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Reuters reports that General Motors "is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds." This is no shocker, but it should be an alarm to voters who think this president deserves another term. A little more than two weeks ago, the Obama administration released rules mandating a near-doubling of gas mileage standards for cars sold in the U.S. The mandate will not be met at no expense. The industry can't magically build fleets that average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 without steep cost increases just because politicians and bureaucrats demand that it does. If automakers are...

This is getting redundant. If you want investment losses for tax purposes, Barack Obama is your guy.Now, if the country could only figure out how to write off the five trillion dollars we’ve lost during his presidency. As the man said: A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon were talking about Barack Obama.      Readers of my column know that there are few things that I dislike more than the Chevy Volt. I don’t like the inflated claims that government-corporate elites make about it; I don’t like that it costs more than a normal car to keep it...

(Reuters) - General Motors Co sold a record number of Chevrolet Volt sedans in August — but that probably isn't a good thing for the automaker's bottom line. Nearly two years after the introduction of the path-breaking plug-in hybrid, GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds, according to estimates provided to Reuters by industry analysts and manufacturing experts. GM on Monday issued a statement disputing the estimates. Cheap Volt lease offers meant to drive more customers to Chevy showrooms this summer may have pushed that loss even higher.

* GM losing as much as $49,000 per Volt sold * Cheap leases likely only exacerbate the losses * GM still years away from break even on the car * New plug-in competitors soon from Ford, Honda Sept 10 (Reuters) - General Motors Co sold a record number of Chevrolet Volt sedans in August - but that probably isn't a good thing for the automaker's bottom line. Nearly two years after the introduction of the path-breaking plug-in hybrid, GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds, according to estimates provided to Reuters by industry analysts...

General Motors will temporarily close the Detroit-area plant that makes the Chevrolet Volt next month to control inventory and prepare to make a new model. Spokesman Bill Grotz says the factory will be off-line to match supply with demand and prepare to build the 2014 Chevrolet Impala. He wouldn't say how long. Grotz says GM is happy with its supply of electric Volts. The plant also makes Chevrolet Malibus.

DETROIT -- General Motors plans to idle the plant where it assembles the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid for four weeks starting next month, two people familiar with the plans said. GM will close its Detroit-Hamtramck plant from Sept. 17 until Oct. 15, one of the sources said. Union representatives last week told the plant's roughly 1,500 workers about the scheduled downtime, the source said. GM also notified suppliers last week, according to another source in the supply chain. A GM spokesman wouldn't confirm whether the company planned to idle the plant. "We don't comment on production schedules," the spokesman said....

Struggling hybrid carmaker Fisker Automotive named Tony Posawatz, a General Motors veteran who oversaw production of the Chevy Volt, its new CEO on Tuesday, making him the third executive to helm the startup in a year. Lead Fisker board director Ray Lane of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the auto company's largest investor, said Tuesday he has known Posawatz for a couple of years and recruited him to replace Tom LaSorda, who was named CEO in February. LaSorda, a veteran of Chrysler and GM, had replaced company founder Henrik Fisker. Lane said Fisker originally envisioned...

It seems that the supply of taxpayer money available to support the Chevy Volt is never ending. Add the Department of Defense to the list of agencies tapping into the seemingly endless taxpayer funds to purchase Volts, as reported by Stripes.com. The US Military is buying Volts just as a recent poll at GM-Volt.com reveals that over 12% of Volt owners have had electrical problems with the vehicle. A Marine Corps (pronounced "kawr", not "kawrps") Air Station in Miramar California received a couple of the Volts last month. Chris Manis, deputy director of installations and logistics, spoke of the Marines'...

Spyker, the Dutch supercar firm and owner of Saab, hit General Motors with a $3 billion lawsuit Monday, claiming GM forced Saab into bankruptcy and interfered with a potential deal with Chinese investors that could have saved the company. Spyker is suing on behalf of Saab, assuming legal costs in exchange for a significant proportion of any potential award. Saab went into bankruptcy in December 2011. The lawsuit also says GM interference prevented an agreement with Chinese investor Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. Ltd., which would have allowed Saab to restructure. In court papers, Spyker said GM's motivation was to...

'Naturally', Obama's helping to pay for it The dangerous, unloved, taxpayer-subsidized debacle of a 'green' experiment known as the Chevy Volt is now being featured as the centerpiece of still more taxpayer-subsidized, anti-free-enterprise enviromento-social engineering: a low energy residential project touted as a new kind of 'Smart Community'. 'Pecan Street' is a project in Austin, Texas, and known unofficially as 'Chevy Volt Village' at GM and the US Energy Department, which now chipped-in $10.4M in taxpayer money in-addition to all the bailouts, grants, $7500-per-customer government retail subsidies and Soviet-style central-planning that made Government Motors' overpriced, plug-in-P.O.S. possible in the first place. GM is calling...

