Consumers Reject Chevy Volt

National Legal & Policy Center ^ | March 10, 2011 | Peter Flaherty

[jazusamo]

Part 4: GM by the Numbers

Last week, the Volt, GM's signature hybrid vehicle, turned in a lackluster performance in its first series of road tests by Consumer Reports. CR told Reuters on Monday that "when you look at the finances, [the Volt] doesn't make any sense." The publication went on to note that the Volt was "not particularly efficient as an electric vehicle and not particularly good as a gas vehicle... This is going to be a tough sell to the average consumer."

GM and the Feds are betting the farm - and their credibility - on the Volt. As Truth About Cars editor Edward Niedermeyer wrote last year in the New York Times, the history of the Volt was never about making a "best in class" green vehicle, it was always about making the bailout look palatable - whatever the cost. And according to Niedermeyer, it's quite a cost:

Start with the $50 billion bailout...add $240 million in Energy Department grants doled out to G.M. last summer, $150 million in federal money to the Volt's Korean battery supplier, up to $1.5 billion in tax breaks for purchasers and other consumer incentives, and some significant portion of the $14 billion loan G.M. got in 2008 for 'retooling' its plants, and you've got some idea of how much taxpayer cash is built into every Volt.

More troubling still is that the average American taxpayer who foot the bill for GM's massive bailout, isn't even getting a car they can afford. In 2009, Obama's Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry reported that the Volt "will likely be too expensive to be commercially successful in the short term."

A Washington Post editorial last August echoed the sentiment, describing the Volt as far too expensive for average Americans and suggesting the only way to sell Volts, even to the well off, was with a large federal subsidy. It argued that that each Volt subsidy comes at the cost of federally supported income redistribution... to America's most wealthy.

But all of the bellyaching and criticism WILL be irrelevant if consumers actually embrace the new hybrid vehicle. How's it going so far? See below.

Related:

Consumers Reject Chevy Volt

GM Gooses Sales With Incentives

GM Boosts Lobbying; Hires Bailout Specialists

GM Shares Will Likely Never Break Even for Taxpayers

GM Shares Hit All-Time Low

[gov_bean_ counter]

GBC predicted that that would be on the table when people refused to purchase a Government motors product.

I drive a 2000 Expedition. It is getting a few miles on it so I need to just take it back and forth to work and around town. I will soon be getting a 2008 Expedition (extended), Eddie Bauer edition. I REFUSE to sacrifice my families safety and comfort.

[FlyVet]

A few months ago, I listened to ABC radio news proclaiming the resurrection of GM. They were now making "cars people want", and in the next sentence they said "Chevy Volt".

I knew they were full of *bleep*.

Few people see the practicality of a way-overpriced, heavily-subsidized tin can that can get you to the grocery store and back, and that's about all.

And the same people who want millions of these things on the road don't want the new power plants and infrastructure necessary to support them. Idiots. Fantasy Land thinking.

[cornfedcowboy]

That is graph is very unfair. February is the shortest month of the year. GM would have at least an extra five cars if it was a regular month.

[Fantasywriter]

What’s even scarier is that I read it as CFO the first time, and I haven’t even had any wine. ;)

[hosepipe]

Zero WANTS GM to fail.. Occams razor demands it Cloward-Piven proves it..

[jazusamo]

You nailed the whole fiasco in a very few words.

[gov_bean_ counter]

I don’t usually drink wine during the week, but I’m working on emails to State Farm and a plumbing company. It helps frame the proper attitude.

[COBOL2Java]

The WON will command you to buy one! Get rid of that SUV!

[jazusamo]

LOL! You’re right.

[Secret Agent Man]

Consumers Reject OBAMA’s Volt

[umgud]

Electric cars have been around over 100 years and while battery technology has improved mightily, it just hasn’t eveolved to the point where elec vehilces can replace the internal combustion engine. I’ll bet it will never be viable.

[MtnClimber]

I forsee a presidential executive order: Buy a Volt or get the electric chair!

[The Great RJ]

Only the government would spend billions to produce a product that doesn’t work very well and no one wants to buy. GM was doomed from the day they got bailed out.

[Fantasywriter]

Lol. That sounds like a two-glasses-of-wine job, definitely. And btw, your first post was very funny!

[gov_bean_ counter]

Thanks, Have a great evening...

[Mayr Fortuna]

Well, well Americans... Lets play “Truth be said”?

Quote: GM and the Feds are betting the farm - and their credibility - on the Volt.

1 - They are not “betting the farm” nor any farm whatsoever, they are betting your taxpayers dollars on this game!

2 - They may not be betting their “credibility” for they have none!

Conclusion - Game Over with one more “socialist experiment” based on YOUR TAX-PAYERS DOLLARS!

WHAT NEXT?

[FlingWingFlyer]

Buy 1 Get 1 FRee!

LOL!!! That's good.

[jazusamo]

I couldn’t agree more. Running around a small town for whatever would be fine though cost per mile will be outrageous when all costs are figured in.

The initial cost is out of sight and the only way to make that up is keeping it a lot of years. If you do keep it then you have the maintenance costs and replacement battery costs. It just isn’t feasible.

[FlingWingFlyer]

I’m still waiting for the pink “Energizer Bunny Edition” model to come out.