Honda, Fiat Stick To Minimal Numbers Of Popular Electric Cars
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With a little price war on electric cars taking place in California, there are waiting lists for the Honda Fit EV, and this year's production of Fiat 500e may be sold out.
That means that Fiat and Honda will boost production to meet demand, right?
Wrong.
We've now talked to both carmakers, and neither has any intention of upping production beyond their originally planned numbers.
Compliance cars only
Remember, each of these cars is a compliance car--a vehicle built and sold only in California (and a handful of other states) in just enough volume to meet its zero-emission vehicle requirements, which started in 2012.
While its engineers produced a delightful electric car--perhaps nicer than the original gasoline Fiat 500--Fiat has said many times that every 500e will be built at a loss and the company is only selling the car because it has to.
Honda is equally dismissive of battery-electric cars, despite it too having built a fun, powerful, capable electric car.
Its position is indicated by its plans to lease just 1,100 Fit EVs over the three-year regulatory period--they're not for sale at any price.
After that it will take them back, relieving itself of 10 years' worth of parts and maintenance obligations. The fate of the cars themselves? We're not optimistic.
When Honda cut the lease price on the Fit EV, it was quickly swamped with orders--and had to apologize for the long waits.
Honda: pace won't change
But Steve Center, Honda's vice president of environmental business development, said in June that the company's pace of Fit EV production for the hand-built electric conversion won't change.
Each month, Honda's U.S. distribution arm will continue to receive 40 to 50 Fit EVs and allocate them to dealers based on the demand at the time.
That's because Honda assembles the hand-built electric conversion at the same low-volume factory that builds its FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle.
Parts for those cars are ordered in very small batches, and there's little ability to "ramp up" production as you might on a conventional assembly.
Each of Honda's 200 electric-car-certified dealers will get one Fit EV at a time, potentially meaning one every four months.
If you're in fourth position on the waiting list, that means you might wait more than a year for a car.
Sold out, no plans to change
Ten days ago, we chatted with Jason Stoicevich, Fiat's new U.S. chief, during a Chrysler-Fiat drive event at the Chrysler Proving Grounds in Chelsea, Michigan.
Perhaps due Fiat's intriguing "Environmentally Sexy" marketing campaign for the 500e, was it true that the first year of production had already sold out--even before the first electric 500 arrives at a Fiat Studio this month?
"The 2013 model year [of the 500] through the fourth quarter is pretty much spoken for," Stoicevich confirmed. "The demand is absolutely fantastic."
OK, then would Fiat boost its production numbers if demand remained strong?
"We have no plans to turn it up," he said.
Stoicevich did note that the Fiat 500e is bringing in new buyers to Fiat Studios, with more than 80 percent of buyers and lessees new to the brand.
"It's a halo car" for Fiat in California, he said, "in a very, very difficult market to do business in."
So if you want a Honda Fit EV or Fiat 500e, be prepared to get on multiple waiting lists, be prepared to persevere--and be prepared to wait.
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I wonder if one reason that Nissan and Chevy get most of the plug-in sales is that there is little competition. If the competition was more aggressive, might we see the Nissan and Chevy Plug-in sales drop as buyers move to competitors? For now, it is probably good for chevy and Nissan that there is not much competition to steal their volume away.
Ghosn and Musk will likely keep on smiling for some time...
Nissan has proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a battery electric car can be successful and profitable when made in production - Nissan have three factories building them around the world.
If Honda and Fiat did similarly, I think they could easily match or even outsell the Leaf and make substantial profits, especially as both of their offerings, stylistically speaking, have more mainstream appeal, which I think is important to EVs.
Maybe they think this EV fad will just go away but by the time Honda starts tossing its Fit EVs in the shredder Tesla should have its affordable sedan out...
Since each and every of the 200 approved dealers has a wait list of many customers, what exactly does this mean? The dealer with the longest wait list gets the most vehicles??
Talking to few potential buyers, I think the main benefit with the Honda FitEV's draw is the "UNLIMITED MILEAGE" instead of the monthly price. To many high mileage drivers and with work place charging, that unlimited mile will more than pay for their gas bill per month and they are afraid to comit to existing plugins since they feel the technology is changing quickly and they don't want to get stuck with the existing offering. Honda's leasing program is the BEST ONE out there since it is the ONLY one that allows unlimited mileage.
I am still curious about how the 500e plan number and how it is "sold out".
So they make overweight, overpriced and overteched EV's and say see how costly they are.
Yet using a composite body/chassis with even cheap lead batteries and Forklift EV tech a 80 mph, 80 mile range aero EV could be made with a 20% sales profit at $10k in real mass production.
But we get the crap they put out.
But look at a company that wants to sell EV's like Tesla which is going to hurt big auto as it already has cut Euro Lux car sales in the lux sport sedan to negative rates at lower costs.
Even if you compare the present EV's to their real competition, BMW's, etc high tech cars as they should, the EV's are already cheaper.
Please.
For some interesting attempts to do similar things that show just how incredibly difficult that might be, check out the considerable press around the results of the Automotive X Prize.
So . . .
Also, did the dealer actively sell the car or is it something that you decided to get regardless of whether dealer pushes for it or not.
I think the only way they have us is that it is difficult to impossible to finance a conversion. But in the long run...?
Have an opinion? Join the conversation!