Exposure Effect: Chevy Volt charges GM’s April sales
Can't afford a Volt, then buy a Cruze
The Volt doesn’t even need to sell to succeed
Despite a decline in Chevy Volt sales in April compared to March, GM’s overall sales increased 27 percent in April thanks to other fuel efficient vehicles like the Chevy Cruze. While the final numbers haven’t been released, GM expects that 400 – 500 Volts were sold in April versus 608 in March because of an increase in demo Volt deliveries to dealerships.
For now, the Volt is about exposure, not sales, and this exposure first, sales second marketing plan seems to be working.
“We know the best way to experience the Volt is to get behind the wheel and drive it,” Cristi Landy, Chevrolet marketing director told the DetroitNews. “An added bonus is that our dealers are seeing that the Volt is increasing traffic on to our dealer showroom floors and is exposing consumers to Chevy’s line of ‘gas-friendly’ vehicles, including the Cruze, Malibu and Equinox.”
Of course, since this same exposure effect was previously witnessed with the Toyota Prius, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the Volt is driving the sales of other GM vehicles. And, fortunately, some of these exposure sales are resulting in the sale of other fuel efficient vehicles like the Cruze. Ultimately, building the Volt and the Cruze on the same platform was a very smart move.
How long will this exposure effect last? It’s hard to say, but as long as gas prices stay high, the Volt seems destined to continue to entice car buyers to GM dealerships. Suddenly, when it comes to fuel economy, consumers are starting to think GM.
GM is also limiting sales right now, Rich. If that were not the case, I’m not sure how many Volts GM could sell, but they claim demand is greater than supplies.
When is Chevy going to give up on this looser? Nobody wants it! If Ford sold as many Edsels as Chevy has sold Volts They would have cancelled Edsels a week after it was introduced.