In mid-2008, General Motors was a failing company. Unable to unload their product line of gas guzzlers, the wrong cars and trucks to be trying to sell at a time of record high gasoline prices, the company's high union-driven high labor costs were combined with the extremely high pension and health care costs it had awarded its unions in better times, the company was quickly heading for bankruptcy and quite possibly for liquidation. In that environment, GM decided to bet big on a new mass market production car, one that could deliver 50 miles per gallon - more than double...

The Jurassic Press is missing much in their reporting on the $50 billion bailout of General Motors (GM). The Press is open channeling for President Barack Obama - allowing him to frame the bailout exactly as he wishes in the 2012 Presidential election. The President is running in large part on the bailout’s $30+ billion loss, uber-failed “success.” And the Press is acting as his stenographers. An epitome of this bailout nightmare mess is the electric absurdity that is the Chevrolet Volt. The Press is at every turn covering up - rather than covering - the serial failures of President...

For those who only hear about these failing companies one by one, the following is a list of all the clean energy companies supported by President Obama’s stimulus that are now failing or have filed for bankruptcy. The liberal media hopes you’ve forgotten about all of them except Solyndra, but we haven’t. Evergreen Solar SpectraWatt Solyndra (received $535 million) Beacon Power (received $43 million) AES’ subsidiary Eastern Energy Nevada Geothermal (received $98.5 million) SunPower (received $1.5 billion) First Solar (received $1.46 billion) Babcock & Brown (an Australian company which received $178 million) Ener1 (subsidiary EnerDel received $118.5 million) Amonix (received...

On June 28, 1969, gays, lesbians, and their transgendered friends took to the streets of New York, protesting the harassment they'd experienced at the hands of the city's police force. The violence -- now known as the Stonewall Riots -- lasted for several days and altered the way that Americans viewed their LGBT neighbors. Forty-three years down the road, things have changed dramatically. We have an array of LGBT characters on TV and in movies. We have a president who's come out in favor of marriage equality. And with only a couple of exceptions, most of America's major corporations --...

BEIJING -- The Warren Buffet-backed Chinese carmaker BYD Co. defended the safety of its e6 electric car Tuesday after the vehicle was involved in a fiery collision that killed three people and raised new concerns about one of China’s most ambitious companies. BYD, which was considered one of China’s most promising brands just a few years ago, said Saturday's crash in the southern city of Shenzhen took place after a drunk driver in a Nissan GT-R coupe, speeding at 112 mph, slammed into an e6 taxi, killing the driver and two passengers. The driver of the Nissan sports car fled...

I wonder how much CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere when a Chevy Volt explodes? The list of required knowledge for first responders gets longer all the time. Now firefighters are being alerted to potential danger during rescue procedures involving hybrid or electric vehicles... At a conference of in Las Vegas this weekend, the National Fire Protection Association provided a day of training for trainers — firefighters who will return home to share with their ranks practical knowledge about the cars. Safely disabling the the batteries tops the list. High-voltage batteries that operate the vehicle systems carry enough juice to...

Many Americans view the bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler more favorably these days, believing incorrectly that the government made money or broke even on them. But the view grows a lot more negative when the actual price tag is attached. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 20% of American Adults now believe the government made money on the billions in taxpayer dollars given to the two automakers to keep them afloat, while 19% more say the government broke even. However, a plurality (46%) recognizes that the government lost money on the auto bailouts. Fifteen percent (15%)...

The WSJ yesterday reported that auto company executives are skeptical regarding the prospects for plug-in electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt. The skepticism was displayed at the annual Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress. Among the skeptics was General Motors' executive director of powertrain-engine engineering, Sam Winegarden (in photo). It seems that not all criticism of the Chevy Volt and cars like it are driven by a right-wing conspiracy to enrich oil companies. Mr. Winegarden presented a chart comparing the amount of energy delivered by a given volume or mass of fuel. According to the article, "On his chart,...

The Chevy Volt — manufactured by bailout recipient General Motors, championed by President Barack Obama and touted as a solution to global warming. No wonder it’s become an election-year punching bag for conservatives. From Rush Limbaugh to Mitt Romney, critics on the right have tried to turn the electric-gasoline plug-in hybrid car into a synonym for Big Government overreach. Fox News business anchor Neil Cavuto recently called it a “Fred Flintstone car” and the “dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.” “It’s going to lead to a lot of divorces,” Cavuto said, theorizing that spouses will fight over who forgot to charge...

"My husband (JDHCalif) wrote a lengthy review and I wanted to add my 2 cents. We are actually now getting nearly 130mpg per day because his company installed an electrical outlet in his office parking area. The car costs about $2 to fully charge at PG&E rates and each full charge takes the car about 45 miles. Even though we drive 130 mile+ daily commutes we are burning almost no gas...not insignificant in CA where gas is now $4.63 per gallon. The Volt is proving to be more than twice as economical as our Prius...and it drives so much better...