GM Suspends Chevy Volt Production After Poor Sales

Spectre

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Via PC Magazine (and many other sources):

GM Suspends Chevy Volt Production After Poor Sales
By Mark Hachman

General Motors said Friday that it is temporarily suspending production of the Chevrolet Volt following disappointing sales.

General Motors told the Associated Press Friday that the company will shut down production of the Volt from March 19 until April 23, idling 1,300 workers at its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant.

GM sold sold 1,023 Volts in February and 603 in January, and fell short of its goal of selling 10,000 Volts last year, the AP reported.

"Even with sales up in February over January, we are still seeking to align our production with demand," GM spokesman Chris Lee told USA Today.

Backed by a patriotic ad campaign, the Volt has become, in part, a symbol for General Motors, which in 2008 and 2009 ago received a total of $52.4 billion in bailout packages from the Bush and Obama administrations.

In January, GM chairman and CEO Dan Akerson testified before the U.S. House Subcommittee to discuss the issues surrounding the Volt.

"Although we loaded the Volt with state-of-the-art safety features," Akerson explained, "we did not engineer the Volt to be a political punching bag. And that, sadly, is what it's become."

Chevrolet announced a low-emission version of the Chevrolet Volt last Thursday, designed to allow California drivers to drive solo in the state's carpool lanes. That, however, came too late for early Volt buyers in the Golden State.

The low-emissions Volt carries the standard MSRP of $39,900, a Chevrolet spokesman said last week. The Volt also qualifies for the $7,500 federal tax credit for ultra-low emissions vehicles as well as a $1,500 California state tax rebate.

Additional reporting by Andrew Webster.

For more from Mark, follow him on Twitter @MarkHachman.

Apparently nobody wants a Government Motors hybrid. Even dealers are saying "thanks but no thanks".
 
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So does this mean that Obama won't be able to buy his dream car next year when he leaves office?
 
Should be plenty left in stock, there's over 6000 of them in inventory and they only sold about 600 of them in January.

Keep in mind, this isn't the actual number sold to end users. GM books their sales by "how many got shipped to dealers," so the number of them that are actually on the streets are even less.
 
A colleague at work just bought one.
Any thoughts on why they're not selling unlike say a Prius which appear to be close to cockroach level numbers?
 
For starters, out the door a Volt is pretty close to $40,000 and a Prius is $21K. The Volt is not almost $20K better.

Also, the Volt may very well set your house on fire - there are multiple incidents of a Volt left in a garage starting a fire, and at least one where the burned out Volt tried to reignite itself days later.

Finally, Government Motors.
 
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Those reports were from crash test that the battery was left unattended inside the car for weeks that later on caught on fire. I have not seen a report that a non crash test volt burst into fire on its own.
 
Those reports were from crash test that the battery was left unattended inside the car for weeks that later on caught on fire. I have not seen a report that a non crash test volt burst into fire on its own.

Annnd now you have.

Non-crash-test Volt sets house on fire: http://www.wfsb.com/story/14813426/hybrid-car-may-have-sparked-garage-blaze-4-14-2011

The same unplugged Volt goes on fire again: http://www.wfsb.com/story/14813885/electric-car-catches-fire-again-4-18-2011
 
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For starters, out the door a Volt is pretty close to $40,000 and a Prius is $21K. The Volt is not almost $20K better.

Plus those with means have the Fisker and soon the Tesla as options as well. Those are a bit more pricey in turn, but they also don't have "Chevy" written on the back. Assuming the preorder numbers for both companies are true, then a fairly significant number of people have purchased, or are planning to purchase those vehicles instead of the Volt.
 
Plus those with means have the Fisker and soon the Tesla as options as well. Those are a bit more pricey in turn, but they also don't have "Chevy" written on the back. Assuming the preorder numbers for both companies are true, then a fairly significant number of people have purchased, or are planning to purchase those vehicles instead of the Volt.

Not to mention that if you want something that screams "HYBRID!" and you have $40,000 to burn, you can get the Lexus HS250h hybrid. Which not only doesn't say Chevy on the back, it costs a little less, doesn't look like a Star Trek shuttlecraft mated with a Cobalt, and actually is quite nice inside - it includes leather, for example. And, unlike the Volt, it actually has a usable trunk.

