The 2016 Chevrolet Volt won’t be released nationwide this year, General Motors told Autoblog after purported pictures of a delivery timeline showed that only 11 states would receive the 2016 model year were published by HybridCars.
Only 11 states: California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont, will see the 2016 car, according to the document. Dealers in California have already begun accepting orders for the car.
Prospective buyers in the 39 other states (presumably Puerto Rico and Guam, too) will have to wait until next year to get their cars.
Chevrolet said the plan from the beginning was to offer the next-generation Volt in California first, where sales of plug-in hybrid cars are strong, and then roll the car out to the rest of the country. Earlier memos leaked by HybridCars showed that Chevrolet may have initially planned to sell the Volt nationwide by November.
It’s unclear whether low gas prices and slowing sales of electric and hybrid cars convinced General Motors to keep some 2015 models on lots for longer. In August, Chevrolet sold 1,380 Volts in the U.S., which was its second-highest sales month for the year.
Seen a white one on the road yesterday, it looks pretty nice, much better than the current one.
I understood why GM rolled the Volt out state by state back in 2010. But why revert to that strategy with the Volt 2.0?
Other manufacturers such as Nissan simply announce the next model revision and move forward.
The 11 states are California and its zombie ‘me-too’ states. They probably have quotas for EVs based on the vile misanthropy of the CARB. GM needs to get plug-ins that they might be able to actually sell to those states ASAP.
If that was true how come Colorado, Georgia, and Washington (state) aren’t getting them.
Were their legislators smart enough to reject the EV mandate portion of “California Emissions”?
In Connecticut. We just adopted California emissions standards as did the other states on the list including the ZEV portion.
We don’t have that horrible thing known as CARB, thank god! For example if a vehicle gets over 25 years we don’t bother emissions testing it. We don’t need special California Catalytic Converters, and no one cares about aftermarket parts and approval or lack there of. Life is much easier.
“We don’t have that horrible thing known as CARB, thank god! ”
Onus, you guys just let the California Air Resources Board (CARB) do all the deciding for you when you adopted their standards.
30 years ago, 150 days/year, LA was on smog alert. Today, zero days/year. I see that you don’t like emissions testing, but do you truly not value breathing?
The reason is that the 2016 Chevy Volt is a “Compliance car”, intended almost exclusively to avoid the fines being levied by those states that joined California’s ZEV policies. In general, any manufacturer selling motor vehicles in the member states MUST achieve a certain minimum number of zero emissions vehicles relative to the total number of vehicle sales in that state, or be fined/lose permission to sell vehicles within that state.
My understanding is that the February cars will be 2017 models, leaving the 2016 run as one of the shortest car runs ever.
The odd scheduling implies that there is something Chevy afoot with the design or supply side of the equation.
http://insideevs.com/nationwide-launch-of-next-generation-chevrolet-volt-delayed-until-early-or-mid-2016/
That’s what I heard about the Grand Cherokee, that the 2016 run will only be like the 2013 run was. Short.
How about that 2015 Mustang GT350 and 350R. A robust 137 units.
I think what they’re saying is that because the car won’t be available for sale in most places on 1/1/16, they can’t call it a 2016 model year car in those states. When it finally shows up nationwide in March 2016, it’ll be the same car but they’ll have to call it a 2017 model because they missed the 1/1/16 deadline.
You’ve got it backward. A manufacturer can begin the 2017 model year as of 1/2/16. But 2016 models are permitted to be built all through calendar year 2016.
In practice, most mfrs will change over to the new model year by late summer of 2016.
Isn’t that what I said? The car that’s for sale on 1/1/16 is the MY16 car. If it’s released later than that, it has to be called the MY17. Therefore, the new Volt that’s released in March 2016 in most states must be called the MY17 Volt in those states. Since it wasn’t yet for sale on 1/1/16 it can’t be called a MY16 car.
A car built any time between 1/2/2015 and 12/31/16 can be sold as a 2016 model year vehicle. A car built between 1/2/2016 and 12/31/2017 can be sold as a 2017 model year vehicle. Production and sale can start any time in those time frames. The above is the only regulation that defines what model year a vehicle can be defined as and of course what ever standards it must meet.
It does not have to be available in all states at the same time or even ever. For example there were many states that never had Daihatsu dealers and their vehicles were never officially for sale in most states.
@Deedub.
No that is not correct. The 2013 LEAF was first sold starting in the spring of 2013.
I can’t wait for the new Volt to appear on the streets. Unlike the old one, it looks like a real car more than a rolling gimmick.
Surely in the case of the Volt, one would be ‘charged’, rather than ‘pumped’?
Or even shocked.
The real question is, will anybody in the other 39 states even notice?
You mean the Chevrolet ACURA…
What happened to the face on that thing???
The new Volt is the best looking of GM’s new compact sedans (the Cruze and Buick Verano being the other 2). It goes from ugliest to prettiest in one generation. Nice.
I saw one in the wild in Detroit back in July. WAY better looking that Volt mk I.
Haven’t seen the new one, but I think the 1st Gen still looks great, although the Gen 2 is leaps and bounds better functionally.
Pretty much the optimal time to trade in my ’04 Sierra HD on a lease return Gen 1. The way gas prices are going pretty soon my 11+ year old truck w/180K miles will be an even trade on a 3 year old used Volt w/30K miles!….LOL