People think the e-Golf won't sell very well

[marta]

According to Forbes, the Volkswagen e-Golf electric vehicle is merely a 'stop-gap' until the Golf GTE plug-in hybrid arrives.

VW, Europe’s biggest car manufacturer, said the E-Golf will go on sale in the U.S. in the fall, although the company is reluctant to talk about likely volumes.

Their main argument is that the price of the e-Golf, which will sell for the US equivalent of $48,000 (taxes included), is a niche model.

According to Frost & Sullivan analyst Nicolas Meilhan, the VW E-Golf isn’t going to be a big seller for VW, but the plug-in hybrid will be.

However, the Golf GTE isn't coming to the US, which is currently the world's largest electric vehicle market, so that seems to be a little ironic...

 

[GetOffYourGas]

A VW representation at the NYIAS told me that it costs a lot of money to qualify a model for import. What she didn't say (but I already knew) is that VW has to sell the e-Golf in the US to meet CARB requirements. This suggests to me that maybe VW decided it wasn't worth bringing both to the US, and dropped the GTE in favor of the e-Golf. I question how much VW really wants to be the world leader in electrification.

When the car gets here, the actual price will be very important (and very telling). They will have to compete against a Leaf which starts under $30k. I prefer the look and stance of the Golf, but not $18k worth! I'm guessing it will be in the $35k-$40k range. At that price, it will be priced with the top-end Leaf and the Focus EV. If available nationwide, and advertised, it could sell well (1000+ per month), but if VW doesn't push it, the car will probably flop.