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 “Volt” isn’t a bad idea, it’s just a POS!
It sucks big time?
Odumbo wants it
The ‘Obamamobile’ .... cut a hole in the floor so you can do the ‘Fred Flinstone’ when it runs out of juice & gas is $10/gal.
GM asked my company to bid. The CEO told them to pound sand, when GM predicted 40k units sold per year. Our CEO laughed at them and we walked away. We did buy one of the first 500 just to see if any patents were infringed.
Flintstone .....
Limited range. Long charge time. Diminishing battery strength with each charge. Battery drains faster when heating the cabin in winter and cooling in the summer. High price. Need for a new battery after so many charges. Nowhere to charge up. Limited capacity of load and passengers.
Aside from that, it’s a great idea.
In California, though, it'll start selling, as it's yet another way to buy your way into the HOV lane.
Obama politicized the GM brand when he pulled his takeover stunt. GM was my favorite brand. Now I will never buy another one. I will not condone or vindicate his socialist ideas.
The comments below the article at the link are precious.
If anyone runs into Tim Allen tell him thanks for the crappy Volt ad.
The fact that electricity isn’t free and doesn’t just come out of a socket in the wall has escaped Obama and his minions. These crappy cars are not any more environmentally friendly than a high mileage mid sized car.
The very fact that the “Big O” thinks it’s great should turn people off. What the hell...he has been wrong about absolutely everything else he has ever touched except food stamps.
...aaah....nobody WANTS it????
Bwaaaaaaaahahahahahahaaaaaaa!!!
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