Or you even could spend $10K less and get a Lexus CT hybrid.
 
i wanna say that in the past year, i've only seen 3 Volts on the road, but chances are, i may of just seen the same Volt 3 times that same year.


it's not my kind of "green" car, and it seems to be the general consensus throughout the country.
 
i wanna say that in the past year, i've only seen 3 Volts on the road, but chances are, i may of just seen the same Volt 3 times that same year.


it's not my kind of "green" car, and it seems to be the general consensus throughout the country.

Pretty much. The general idea of the serial hybrid is a good one - most modern diesel freight locomotives use this principle - and when I first heard about this I thought that there might be some hope for GM. But the end product is just too expensive and it just isn't competitive in the marketplace. It's superior to a Prius in terms of the underlying tech... but it isn't ~$20K better and nobody trusts Chevy small-car reliability enough to take a chance at that price.
 
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Do you thinking coming out with the Cadillac Converj version would have helped, or just split sales?


To be honest, I have no idea. My off-the-cuff opinion is that it would split sales because I didn't really see all that much on the Converj that would have compelled people to change to the Cadillac variant. At least, not enough (again) to justify the price; the price differential vice the Lexus hybrids would be even worse. On the other hand, it was never finalized that I heard of, so who knows what features could have been included to make it worthwhile?
 
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It's price and image, the Prius is very well known (remember it has been around since the 90s), it's proven itself as a reliable car moving conveyance and it has a Toyota badge that STILL stands for quality and reliability for most people (less than before of course but still). It is also instantly recognizable as a tree hugger mobile so you can get your instant green cred and hog the left lane knowing that everyone knows you are saving the environment.

To make matters worse as Spectre mentioned there are a lot nicer hybrids out there that cost less, as another example a friend of mine has a fully loaded Camry hybrid (2011 model IIRC) that cost him a bit over $30K, we are talking leather, sat nav pretty much every option in the catalog. Yet it looks like a normal Camry and has a LOT more space than the Volt.
 
Gotcha, I guess there really is no sense in devoting much thought to a show car.

Just looked at some numbers, the CT is doing a lot better than I expected. I forgot about it after their ad campaign for it died down (although I did see one the other day while I was running).

And Toyota really has a Hybrid at pretty much every price point now. There's gotta be a ton of older Prius drivers getting ready to trade in their first Prius as the battery gets near the end of its warranty. Even with the uncertainty about the battery, there's no shortage of buyers (My Grandma lives in a county of 3000 and sold her car within days.)
 
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Wouw, so an overpriced overcomplicated ecobullshit-mobile did not work out in Americaland huh?

Who would have quessed :p
 
It will be interesting to see how the Vauxhall Ampera sells over here. At a price nearer to $45k before government subsidies.

Not well would be my guess. Again the badge will be the issue I reckon. It's asking people to pay fillet steak prices for a cheeseburger.
 
It will be interesting to see how the Vauxhall Ampera sells over here. At a price nearer to $45k before government subsidies.

Not well would be my guess. Again the badge will be the issue I reckon. It's asking people to pay fillet steak prices for a cheeseburger.

It's going to be back-end value that'll be emphasized as the sales point, which, of course, didn't work here. Although in UKania you do get more of that than you do here: lesser taxes due to lower CO2, no London Congestion Charge, diesel-level mileage and torque without having to have a diesel, etc. But that price point is going to be a killer. When you can get a titsed-up 1 Series (burn in hell, abomination) for the same price, you've got trouble. It's also competing against the Nissan Leaf in the Eco Hearts and Minds category, only without the tax breaks that make the Leaf's price tolerable.

When it comes to various parts of dead cow, I don't think anyone in UKania has ever had a well-made cheeseburger or knows what goes into making one. We Americans can do it at the premium fast-food level (I'd love to meet up with you and take you to Fuddrucker's, Matt; their cheeseburgers are at the level of filet), but there's nothing comparable in the Land of Warm Beer. This explains a great deal about Vauxhall. Over the years, they've thrown out some pretty premium cheeseburgers (the VX220, bringing in the Monaro, etc.), and they're even been tarting up their standard fast-food menu with premium ingredients (like the Insignia). But the Brits can't let go of the sub-Wimpy Bar material they've thrown at the country in the past. Yeah, it's going to take a lot for Vauxhall to get rid of their image, but they need to be given a chance. Vectra's dead, UKania; let it go.
 
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