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GM Suspending Chevy Volt Output Due To Slow Sales

The Prof

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General Motors is halting, for a month, the manufacture of its well-known but seldom-sold Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car, according to trade publication Automotive News.

It would be the second interruption in production for the Volt, which can go 38 miles on battery power before needing a recharge from its gasoline engine or via a plug-in.

GM suspending Chevrolet Volt output due to slow sales

the obamamobile, what a pig

volt stopped production for 5 weeks in march, as well

no wonder govt motors yesterday declared that it didn't want to be seen with him

GM shuns political poster child role, bans candidate visits until after Election Day | General Motors news | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

who thinks gm is telling romney to stay away?

or ryan?

because, afterall, as the vp for global public affairs put it yesterday---even republicans and independents buy cars

what good is it if 50% of consumers decide for ford simply because of the politics, asks mr ewanik

auto rescue, anyone?
 
The Volt was a poor decision. It's just a Malibu with a big battery. Once again, the Japanese out-think us and offer 3 pretty cool little electromobiles that look like the 21st century, not the 20th.

Too bad, really.

However, I see some new stuff from GM that I like, such as the Sonic and the Spark.
 
GM suspending Chevrolet Volt output due to slow sales

the obamamobile, what a pig

volt stopped production for 5 weeks in march, as well

no wonder govt motors yesterday declared that it didn't want to be seen with him

GM shuns political poster child role, bans candidate visits until after Election Day | General Motors news | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

who thinks gm is telling romney to stay away?

or ryan?

because, afterall, as the vp for global public affairs put it yesterday---even republicans and independents buy cars

what good is it if 50% of consumers decide for ford simply because of the politics, asks mr ewanik

auto rescue, anyone?

There are already rumors that GM will need another bailout. What an irredeemable mess.
 
The Volt is built off the Cruze platform, not the Malibu
 
GM suspending Chevrolet Volt output due to slow sales

the obamamobile, what a pig

volt stopped production for 5 weeks in march, as well

no wonder govt motors yesterday declared that it didn't want to be seen with him

GM shuns political poster child role, bans candidate visits until after Election Day | General Motors news | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

who thinks gm is telling romney to stay away?

or ryan?

because, afterall, as the vp for global public affairs put it yesterday---even republicans and independents buy cars

what good is it if 50% of consumers decide for ford simply because of the politics, asks mr ewanik

auto rescue, anyone?

If 50% are buying Ford because Ford was not bailed out, it speaks poorly for Ford

If people are only buying your product because they dont want your competitors for political reasons, your product must not be very good
 
Thank you. Apparently started out on the Malibu platform and has migrated to the Cruze. Learn something every day.

The Volt is built off the Cruze platform, not the Malibu
 
Deduct those purchased by the federal government, those purchased by various other government entities with federal funds, those purchased with a government rebate, and what you have left is very close to none. Another government interference in the private sector gone wrong.
 
There are already rumors that GM will need another bailout. What an irredeemable mess.

GM is reported to have a cost advantage of $1000 per vehicle over Ford. Provided GM can continue to bring out competent vehicles that sell well (GM is number 1 or 2 for world wide sales) it should not need a bailout. Lets not mention the fact it is making as much money as Ford is.
 
Also from the article in the OP...

Volt demand has actually been healthier. GM sold 10,666 Volts through July, way up from the 2,870 sold during the same period a year earlier.
 
The Volt was a poor decision. It's just a Malibu with a big battery. Once again, the Japanese out-think us and offer 3 pretty cool little electromobiles that look like the 21st century, not the 20th.

Too bad, really.

However, I see some new stuff from GM that I like, such as the Sonic and the Spark.

The Volt is actually the first true series hybrid.

An electric car with an auxilliary generator for long trips.

Diesel locomotives are similar.

Other hybrid techs are less efficient, basically regular cars with an elwctric assist.

But its ugly like a butt. Generic and nondescript.

Tech win. Style fail.
 
The Volt is built off the Cruze platform, not the Malibu

The Cruze has a hybrid already, the Cruze Eco. Now while I personally own a Cruze, the Eco is just overpriced crap. The Volt is even worse. No wonder nobody is buying it.
 
Screw the Volt, I want a Tesla. Electric cars are only going to succeed when they look as sexy and awesome as a Model S, and perform as well.
 
Screw the Volt, I want a Tesla. Electric cars are only going to succeed when they look as sexy and awesome as a Model S, and perform as well.

Electric cars are only going to succeed if they have long-distance capability and super-fast recharging. If you only get to go 60 miles and then have to recharge for 8 hours, it's an utter failure. It doesn't matter what they look like.
 
Electric cars are only going to succeed if they have long-distance capability and super-fast recharging. If you only get to go 60 miles and then have to recharge for 8 hours, it's an utter failure. It doesn't matter what they look like.
ewe
The baseline Model S has a 150 mile charge, with the top line model holding a 300 mile charge, which for a suburban or city vehicle isn't bad at all.
 
