Posted on 03/04/2012 5:24:47 PM PST by tobyhill
On Friday, GM announced it was halting production of the Chevrolet Volt until April, so as to maintain “proper inventory levels.” Sales of the electric vehicle have been disappointing, with the company missing its target of 10,000 Volts sold last year. Why hasn’t the car caught on?
GM executives have said the recent frenzy over a Volt battery fire in crash tests has hurt sales. On the merits, the fires weren’t a huge concern — the Volts only caught fire days or weeks after extreme lab testing, and according to a government investigation they’re no more likely to catch fire than gas-powered automobiles. Still, panicky headlines ensued. Conservatives started denouncing the company (Rush Limbaugh called GM “a corporation that’s trying to kill its customers”). And GM needed to retrofit new vehicles. Add that up, and GM sold only 603 Volts in January, down from 1,520 in December.
But the scare over batteries is only a partial explanation. After all, Volt sales rebounded in February to 1,023 vehicles sold, and it looks like the fire scare is slowly subsiding. But neither the pre-panic nor post-panic numbers were anywhere near the rate needed to meet GM’s goal of 45,000 Volt deliveries this year.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The Chevy in my driveway is the last Chevy on the premises.... go pound sand ZERO....
Pretty much!
Saw one in my area a month or so back.
Driven by a “teen or twenty something” looking lady, yapping on a cellphone.
She near drove into me head on.
Don’t forget, when the battery is exhausted at 30 miles, you can switch to the ICE. It’s a plug-in hybrid.
So you have the privilege of paying for two powerplants in the car: the batteries + electric motor and the ICE. Might be easier to tow a spare car around town.
Huh? Was that guy's house that burned down an "extreme lab?"
I’ve been been so detrameanend. twas horrirribble.
Best line I’ve seen so far was the one congratulating GM for inventing the external combustion engine.
Volt’s problem is price.
Prius is proved by over 1 million sales, at much lower cost.
nICE LIKE
One indication that even the left is acknowledging what a disaster the Volt is comes from the fact that a couple of days ago their online sock-puppets started repeating talking points claiming the car was designed during the Bush administration. When they start blaming it on Bush, you know it’s a failure.
It is not just the volt. It is my severe distaste for Commie Motors. No Gumermint Motors, No Italian Chevy/Dodge for me. POUND SAND ZEROIST MARXISTS!!!
Snicker ..... :-)
Maybe it’s because instead of that new car smell it’s got the Lord-of-the-Flies-Obama-pheromone odor about it.
I see what you did there....
If you wanted a decent ultra efficient car, then you probably should buy a Prius which costs less than half as much, has proven reliability, doesn’t spontaneously burst into flame and is built and guaranteed by Toyota which is a much better and more honest company than Government Motors.
Sorry, GM was dead to me as soon as dealerships were stolen and stockholders cheated.
There wasn’t much news coverage at the time, and crickets ever since. Does anyone know if there are lawsuits working their way up the legal system. This is a Constitutional issue, after all.
How much does it cost to recharge per mile?
Is that really what it looks like? Somehow I haven’t seen any ads for it. That looks like it was already kind of crushed from the top.
Show me your math on the Prius costing less than half as much, please.
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