The Chevy Volt sales fiasco (Sales fall 35% in March, to a paltry 1,478 units)

American Thinker ^ | 04/03/2013 | Thomas Lifson

[SeekAndFind]

President Obama and eco-mandarins around him made a very bad call when they calculated that a mix of appeals to greenies, lavish subsidies, and a marketing push from General Motors could convince the public to buy lithium-ion battery-powered electric cars in commercial quantities. The program has been an utter failure, with Volt sales falling 35% in March, on a year-to-year basis, to a paltry 1,478 units - roughly one Volt sale every other month per dealership.

Mark Modica of the National Legal and Policy Center has assembled the grim data.

GM's excuses for the poor performance seem to be drying up as quickly as the demand for the Volt. During GM's sales conference call, management claimed that sales are "stable" and that they are "feeling good about the trend." Such dishonesty brings into question GM's credibility.

In the past, GM claimed that lack of supply was the reason for low Volt sales. In addition, GM indignantly blamed a Republican conspiracy to hurt Volt sales as a contributing factor to the dismal sales figures for the car. Regarding supply, a recent search on cars.com showed that 6,804 new Chevy Volts are available nationwide. That's about a five months supply! The problem is obviously a lack of demand as GM produced 2,722 Volts in March; over a thousand more than needed.

GM and the Obama Administration have done what they can to prop up sales of the Volt and give the false appearance of success. Lease terms were manipulated to manufacture demand, as GM even admitted. Crony Corporation General Electric (supplier of charging stations) agreed to purchase 15,000 of the vehicles.

Localities, and even the military, used taxpayer dollars to purchase Volts. And worst of all, wealthy buyers of the Volt receive a federal tax credit of $7,500 each

[Doctor 2Brains]

How could this be? It’s almost as cool as a 1970 Chevelle LS-6! At least, that’s what they tell me.

[bray]

Praise Obama for all those union jobs and benies.

Pray for America

[pepsionice]

By the time you consider various gov’t friendly-companies, and the fed’s themselves...that’s the only folks buying the vehicles. It’s a dud, plain and simple. I don’t see how it keeps getting produced as you get into 2014 and 2015.

It’d be curious to know who in the federal government are buying these, and how they are being used.

I think the end result will be the fed guys admitting that it was a vehicle ahead of its time, and all will be retired by 2016 to be sold off for scrap.

[Smokin' Joe]

Obama’s Edsel...

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

The president with the fecal touch. A true brown thumb.

[immadashell]

Such dishonesty brings into question GM's credibility.

How can that be? I mean, it's a government owned entity selling a product no private sector business would touch. It's falling flat on its face and the government solution is to lie about it, deny the popularly known losses and continue the program in the age old government fashion of failed social programs -- throw more tax payer money at it. This is just a prelude to the upcoming upcoming ZeroCare fiasco. Get used to it.

[laplata]

The president with the fecal touch. A true brown thumb.

---

Exactly! That’s good.

This evil man has done absolutely nothing that’s good or decent for our country.

[Venturer]

LMAO. You got him pegged.

as for the Volt, who is stupid enough to pay $35,000 dollars for a Volt when they can buy a real car from Toyota(Prius) for $20,000.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

I’ve been questioning GM’s credibility for years now.

[Iron Munro]

Another Obama boondoggle.

The Volt is a total fiasco.

The majority of Volt sales have been to the government.
And if it wasn’t for extensive government subsidies there would have been almost no sales to the general public.

[Jack Hydrazine]

If they put a diesel engine in it that gave it a 50mpg rating it would sell quite well.

[Cyman]

That still makes it the fastest selling automobile in America with the name Volt.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

I would imagine you could part it out for well over $35k.

[jimsin]

'.... buy a real car from Toyota....'

BETTER YET FOR THAT KIND OF MONEY YOU CAN BUY TWO (2) LOW MILEAGE 2011 FORD CROWN VIC V 8's

YES! POWERFUL BODY ON FRAME SIDE AIR-BAGGED floating sofas....think of it small grasshoppers.... all that glass steel and rubber for a measly FIFTEEN THOUSAND APIECE. AND YOU'D have a MAN'S car.. A MUSCLE CAR...a SAFE CAR... not a rolling wobbly cave with narrow windows you can barely see out of..... and one you could easily die in before the jaws of life cuts you out of post head-on with A VIC..... THINK, FOOLISH GRASSHOPPERS, THINK !

THE CROWN VIC A PREMIER AMERICAN MUSCLE CAR, IT IS

[MarineBrat]

They could triple its range overnight, and chop the price in half, and I still wouldn’t touch a gub’mint motors POS. At least Hitler knew a little about economics and ROI when putting his muscle behind the VW. Our commie rat bastard in chief is one of the most ignorant people in history to have achieved a position of power. It’s staggering to see what is happening to US at his evil hands.

[laplata]

The most frustrating thing about all this is the absolute ignorance and complacency of most Americans.

[bicyclerepair]

America has become an Idiocracy.

[Doctor 2Brains]

I LOVE the Crown Vic, Bro! And I’ve been mourning ever since they stopped makin’ ‘em and the Town Car, too. Size, leather, power, conservative, manly, American styling! What a machine!