When I lasted visited the Chevy Volt, January 2012 sales were 603 units (against a 46,000 target for annual sales).
Since then, the company has taken bold action: $199/month leases!
So it's around $5k to lease a Volt, which has a base retail price of $40,000, for two years. This has help to vault sales up to 2800 in August, making 13,500 sold for the year to date. If you include prorated development costs, each Volt is costing Chevy around $75,000!
Know how many Prius Toyota has sold so far this year? Over 160,000.
You may wonder what GM has to say about all this. Well here's Doug Parks, VP of "global product programs":
"It wasn't conceived as a way to make tons of money,"
Maybe Obama could borrow George Bush's banner and hang it on the factory wall?
What's that, the factory is closing next week for a month?
How about $99 / month leases?
Hat tip to the mighty Mark Perry.
Showing posts with label industrial policy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label industrial policy. Show all posts
Monday, September 10, 2012
Sunday, February 05, 2012
It's just me and Christy, me and Christy, me, me, me & Christy!
Last week, I begged to differ with a guy claiming that manufacturing was indeed special because people earned a wage premium simply by entering the sector, or as he put it, that there were "labor market rents" associated with getting a manufacturing job.
Turns out Christina Romer has my back!
She points out that (a) on the low skill end, manufacturing pay premia have shrunk and likely will continue to shrink, and (b) increased technical sophistication in manufacturing has created more jobs that require higher skills. She points out that the number of manufacturing workers with some college education has more than doubled. Thus, subsidizing manufacturing is NOT likely to reduce income inequality in the US.
Romer attributes the shrinking premium to low skill workers to increased international competition, while I attributed it to both that factor and the decline of union strength. She doesn't point out that there is an upside to increased international competition, namely lower priced goods for American consumers.
Turns out Christina Romer has my back!
She points out that (a) on the low skill end, manufacturing pay premia have shrunk and likely will continue to shrink, and (b) increased technical sophistication in manufacturing has created more jobs that require higher skills. She points out that the number of manufacturing workers with some college education has more than doubled. Thus, subsidizing manufacturing is NOT likely to reduce income inequality in the US.
Romer attributes the shrinking premium to low skill workers to increased international competition, while I attributed it to both that factor and the decline of union strength. She doesn't point out that there is an upside to increased international competition, namely lower priced goods for American consumers.
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Low voltage
Obama motors is having trouble with their signature product. Chevy sold 603 Volts in January. Their sales target for 2012 (45,000) has been dropped. Last year they sold around 8,000 Volts.
More info is here, and the hat tip goes to Mark P.
Has the $7,500 tax credit for buying one of these bad boys expired? Or has America run out of Volt-less rich people?
Or maybe people don't want their cars to double as fireplaces?
More info is here, and the hat tip goes to Mark P.
Has the $7,500 tax credit for buying one of these bad boys expired? Or has America run out of Volt-less rich people?
Or maybe people don't want their cars to double as fireplaces?
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