The pricing of the 2016 Chevy Volt is more affordable than the 2015 version, even more so in the state where the plug-in hybrid is most successful.
In California, federal tax incentives can knock $7,500 off of the 2016 Volt's price to bring it down to about $25,000, Chevy announced over the weekend.
Chevy has priced the 2016 Volt at $33,995, well above the price range of offerings from rivals. That 2015 Volt was priced at $35,200.
Chevy counts the Volt line as one of its most successful brands, with the majority of its trade-in customers ditching their Toyota Prius cars in favor the Chevy's plug-in hybrid. About 70 percent of Volt owners switched to the vehicles from non-General Motors automobiles or added more of the cars to their existing fleet of the vehicles, according to Chevy.
The improvements to the Volt's design and its $1,200 price cut are reasons the company is confident that the 2016 model of the automobile will carry on the line's success, according to Steve Majoros, director of marketing at Chevy.
"The next-generation Chevrolet Volt delivers more technology, the ability to drive further between gas fill-ups and now with even more value to our customers. It's what our loyal Volt owners told us they wanted," said Majoros.
The Volt line has leapt ahead of the tech in the first car to roll out of the series. The 2016 version of the car's all electric range of 50 miles is about 31 percent increase over the first Chevy Volt.
"This means new Volt owners should anticipate that approximately 90 percent of trips in a new Volt will be driven all-electrically," said Chevy of the 2016 Volt's all-electric range.
Chevy estimates that the 2016 Volt will deliver roughly 1,000 miles of travel between trips to the gas station. That figure takes into account the Volt's 102 MPGe on electric and 41 MPG on hybridized fuel, gas and electric.
The Volt's range will be attractive to many consumers in the market for a new vehicle, but the switch to electric and hybrid vehicles is still motivated by finances much more so than environmental stewardship. And because of those financial motives, many consumers are switching out their electric vehicles for gas gulping SUVs as gas prices fall, according to a recent report from Edmunds.com.
"Three years ago, when gas was at near-record highs, it was a lot easier to rationalize the price premiums on alternative fuel vehicles," said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds.com's director of industry analysis. "But with today's gas prices as low as they are, the math just doesn't make a very compelling case."
