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In the words of Yogi Berra, it looks like déjà vu all over again as General Motors plans to "relaunch" the Chevy Volt. Just in case you missed the first rollout that saw certain financial news networks dedicate loads of airtime to help GM build the hype surrounding a vehicle that was to be a savior for GM as support was garnered for a taxpayer bailout and subsequent IPO, we now get a second take on the failed first production. Many of the same cast will appear as cronies at Motor Trend will be cited for giving the Volt...

This post has been updated below. Among the objections about taxpayer subsidies for the high-profileChevy Volt, manufactured by Government Motors, is that the many grants, loans and tax breaks that lowered the sticker price on the electric hybrid car facilitated its (paltry) sales for the benefit of wealthier individuals who were purchasing it – those with average annual salaries of $170,000 . So can you imagine how happy the affluent customers (like Leonardo DiCaprio) of the heavily subsidized, $102,000 electric Fisker Karma are, to be able to purchase their gimmicky sports sedan at a discount, with a $7,500 tax...

A Previous Subtle Effort By The Same Obama Propagandists How symbolic, the red and blue spheres merge and the resultant color is a deeper shade of blue. Propaganda is considered effective if it is subtle and delivers a covert or subliminal message without the subject being aware of the intent. In this image, the profile of Obama was superimposed over the merging of Conservatism and Socialism with the profile of Obama and the result is a deeper shade of blue; picturesque and convenient, Obama brings the country together and we are united under a deeper shade of Marxism. It was...

Clint Eastwoods Halftime in America Chrysler propaganda commercial is taken apart by the great one. Mark Levin.

GM noted that Fox has issues with the Volt. They give Eric Bolling a Chevy Volt for a week. And this is what GM receives in return. Ingrates. * * Bet you poor dumb working stiffs can hardly wait until there are a few hundred of these overpriced golf carts on the road in New York City ... and they all run out of power ... on a cold day ... at the same time ... on narrow roads, intersections, bridges, overpasses, ramps, and tunnels ... at pretty much the same time. Then, you really will be a bunch...

Some very humorous (if not cost-effective) ads were exhibited by General Motors during this year's Super Bowl game. GM continues to freely spend its stockpile of taxpayer supplied cash reserve as it even aired a spot touting the Chevy Volt. At a cost of $3.5 million for a 30 second spot the expense equals about 15% of the total revenues GM brought in during the entire month of January for the Volt when sales fell to a dismal level of 603. What is the reasoning behind spending so much to advertise a vehicle that sells in such small numbers...

GM, Ford feud over Super Bowl ad (Reuters) - A simmering feud between General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co heated up on Sunday as Ford objected to GM's Super Bowl advertisement for its Chevy Silverado pickup truck. The ad, which will run on NBC's television broadcast of the Super Bowl on Sunday, depicts an apocalyptic scene in which Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks and their owners escape death and make it to a pre-arranged meeting point. But, one of their friends, identified as "Dave," who drives a Ford, doesn't make it to the meeting site, in the video that plays...

Has this ever been mentioned on Cable News? Did Obama actually hand GM 50 Billion Dollars to build the Volt? And if so? How many have been sold and how many had to be recalled? The last update so far was that we have spent 250 Thousand on every Volt Sold, and didn't they all get recalled? Kinda like what happened with the Ford Pinto Blowabout? If the math is wrong,please recalculate. But it looks like another 50 Billion went down the tubes,along with Solyndra. You could of fed millions of starving Americans with 50 Billion !!!

I recently questioned the existence of a binding "no-strike clause" that the media reported on back when General Motors was making a plea for its taxpayer-funded bailout. The claims were that the UAW could not strike at GM or Chrysler until 2015. UAW Communications Coordinator, Tom Brune, has responded and gave a bit of clarification as to what the so-called no-strike clause actually means. The response by Mr. Brune is appreciated, but we still see this subject from two different points of view. My feeling is that the no-strike clause was misrepresented to the public and implied that UAW...

Just as we thought GM's channel stuffing days may be coming to an end, and the company may finally be normalizing its inventory management, here come January numbers, where we learn that in addition to car sales declining by 6% compared to a year ago, at 167,962 vehicles sold (of note: "Retail deliveries declined 15 percent compared with the same month a year ago and accounted for 70 percent of GM sales"), it was the all critical month end dealer inventory that caught our attention. And unfortunately as the skeptics expected, GM is back to its old tricks, as dealer...

