Ford sets new record for number of Ford Focus Electric cars sold in Feb, Mar 2012

Little-Acorn

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The MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) for the basic Ford Focus (gasoline) is $16,500.

MSRP for the Ford Focus Electric is $39,200.

Number of new Ford Focus Electric cars sold in February and March 2012: ZERO.

The "Electric Car" is definitely an idea whose time has come.

(not!)

Yet due to ever-increasing government regulations and restrictions on Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) and emissions standards, manufacturers are being forced to build zero-emission cars such as Electric Cars.

Whenever you run across a totally ridiculous situation, you can always count on the root cause being GOVERNMENT.

P.S. I especially liked the last line.

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http://www.detroitnews.com/article/...tough-sell?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

April 17, 2012 at 1:00 am
Battery-powered autos proving to be a tough sell

By David Shepardson
Detroit News Washington Bureau

Washington— Electric vehicle sales have been slow out of the box, despite marketing hype, government incentives and the hopes of green car advocates.

Total sales last year were 17,425, which is less than 0.1 percent of the U.S. car and light truck market.

Nonetheless, automakers show no signs of pulling back their multibillion-dollar bets: They need electric cars to meet tough new fuel-efficiency standards. About a dozen new plug-ins and fully electric cars will go on sale in the next year.

Auto executives point optimistically to March, when electric cars had their best-ever sales month: Nearly 4,000 vehicles sold in the United States. Still, three in every 1,000 cars drove off dealer lots under battery power.

News in recent months has done little to reassure skeptical buyers: General Motors Co. slowed production of its plug-in Chevrolet Volt. Two crash-test Volts caught fire; a government investigation ultimately found no safety problems. Politicians ridiculed electric cars and called for an end to government assistance. Battery companies and suppliers laid off hundreds of employees, while several electric vehicle startups went out of business or struggle to survive.

Even with gas prices flirting near $4 a gallon nationwide, most consumers remain reluctant. Plug-ins or fully electric cars cost $8,000 to $20,000 more than comparable gasoline versions, and it can take years or decades to recoup the higher initial cost.

Drivers worry about limited driving range in fully electric cars. Even some executives admit doubt.
"Right now, from a cost standpoint and a performance standpoint — range for customers — I don't think EVs are ready for primetime," said Toyota Motor USA Sales CEO Jim Lentz.

Toyota will launch two electric vehicles later this year. Toyota sold nearly 900 of its new plug-in Prius in March, but that was 3 percent of the more than 28,000 plug-in and gasoline-electric vehicles that Prius sold last month.

Ford Motor Co. sold about 12 Focus Electrics in December and January to fleet customers — and none in February and March, said Erich Merkle, a Ford spokesman. The Dearborn automaker plans a slow ramp-up as it begins production this spring for retail sales; the New York area and California are the first markets.

Analysts forecast modest gains.
 
Werbung:
the price line for electric cars is so high as render them as curiosities for people of means.
they are simply too impractical and there is no hope of improving that.

time for better ideas.
 
Werbung:
the price line for electric cars is so high as render them as curiosities for people of means.
they are simply too impractical and there is no hope of improving that.

time for better ideas.

the first personal computer cost 10,000 and took up a room... the first computer was most likey mililons...today I hold a cell phone 10000 times as powerful for 200 bucks...if it was up to people like you we would have given up and never had computers.

I recall you guys bitching about the sales of the Leaf I think, and how few it sold...before it was even on the market yet..

Its sad how you guys just enjoy anything bad happening to anything that could actually help lower get us to use less gas. your the same people that would have done just what GM and Chrysler did...keep building fuel ineficant cars untill Japan has you smoked and your company is about to go belly up.

OF course for sales are slow for them right now...its a new car...most lost don't even have one to test drive...People tend to buy cars after they can drive them. I never sold a Escape Hybred...because we did not have one on the lot ever for them to try out. Once we had one to drive....shocking...they sold...

"
The Nissan Leaf – which retails for $4,000 less than the Focus Electric – recorded 9,674 sales during its first full-year in the U.S. market, but Ford CEO Alan Mulally says the project won’t be considered a failure if the Focus EV only manages about half of that volume during its first 12 months.
“No, because we believe that the electrification of vehicles is going to continue as the battery cost comes down, as we move to generate electricity cleanly,” Mulally told Bloomberg. “We see this as continually growing. This is a long-term journey.”
Ford predicts hybrids, plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles will make up about 25 percent of its total vehicle sales by 2020, but most of that volume will be attributed to hybrid models. Nissan, however, expects pure electric vehicles like the Leaf to account for 10 percent of its total vehicle sales by 2020."

But of course...you guys know more then Ford right?
 
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