Sales Figures for the Ford Edsel; the greatest automotive flop of All-Time:
1958: 63,110
1959: 44,891
1960: 2,848
U.S. Population 1960: 179,323,175
Chevy Volt Sales Figures:
2010: 2,029
2011: 5,000 (approx. figure through 10 months; @ 10/31/11).
U.S. Population 2010: 308,745,538; a 72.17% increase over 1960 figures.
Sales totals for the respective first two model years will be approximately 92% less for the Volt than the Edsel within a approximate 72% larger population. That is a sales performance level well above 99% worse than the previous greatest U.S. auto model failure ever; well in excess of a 10-sigma event.
Oh; and the Edsel was made by a private business, without government (taxpayer) funded R&D, without a government (taxpayer) funded financing arm (Ally Financial); and without a government (taxpayer) funded $7,500 tax credit to buyers.
That’s an excellent comparison.
One more thing you can add to your last paragraph. President Eisenhower didn’t make any pledges to FoMoCo to buy Edsel’s for government use.