Exactly three years ago, Hank Gaylor, the Showroom Manager at Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine, Texas, went out on a limb and offered me a sales position.
I had ZERO car sales experience (and almost no sales experience of any kind) but he liked my passion for the Chevy Volt. Classic Chevrolet has been the #1 volume Chevy dealer in the U.S., nine of the last ten years and usually does not hire people that don’t have previous, successful vehicle sales experience. I’m still amazed this happened!
I feel my career has meaning, as I have introduced many, many people to Chevrolet’s growing list of plug-in and hybrid vehicles. I get to do my part to save the planet, while making a living.
Soon, the modifications to one of the dealership’s buildings will be complete and I’ll move into what we’re calling “Electric Avenue.” Never being content with following others, our dealer, Tom Durant is investing a lot of money in our EV & hybrid sales efforts.
I am proud to be a part of this great organization.
Most car dealers don’t have the foresight that Tom Durant has. Impressive.
Do you think there is more excitement over the Bolt than there was over the Volt?
I honestly cannot remember the buzz over the 2011 Volt. I wasn’t in the market for a car, at that time, so I don’t have any strong memories. However, the Bolt EV has hit a magic set of numbers: a) over 200 mile range and b) under $30K (after tax incentive). That has been seen as the “Holy Grail” of EV capability, in order to make EVs acceptable to the masses.
We will soon see if that is, in fact, a real tipping point. The Tesla Model 3 isn’t a good measure of public sentiment, because Tesla is so well marketed. Tesla Motors reminds me of Apple, when I worked at Apple. Everything the company produced was gobbled up in a feeding frenzy.
It seems that among EV, PHEV and Hybrid drivers, there is more excitement over the Bolt than the Volt. Partially because the number of EV drivers in the US is now in the hundreds of thousands.
In early 2010, very few people knew anyone else who owned an EV. There was little to no infrastructure for charging your vehicle if you did not live in the suburbs, and many people really thought the car could only drive 40 miles.
Technically, I think the general public awareness was higher leading up to the launch of the Volt than the Bolt. It was often not positive, however. GM was struggling and emerging from bankruptcy, FOX News had declared all out war on GM and the Volt. Chevy was having difficulty marketing the Volt simply as a great car. Not a science project or a green statement. And the economy at the time was in shambles.
I think that if Chevy really believes in this car, the Bolt can outperform the Volt while at the same time boosting Volt sales for first time EV drivers.