Holden announces $59,990 Volt price

Holden has announced full local details for its Volt plug-in hybrid – including a starting price of $59,990 plus on-road costs – before first Australian deliveries commence from around October this year.

As expected, that makes the Volt considerably more expensive than battery-electric rivals like the Nissan Leaf ($51,500), Mitsubishi i-MiEV ($48,800) and upcoming Renault Fluence ZE (expected to be under $40,000), despite the fact GM’s answer to the Toyota Prius and Holden’s first electrified vehicle will not be profitable in its first generation.

In addition, however, Holden has capped each of the Volt’s first four standard scheduled log book services for the first three years or 60,000km at $185.

In a further vote of confidence for the cost and reliability of the Volt’s ground-breaking new technology, Holden today also announced a fully transferrable eight-year/160,000km warranty for the car’s lithium-ion battery pack and Voltec drive system, including all 161 components of its power storage, charging, thermal-management and electric drive systems.

Billed by Holden as a ‘long range electric car’, Australia’s Volt will come with a longer than expected official zero-emissions driving range figure of up to 87km, and the ability to cruise for more than 600km with its on-board 1.4-litre petrol generator.

The Volt will be available here in a single, well-specified equipment grade that presents a number of new technologies in a Holden for the first time, including the availability of advanced Forward Collision Alert (FCA) and Lane Departure Warning (LDW) safety systems.

Similar to the system to be offered in a number of Opel models that will go on sale here in September and also expected to be available with Holden’s new VF Commodore next year, LDW employs windscreen camera to sense if the driver swerves out of a marked lane without indicating, while FCA uses windscreen sensors to alert drivers if they are travelling too close to the vehicle in front.

The Volt’s standard features list will comprise eight airbags (including twin front, front-side, front-knee and side curtain airbags), a reversing camera, tyre pressure monitoring, electronic stability control (ESC), anti-lock braking system (ABS), brake assist (BA), electronic brake-force distribution (EBD), traction control system (TCS), pedestrian-friendly alert (driver activated), seatbelt reminders for all four seats, an electric parking brake and two child restraint anchors.

Other standard features will include keyless entry and starting, heated front seats, leather trim, front/rear parking sensors, a six-speaker premium Bose sound system and programmable seven-inch colour LCD touch-screen infotainment system with satellite-navigation, voice recognition, Bluetooth/USB/IPod connectivity, DVD/MP3 playback and a 30GB inbuilt hard-drive.

Apart from presenting real-time information on energy use and power flow to the driver, the touch screen will offer efficient-driving feedback based on driving style and climate settings, including tips on how to reduce energy usage.

Other standard Volt features will include four 17-inch alloy wheels, projector headlights, LED daytime running lamps, side mirror turn signals, an integrated rear spoiler, cruise control, automatic headlights with manual level control, a height and reach-adjustable steering wheel, trip computer, illuminated steering wheel controls, auto-dimming rear-view mirror and electronic climate-control.

Just five exterior paint colours will be available for the Volt, which features a low aerodynamic drag coefficient of 0.28Cd: White Diamond, Nitrate Silver, Urban Fresh, Crystal Claret and Black.

“Volt will offer some of the most advanced electric vehicle technologies in Australia and has won a long list of awards and fans around the globe,” said Holden Executive Director – Sales, Marketing and Aftersales, John Elsworth.

“It is the perfect package of stylish design, advanced technology and premium features that proves electric cars don’t need to be quirky to make a statement.

“It’s a fantastic car to drive, with great handling and the performance you’ve come to expect from a Holden and it will have real appeal to buyers looking to drive the latest in technology, without having to compromise on either range or functionality.

“With all of the standard premium features, Volt makes a very compelling choice for car buyers who may not have considered an electric car before or may be looking at premium European vehicles.”

As has been widely reported since it went on sale in the US two years ago, the Volt is powered by a 16.5-kWh lithium-ion battery pack that can be charged via a standard household 10-amp socket, which takes between five and six hours from empty.

While that’s unlike other EVs, which need to be charged by a 15-amp outlet that usually requires installation by an electrician, the Volt cannot be hooked up to a quick-charger like the level-four fast-charger that can top up a Leaf or i-MiEV in as little as 30 minutes. The quickest Volt charging time is four hours, via a level-two 3.3kW unit like the ChargePoint unit in front of Holden’s Port Melbourne headquarters.

Volt drivers can choose between three driving modes – normal, sport and hold – and Australians will have access to the improved MY2013 model, which extended the car’s battery-only driving range slightly, at the expense of increasing its level-two charging time by 15 minutes.

While the DOHC four-cylinder petrol engine delivers 111kW at 5000rpm, the electric drive system’s total torque output is 370Nm.

Holden last month released a list of 49 dealers that will sell the Volt, which has already attracted an unspecified number of pre-orders.

To coincide with the release of Volt pricing, Holden today announced its first Volt TV commercial will herald a new direction for Holden advertising. The first of two Volt TVCs aired last night for the first time, eschewing the ‘Go Better’ theme Holden has used since 2008.

“In the last year, we’ve been conducting consumer research to better understand what Australians think of Holden,” said Holden Marketing Director, Simon Carr. “We wanted to understand what came to mind when they thought of our brand.

“Did Holden and our products continue to inspire consumers, did they think we were fresh and exciting, did they think we were doing well? We saw that despite revitalising our portfolio over the past 18 months, some car buyers weren’t aware of the change we’d been making to our line-up.

“Holden Volt really signifies that change. It offers exciting new technology that buyers may not associate with the Holden brand and what better way to show how Holden is changing than bringing to market a game-changer like the Volt?

“We’re more than the Commodore car company. We have a strong small car portfolio with Cruze and Barina; in the SUV segment we have Captiva and the all-new Colorado, which is set to make waves in the LCV market.

“Put simply, we’re not just about large cars and as a brand we’ve got some work to do with the next generation of car buyers to get into their consideration set.”

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