Posted on 03/03/2012 8:15:02 AM PST by null and void
General Motors has temporarily suspended production of its Volt electric car, the company announced Friday.
GM, which is based in Detroit, announced to employees at one of its facilities that it was halting production of the beleaguered electric car for five weeks and temporarily laying off 1,300 employees.
A GM spokesman told The Hill on Friday that production of the Volt would resume April 23.
"We needed to maintain proper inventory and make sure that we continued to meet market demand," GM spokesman Chris Lee said in a telephone interview.
Lee noted that sales of the Volt were higher in February than they were in January, and added that California recently decided to allow the electric car to qualify for High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes in the state.
"We see positive trends, but we needed to make this market adjustment," he said.
The Chevy Volt has come under criticism from Republicans in Congress because of reports of its batteries catching on fire during testing. President Obama gave the electric vehicle a vote of confidence in a speech to the United Auto Workers union this week, promising he would buy a Volt "five years from now, when I'm not president anymore."
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.
Chevy has argued the debate about the Volt has become too political.
"We did not develop the Chevy Volt to be a political punching bag," General Motors CEO Daniel Akerson testified before Congress in the same January hearing. "We engineered the Volt to be a technological wonder."
Chevy has sought to give a boost to the public image of the Volt, releasing a commercial in January tying the Volt to the effort to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
"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.”
When does 0bama give a speech stating:
"It's not perfect but without it it would be MUCH worse"?
lol The concept of this "technological wonder" is well over 100 years old. There was a REASON manufacturers went with gasoline powered engines back then. Those same reasons apply today. The objective of the liberals today is to distort the markets to a point where gasoline is cost prohibitive compared to electricity. They are going to turn the world upside down to make this happen. This is going to TOTALLY screw those of us living in rural areas. They don't give a rat's ass about us anyway. We don't fit within their grand vision of America. The liberals will just tell us to move to the cities.
There just isn’t a market for it today.>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I agree, no market for the Volt, for a vehicle that catches fire or its charging stations catch fire.
Its a multi thousand dollar match stick. I definitely think Obama should drive one several hours each day. Maybe we would get lucky.
Lee noted that sales of the Volt were higher in February than they were in January, and added that California recently decided to allow the electric car to qualify for High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes in the state.
I saw a Volt state propaganda release and they called the Volt, the Extended Range Volt.
Is there a new version where they did something to the car so it goes farther on batteries or is this merely an advertizing weasel word?
Uuuuhhh, is the generator solar powered or wind powered? Curious minds want to know the details....:)))
Its an Albatross car.
Absolutely everything Obama has backed, or endorsed has or is about to fail.
Actually, that is code language to Obammie the Commie that he has to drive up gas-at-the-pump even higher if he wants to force Americans to drive this garbage (or opt for public(ly-funded) transportation)
I understand that the real reason to close the plant - and it’s only temporary - is to re-tool the plant for better fireproofing.
Reminds me of Jesse Racist Jackson with his stupid, “Keep hope alive Keep hope alive Keep hope alive Keep hope alive Keep hope alive Keep hope alive Keep hope alive”.
Reminds me of a picture of another dork riding in a tank.
Actually this piece of junk is a hybrid and you wouldn't need to stop at all, the car would simply switch to the small gas engine, thus becoming a CO2 polluting machine along with all the other gas burning cars on the road(no need for sarc tag there I don't think). This car does not get the so called mileage it claims for the simple fact that if you want to take a major trip you will be on Gas most of the way. Say you want to take a long road trip, one that would take at least two days to get there. That would mean running on gas for all but the first 25-40 miles on the first day and when you stopped for the night there would be no charging station waiting for you so it would be all Gas on the second day and probably all gas on the return trip also.
This electric car BS is just that, BS, until such times as really good batteries are invented, which my never happen. Even so, there is really very little advantage with electricity since it has to be generated with some type of fuel for the most part, in order to charge the batteries.
Electric cars are the invention of the left to try and force US citizens to give up their freedom to travel where ever they wish in their gas powered cars.
San Fagsisco has too many hills for the Chevy Dolt.
That would be the ‘Real World’ Volt that gets 25 miles on a battery charge instead of the 40 miles claimed. The Volt is the perfect example of a government program whereby one cannot pickup a turd by the clean end.
Last year, one of the UK papers decided to replicate the 19th century London-Glasgow Express Coach (pulled by horses) run using a cutting-edge 21st century electric car. The distance is slightly less than 400 miles. The horse-drawn coach took two days (including 1-1/2 hours to change teams every 20-25 miles). The EV took four days with 9 recharging stops averaging 8 hours. We certainly got a demonstration of 21st century technology and progress — didn't we?
It is not practical. SF has lots of hills, and lots of stop and go traffic. That stated 35mpg would probably equate to 20mpg or less in SF. In the last couple years, I have only seen one Volt in SF. There are lots of Priuses and other hybrids that cost less than half the price of the Volt in SF. People here tend to go for compact cars that fit in tiny parking spots, as parking is scarce. The money you save by not buying a Volt can fill a lot of parking meters.
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