Volt, The Best Selling Hybrid?

[G. David Felt]

G. David Felt

Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer

www.CheersandGears.com

Volt, the best selling Hybrid?

Chevy Volt, Vauxhall Ampera, Opel Ampera, Holden Volt: four names yet one car sold worldwide. EV.com claims the GM quadruplet to be the best selling hybrid vehicles in the world (follow the link for more details).

Based on GM’s data, an average Volt owner drives 900 miles between filling up the gas tank. This compares to many Prius web sites as well as Toyota’s data that shows the Toyota Prius owners driving an average of 450 miles between filling up the gas tank.

The Volt has an MSRP of $34,185, after the federal tax credit ($7500) you end up with a selling price of $26,685 plus tax and license. This could be lower if your state offers additional incentives.

The Volt has garnered the following Awards:

2014: J.D. Power: Highest Ranked Vehicle Appeal Among Compact Cars, Three Years in a Row
2014: Sierra Club’s: Leader in Strategic Vision’s 2013 Total Quality Award
2012 European Car of the Year
2011 North American Car of the Year
2011 World Green Car
2011 Green Car of the Year,
2009 Green Car Vision Award

I was unable to find exact sales numbers for each model nor was I able to find a worldwide figure for the Prius. The Prius has been considered the best selling Hybrid by many web sites and magazines. How subjective is this I believe is based on who does the reporting and without firm worldwide numbers from the auto companies it will continue to be subjective. US News own review of the 22 best Hybrid cars Rankings (follow link for more details) show just how off they are compared to their readers who ranked the same cars.

So is the Volt the world’s bestselling Hybrid?

Would it be better if the generator ran off CNG or Diesel?

What are your thoughts?

[bobo]

You should be saying plug-in hybrid, though GM considers it an electric car with an on-board gas-powered generator.

[A Horse With No Name]

It certainly is orders of magnitude better than the Prius.

[G. David Felt]

It certainly is orders of magnitude better than the Prius.

I totally agree with you.

My wish is that they would put the VOLT powertrain into the Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain. I believe they would have a huge amount of sales in an AWD Cuv format.

[A Horse With No Name]

Given our love of the SUV, this makes can infinite amount of sense.