GM has never pondered) that I’m exceeding all their expectations in regard to driving on the “cheap.” The Volt seems to be marketed at “city slickers” who commute in rush hour traffic and do a lot of stop and go driving in town, but in my 45 mile commute on a lonely rural highway to a second ranch my wife and I have, there are three stop signs along the way and in the 27 months of my experience in driving TWO Volts on this circuit, I am able to go 45 miles on a single charge. The 2015 Volt goes further that my 2012 Volt, but the “old” Volt about 99% of the time was able to make the 45 mile run entirely on an electric charge and the gasoline engine was very, rarely needed.
As Tim Baloney remarked recently, “We will fish where the fish are” I have to add that analogy smells like a dead carp that has been laying on the beach in the sun for several days. This car needs to be advertised and marketed way the hell away from small ponds (where Tim Baloney thinks the fish are) and I suggest to GM’s head honcho of marketing that there is a very big ocean of fish out there and he needs to do a lot better job of baiting the hook and putting out more than one tiny fishing pole… he needs to use an ocean trawler (mass marketing) and with an effective advertising campaign to a much larger audience, the Chevrolet Volt can be discovered as that “Hot Dam” and “Wow” car as I have discovered, here in the heart of Texas oil… The Heartland knows nothing about this car (because of lousy advertising, lousy marketing and lazy storytelling) and if the Heartland had any idea of how the Volt works for many of us out here in the sticks, dealerships like mine would be selling them… And sadly, my Chevrolet dealership has decided to stop ordering Volts to put on their dealership lot. The last Volt they had (a 2013 model) sat on their lot for 13 months before it sold, and that is because of GM (Gawdawful Marketing) and their lackluster storytelling about this remarkable car.
I agree with you 100%. I’m so sad GM’s marketing is so poor and their vision for this car and its possibilities isn’t better. I drive a plug-in Ford Fusion and it’s just OK. I miss my Volt! I drove in LA traffic and seriously only went to the gas station every 6 weeks. People in LA don’t need the Volt to be cheaper, just an ever-so slightly bigger backseat and it’s exactly what it needs to be.