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GM Will Not Produce Volt Variants Before 2015

GM has previously said that it plans to use the Voltec powertrain from the Chevrolet Volt in many other vehicles, such as the Volt MPV5 — for instance. But according to GM Europe CEO Nick Reilly, Volt variants will not make it to market until after 2015.

“We won’t do it with this generation, and that will run to 2015,” said Reilly at the Frankfurt auto show. “You’d have to wait until after that until you see it.”

The slow production ramp-up of the Volt and twin Opel Ampera is partly to blame for the delay in Voltec-powered variants, but the fact that the first-gen Voltec technology is expensive doesn’t help, either. Reilly expects to see a significant reduction in the cost of the Volt’s battery for the next generation of Voltec-powered vehicles. The battery is estimated to cost GM around $8,000 at the time of this writing.

The GM Authority Take

Just like most new technology, the Voltec hardware will remain expensive until economies of scale are in full effect and/or GM starts to use the technology in significantly more vehicles. In that regard, the price of the components and the popularity of Voltec-powered vehicles is a prime example of a chicken-or-the-egg riddle: GM won’t be able to source or build the components in bulk to realize significant volume cost savings while consumers won’t be able to get their hands on enough Volts.

Nevertheless, a sharp reduction in the price of the $8,000 battery pack will play a significant role in eliminating that chicken-or-the-egg dilemma. Additionally, it’s important to remember that Toyota’s now-popular Prius sold in measly volumes during its first few years of existence.

Source: AutoNews

GM Authority Executive Editor with a passion for business strategy and fast cars.

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Comments

  1. aww that would of been freakin awesome if they did it!!

    Reply
  2. this info is not correct the caddy unit is being fast tracked to market and everyone internallly is shooting for 2014/15 for a system that will be less pricey than the volts and use some of the newer gm engines it has been refered to as voltec 1.5 we refer to it as voltec “C” for caddy hope this helps.

    Reply
    1. So Mr. Reilly is out of the loop, it seems like.

      Although the ELR sounds like it will come around the same time frame as what Mr. Reilly is describing — 2015… and it will most likely use the less expensive battery pack. So it seems that he’s right on with your targets and descriptions 🙂

      Reply
  3. i say one of the variants should be a little gmc urban utiity vehicle sorta like the granite but it would need awd, atleast in a denali version and i vote for it to be called the tungsten. anyone agree??????

    Reply
    1. Perhaps, but Voltec needs to find its way into as many high-volume vehicles as possible first. For starers, the Malibu and Equinox, as well as getting the all-electric Cruze out the door. The Tungten sounds cool, but it’s make it or break it time for Voltec — which needs to start gaining popularity among consumers asap.

      Reply
      1. i agree can’t wait for the ELR. also make a buick please gm??????

        Reply
  4. OOOOOOOOOrlandooooooooo!

    Reply

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