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But Republicans have argued that the Volt was being pushed by the Obama administration for political reasons instead of consumer demand.

“Is the commitment to the American public or is the commitment to clean energy, that we are going to get there any way we can?” Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) asked in a hearing in the House in January about the Volt's reported battery fires.

“When the market is ready … it won’t have to be subsidized,” Kelly said.

1 posted on 03/02/2012 2:06:26 PM PST by Islander7
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To: Islander7

GM (General Motors) is in real trouble again!!! It is not only the Volt that has failed. The GM numbers released yesterday were horrible for the entire company. Why? In January, GM was giving the cars away. In the USA, GM is sadly lacking in profit performance. The really bright spots are foreign car sales, mainly in the PRC (People’s Republic of China). Obama has backed the wrong horse, once again, with billions and billions of taxpayer money wasted or dished out to useless labor unions and their greedy members!!! will the American people and voters ever wise up!!!


30 posted on 03/02/2012 2:32:20 PM PST by JLAGRAYFOX (My only objective is defeat and destroy POTUS Obama & his Democrat Party, politically!!!)
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To: Islander7

The Volt dead? No way. All ‘Ole Sparky needs is more advertising, a few billion more in subsidies, additional union labor, millions in Obama contributions, and of course, hope.


36 posted on 03/02/2012 2:41:59 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.)
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To: Islander7
The Chevy Volt is a niche product. GM could have made a decent profit on the Volt if them marketed it that way. They could have benefitted from the "Halo Effect" or having an interesting and innovative product.

But some ham-fisted moron in the government decided that the Chevy Volt was The Answer To Our Oil Dependency Problem, and that Americans would be better off if we bought a million of them. So they used their influence, as the new owners and masters of GM to demand that production be set at an artificially high level, because surely sales would follow.

It is easy to be fooled by the efficiency of American manufacturers and markets. You have a million moving parts, and somehow the right number of Chevy Cruzes get built and the right number of Ford F-150s get built. It is easy to figure that the single decision to build them is what drove the millions of individual decisions to buy them, because we are hard-wired to think that the cause comes before the effect. So if you build 100,000 Chevy Volts, the buyers will deus ex machina appear, because the buyers always seem to magically appear for every other product.

What the ham-fisted government employee fails to realize is that these decisions are made by intelligent professionals, with decades of experience and using every market research trick and tool they can devise. They don't just pull a number out of a hat, because they are betting Billions of their own Dollars on getting the answer right.

And, of course, sometimes they get it wrong, and they lose their shirts. History is littered with companies that bet the wrong way on a market and failed.

But when you work for the government, and you are betting with somebody else's money, you can just pull an attractive sounding number out of your arse and figure it will all work out. And if it doesn't, it just means the taxpayer is on the hook for a little bit more, so it's no big deal.

38 posted on 03/02/2012 2:46:35 PM PST by Haiku Guy ("The problem with Internet Quotes is that you never know if they are real" -- Abraham Lincoln)
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To: Islander7
COMING SOON TO A DEALER NEAR YOU Photobucket
39 posted on 03/02/2012 2:54:28 PM PST by Huskrrrr
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To: Islander7

“We needed to maintain proper inventory” = We can’t sell the cars we are making.


41 posted on 03/02/2012 2:55:52 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.)
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To: Islander7
“When the market is ready … it won’t have to be subsidized,” Kelly said.

In other words, Kelly, it will be subsidized for 50 years or so.

42 posted on 03/02/2012 2:59:33 PM PST by Right Wing Assault (Dick Obama is more inexperienced now than he was before he was elected.)
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To: Islander7

Hey, I have an idea! Maybe he could make another “compromise” with the Catholic Church and require each church buy ten Volts apiece. And if they didn’t want to do that, he could make their insurance companies buy them for the churches. And then all those laid-off lazy ass people could go back to being overpaid, lazy ass auto workers. Problem solved!!


43 posted on 03/02/2012 3:03:35 PM PST by Right Wing Assault (Dick Obama is more inexperienced now than he was before he was elected.)
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To: Islander7

These high gas prices are going to really hurt GM, and I am almost sure that unless Newt can get in an implement his energy plan, within two or three years we are going to be faced with another GM failure. Why do I say this? Because, yes, they may sell more smaller vehicles, BUT, they are at risk of selling LESS SUVs and trucks, which is where their profit is generated.


45 posted on 03/02/2012 3:11:37 PM PST by mtrott
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To: Islander7

Wherever he is, Edsel Ford heaves a big sigh of relief while Alessandro Volta is really P.O.’d.

Another side benefit will be that the enviro nutcases will stop claiming that the EV-1 was killed by a massive conspiracy. OK, probably not.


48 posted on 03/02/2012 3:21:31 PM PST by Locomotive Breath
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To: Islander7
.. we continued to meet market demand


FU!GM & FU!Ø

49 posted on 03/02/2012 3:25:58 PM PST by tomkat (FU.baraq)
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To: Islander7

1300 Union thugs get a paid holiday for this lemon.

Pray for America


51 posted on 03/02/2012 3:34:34 PM PST by bray (More Batting Practice for the Bambino)
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To: Islander7

No big deal to the workers. Just vacation paid for by the unions using taxpayer money taken from the people by a bi-partisan congress and an American hating president.


55 posted on 03/02/2012 4:05:41 PM PST by Terry Mross ("It happened. And we let it happen." - Peter Griffin)
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To: Islander7

The movie theater we most often attend has six parking spaces designated for electric cars (so they can charge up while in the movie). They are always empty. I have never seen a car in them. Oh, and they are closer to the entrance than the handicap parking.


58 posted on 03/02/2012 4:33:25 PM PST by NavyCanDo
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To: Islander7

From the Detroit Free Press, sale of vehicles made at Detroit Hamtrack for Feb.

Buick Lucerne, 304 -88.2% from last year.
Cadillac DTS, 68 -95.5% from last year.
Chevrolet Volt, 1,023 +264.1 from last year.

Gut call, fleet sales for the Volt. DHam is shutting down because off the cars made there aren’t sell worth s**t.


59 posted on 03/02/2012 5:08:06 PM PST by Springman (Rest In Peace YaYa123 and Bahbah.)
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To: Islander7
"This isn’t just the car we wanted to build,” a narrator says in the commercial over footage of Volts being manufactured in Hamtramck, Mich. “This is the car America had to build.”

Somehow, one can just tell when a lie is premeditated by a committee.

.

62 posted on 03/02/2012 7:43:58 PM PST by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
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