Posted on 08/07/2014 8:59:37 PM PDT by smokingfrog
Chevrolet Chief Marketing Officer Tim Mahoney told the industry seminars in Traverse City, Mich., that General Motors will show the next-generation Chevrolet Volt at the Detroit auto show in January. But he also told me that GM considers Volt “not a mass-market” vehicle any longer.
The next generation of GM’s groundbreaking plug-in hybrid is expected to arrive in showrooms sometime late next year. It will sport a third seat in the rear and feature a downsized 1.0-liter, three-cylinder engine compared with the current 1.4-liter, four-cylinder engine, Automotive News reported. Mahoney promised the industry audience improvements from technology to design.
But actual sales of Volt don’t matter much anymore. Through July, sales were down 9 percent compared with a year earlier. When GM introduced the car with much fanfare in 2010, former CEO Dan Akerson projected production of 60,000 Volts in 2012 alone. Instead, GM has sold a grand total of only 65,000 Volts in nearly four years.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Will the government buy them all?
It seems like most of them are here in Silicon Valley.
From the article, it sounds like they’re popular in California, but not many other places.
would they be as popular without the subsidies?
In San Jose, I see lots more Teslas than Volts.
by keeping GM alive, they’re only hurting Tesla Motors. Every dollar going to GM means a dollar that is not going to Tesla thus delaying electric cars development
We have about 4 smart cars that we see in our town. My kids just laugh (because tbey have a dark sense of humor like moi).......and wonder when they’re going to die. I say they look like a wheelchaired coffin on wheels.
Honda’s new FCEV ([hydrogen]Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle) is going to get 300+ miles on a tank of H2 and eat the Chevy Dolt alive when it goes on sale for the 2015 model year.
http://automobiles.honda.com/honda-fcev/
http://www.caranddriver.com/news/honda-fcev-concept-news
http://www.slashgear.com/honda-fcev-concept-teases-2015-fuel-cell-car-21306488/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MUxM4EKRJU
Duh.
"Satisfied?" Of course. that was a given before purchase (partial purchase, actually; and "a big shout-out and THANKS" to all you US taxpayers.)
Rarely driven, but always parked in front, and hoped to be the topic of conversation.
These alleged autos were bought to be pretentiously conspicuous displays of enviro-solidarity with...um...well, whatever. It only matters that you see it, and know who drove it.
BTW, my guess is that the average annual miles driven for the "volt" is less than 5,000. (Their owners have real cars for actual transportation.)
.
64,000 of them are in the SF Bay Area.
Just Google "Smart Car Crashes". You'll see everything you need to know.
Probably not. CA has their own clean vehicle rebate program.
https://energycenter.org/clean-vehicle-rebate-project
Have yet to see a single Volt on the road here.
I’ve only seen a few of them around Houston. Of course, if you’re out on the open road you will rarely see one since they don’t have very much range.
and the real goal of both is to hurt in whatever insignificant way they can, Toyota et al which are the real American made cars now. The Toyota, Honda, and VW plants are employing many, many Americans.
Many more than GM and Tesla can ever hope to. And if the government with-drew support, GM is done for good.
Unless O can pull of a Fiat type deal for GM with Yugo or some Indian car company.
“It’s done a tremendous amount to conquest new buyers,”
This guy Mahoney sounds like a politician, fluent in doublespeak. The truth of the matter is that the Volt is a car that nobody asked for, that nobody wants, and that nobody would buy without the government subsidy. It is GM’s Edsel, and cannot turn a profit for the company.
Also, I didn’t know “conquest” was a verb. He’s probably a product of government schools.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.