hBPU5nIbiYQ~~60_57.JPG)
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 ...
Back to the stone age .....you betcha!
The ingredient that they missed in all this is that most people don’t want to be told what kind of car to drive. I feel like and I sure others feel like that this was crammed down our throats. To hell with Chevy Volts, I will drive what I want to and that is FORD lol.
a few things.
First, it’s not a car that people want. Second, all the people that want you to drive one, don’t drive one. Third, they use our money to get us to overpay for a car we don’t want, even with the incentive it’s more expensive to drive than a similar gas vehicle. Fourth, the people that want us to drive it and make the government pay us to want to drive it, wouldn’t be caught dead in an American made car.
I believe it’s a good idea that is too expensive and tainted by the hand of the government. As someone who makes two short trips everyday and one or two long trips a week, I would love a coal powered vehicle for the short trips if it was the right price but that pricepoint has not been reached yet and won’t be reached until the car is less than 20k. I hope the American car industry makes it before the Chinese or Indians do because GM and Chrysler might as well just close their doors if that happens.
OK.
I’ll tell you exactly what is wrong with the Volt:
Two things:
1) It’s stupid looking (yes design matters) and
2) It’s approximately $30,000 too expensive.
Those are both deal breakers for most buyers.
Can’t stand Tim Allen anyway. Doesn’t surprise me he made an ad for the Volt. He’s made a living out of being from the Detroit area. He hasn’t lived here in years.
So "FIRE" away .... pun intended(?) LOL!
Another article summed it up well: One gallon of gas. That’s all you’ll get, after all that charging, a double price car, higher personal property tax, higher insurance, the fires, the screwy battery cooling systems...all that for, at most, 40 miles. And then the mileage after that is not competitive with other compact cars. A very dumb idea.
The reason people aren't buying this POS is because the EPA, Obama and GM are trying to bamboozle us into thinking no gas is required.
FTA not FYI OOPS
Ditto. If I ever turn in my ‘03 Silverado, built in Canada, it will be for a Ford or Toyota. My wife’s Buick will be replaced by an Infinity sedan. Screw Obama and the UAW.
LOL
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2011-chevrolet-volt-full-test-road-test
...Here’s what we do know: GM’s recently revised electric-range claim is 25 to 50 miles, and we ended up in the low to middle of that band. Getting on the nearest highway and commuting with the 80-mph flow of traffic—basically the worst-case scenario—yielded 26 miles; a fairly spirited back-road loop netted 31; and a carefully modulated cruise below 60 mph pushed the figure into the upper 30s...
...We averaged 35 mpg for our gas-powered miles and saw 33–34 mpg at a steady, near-80-mph cruise—not exactly spectacular compared with today’s hybrids...
Let’s see, it was billed as an all electric when they announced it, lied about it’s electric only rasnge, lied about the MPG it gets, and lied about the sales numbers..
Remember that it was claimed to get 240 miles to the galon?
If they have to lie about it, it isn’t worth my notice.
Nor is it worth my taxdollars.
There are gas engined vehicles that have better range and performance miles to gallon wise than this turkey.
It’s a hybrid that isn’t as good at being a hybrid as other hybrids.
Not only do I not like the range, the batteries, and the alleged engine; I choose to resist any car design that is forced onto the market by non-car-people who think that I don't know what car I should buy.
As an aside, I happen to need a new car. I choose to make my current one last until we have a GOP president. I don't want any new debt in a socialist regime.
.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.