If 50% are buying Ford because Ford was not bailed out, it speaks poorly for Ford

If people are only buying your product because they dont want your competitors for political reasons, your product must not be very good

I'm going to have to disagree with Mr. Ewanik on that. The Ford owners I know are diehard Ford guys, and buy Fords simply because they love Ford. I've had to drive Chevy's before, and it's easy for me to see why their sales are down. It has nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with Chevy cars being big ole pieces of ****. The only thing they make that's worth a damn is the Silverado, but even those have been lacking in quality recently. Just let them fail, they aren't the only automaker in the world.
 
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Couple of things. I'm no Obama supporter but the Volt was a long term project that actually started pre-bailout when G.W. was president independently of the government interference that started under the Obama administration. I'm no fan of the bailout because frankly GM should have gone into bankruptcy and then used that to "get lean" properly, subsidizing the company only allowed for poor decisions to be taxpayer subsidized. I HATED the Volt concept from the beginning, it was a half-assed attempt to convince the public that a hybrid was an electric with long range.............It's a hybrid. Third, stylistically it was a piece, I didn't like the "aggressive" version of the car that got scaled down to the Cruze specs which are pretty generic.

What was starting to be a very good GM concept in the mid-2000s of differentiating, increasing quality, and style turned back into "we'll just follow the leader" and I don't like it.
Rant off.
 
No Car company can market a vehicle to the mass's today at 40k plus. The volt could only play to a niche market to start with.
Americans are not going to buy cars they have to plug in until they have no other choices or gasoline cost gets a point its obviously cheaper to plug in.
 
No Car company can market a vehicle to the mass's today at 40k plus. The volt could only play to a niche market to start with.
Americans are not going to buy cars they have to plug in until they have no other choices or gasoline cost gets a point its obviously cheaper to plug in.
People would buy an electric if it actually was practical IMO. The thing is even look at my city, it's around 40 square miles in diameter so you factor that the long range on most electrics is 40 miles then you have a car that can't even exit a mid-sized city let alone go on a road trip, then there's the argument of short city drives, sure, but then if you get into heavy traffic situations, have something come up, etc. then the car is at a huge disadvantage. The drawback to gas is the supply/demand curve involved but it takes around 5 min. to fill up, more maximum HP, and longer range. Whereas the hybrids suffer from lack of power, expensive maintenance, etc. and the electrics fall quite short on range versus how long you have to charge them.
 
People would buy an electric if it actually was practical IMO. The thing is even look at my city, it's around 40 square miles in diameter so you factor that the long range on most electrics is 40 miles then you have a car that can't even exit a mid-sized city let alone go on a road trip, then there's the argument of short city drives, sure, but then if you get into heavy traffic situations, have something come up, etc. then the car is at a huge disadvantage. The drawback to gas is the supply/demand curve involved but it takes around 5 min. to fill up, more maximum HP, and longer range. Whereas the hybrids suffer from lack of power, expensive maintenance, etc. and the electrics fall quite short on range versus how long you have to charge them.


For all the reasons you mentioned is why GM made the volt a hybrid and not a full electric. Full electrics CANT do what you want them to do now, no matter who builds them..until they can increase battery life and distance and decrease the weight. They have made big strides in batteries and they are working feverishly to improve battery power and decrease the weight and charge times. Until they get that technology full electric cars are going nowhere and hybrids will be king.

To prove that point the Prius is a HUGELY popular car and outsells most cars in its class...its a hybrid but you can buy a version for 20k...if the volt was under 25k it may very well have been somewhat of a success...it was just too damn expensive for the average american. It was in lexus country
 
I said it before - the only people that buy Volt's are green fanatics and/or automotive ignoramuses.
 
The Volt is built off the Cruze platform, not the Malibu

Technically, it is built off of the Delta II platform which was actually developed in Germany by Opel (part of GM).

'Delta II is General Motors' future compact car platform, which was developed by Opel in Germany. It is the successor to the GM Delta platform. Internally it is simply known as a new Global Compact Vehicle Architecture or GCV.
The platform features a torsion beam rear suspension with optional Watt's link which improves vehicle handling; such configuration is used in the Opel Astra and some trim-levels of the American-market Chevrolet Cruze.[1][2]
GM chose this compact vehicle architecture for its first Voltec application, the Chevrolet Volt. Production began in November 2010 with the first Chevrolet Volts delivered to retails customers in December 2010'


GM Delta platform - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
How much does a brand new Chevy Volt cost? Total out the door price after taxes, tags, destination fees.....???????
 
Well over 40k I believe with all things included...its almost 40k base..without any options and I believe you would have a tough time finding the base car without an options package that puts it over 40k




2013 Chevrolet Volt Hatchback Base Price With Options


'nuff said...


Base price of Honda Civic is still under $20,000

The extra 20 grand saved by buying Honda can fuel Honda for how long?
 
'nuff said...


Base price of Honda Civic is still under $20,000

The extra 20 grand saved by buying Honda can fuel Honda for how long?


There ya go no one gets their money back on a volt....an electric/hybrid has to show value for americans to buy it ...the prius does that...its at a pricepoint that americans can afford and it gets enough mileage and performance to save them money comfortably...the volt never did that

If you drive over 15k a year the prius is a better value than the new civic...I would think anyway
 
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