Also video interview link below in comment on Gov't Conflict of Interest on Chevy Volt Probe? Well-respected car guy and General Motors supporter, Bob Lutz, posted a piece on Forbes that attacked "right-wing" criticism of the Chevy Volt. With all due respect and noting that I have nowhere near the credentials of Mr. Lutz, I feel it appropriate to respond to the ridiculous defense that we have seen of a vehicle that is costing taxpayers billions of dollars while offering little in return. I also have some questions of my own for Mr. Lutz and GM. First, let's address the...

Back during the days of General Motors' bankruptcy proceedings, media reports cited the many "sacrifices" made by the politically favored UAW. I have long wondered what these many sacrifices were, as UAW members seem to be doing pretty well since the GM bankruptcy. One such "sacrifice" was a supposed agreement that the UAW could not go on strike at GM until after 2015, as mentioned in this Bloomberg piece, and accepted as fact by all media sources. I questioned this assertion in a piece I wrote in December of 2010 , but as has been the case with much...

Cry me a river. General Motors' CEO is complaining that the Chevy Volt has become a "political punching bag." As the Detroit Free Press reports , GM CEO Dan Akerson defended the Volt before a House of Representatives subcommittee Wednesday, saying that the hybrid electric vehicle seemed to be under attack as much for political as practical reasons. 'We did not design the Volt to become a political punching bag, and that’s what it’s become,' Akerson said. The optics of Akerson, CEO of a company whose very existence today stems completely from an infusion of tens of billions of...

President Obama is proud of his administration’s role in rescuing the U.S. auto industry, via government-financed restructurings of General Motors and Chrysler. But in campaigning for re-election on this aspect of his record, he has shown an unfortunate, and remarkably ungracious, tendency to distort the record of his predecessor. Specifically, Obama told an Iowa audience Wednesday that “the administration before us, they had been writing some checks to the auto industry with asking nothing in return. It was just a bailout, straight -- straightforward. We said we’re going to do it differently.” Uh, not exactly. President George W. Bush never...

The Wall Street Journal reports that GM will attack critics during a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday. “General Motors Co. Chief Executive Dan Akerson is preparing to go on the offensive against congressional critics who say GM's battery-powered Chevrolet Volt is a government-financed misfire, according to people familiar with the company's plans,” the paper reports.

General Motors' CEO, Dan Akerson, is scheduled to testify at congressional hearings on the NHTSA delay in reporting Chevy Volt fires. GM and the government agency waited about five months to report an incident involving a Volt which erupted in flames weeks after a crash-test. Up to this point, Akerson has not exactly been honest about the Volt; can we now expect him to come clean? A culture of deceit has been evident at GM since the Obama Administration orchestrated a manipulated bankruptcy process that favored the politically powerful UAW over other classes. It was during the time of...

With NHTSA's closure of the investigation into the Chevy Volt, General Motors is now trying to rebuild the plug-in hybrid's image . But a new stumbling block has appeared on the road to higher sales — dealers turning down Volts from GM. General Motors sold only 7,671 Volts in the United States in 2011, well short of its 10,000-unit target for the first year. GM spokespeople have attributed weakness in demand to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's investigation into the risk of fires in the car's battery pack. But I'm not entirely certain that can all be blamed...

President Barack Obama is in full 2012 reelection mode. Part of that process is preparing to possibly take on Mitt Romney – whom (it appears) he thinks has the strongest chance to be his Republican opponent. Which he and many Democrats think is very good news. Romney fits right into the Left’s absurd anti-capitalism, “robber baron,” Occupy Wall Street anti-1%-er, scorched earth storyline. Romney is very wealthy, which for Obama and his Democrats is the height of eee-vill (except – these Donkeys are mostly rich…). Never mind that Romney’s wealth is right in line with many past Presidents and candidates...

Less than two years after emerging from bankruptcy,General Motors Co.has regained the title of the world's largest automaker. GM's worldwide sales rose 7.6% to 9 million vehicles in 2011. The Detroit manufacturer last held the top spot in 2007 before it was surpassed byToyota Motor Corp.the next year. Chevrolet, GM's flagship brand, set a record by selling nearly 4.8 million vehicles. That was more than what many entire auto companies posted in sales last year, including Nissan and Honda. "It is an accomplishment that GM has been able to reverse the tide in the U.S. and Asia, and they are...

General Motors (GM) has once again become the world's biggest vehicle maker, which marks dramatic turnaround for a firm that was facing bankruptcy two years ago. GM said it sales rose by 7.6 percent to over nine million vehicles in 2011. GM CEO Dan Akerson said strong sales ensured that the company remained profitable and continued to invest in new products. "You're not going to achieve the financial goals we want to achieve and have declining market share or declining numbers of units sold," The Telegraph quoted Akerson, as saying. GM's rival Volkswagen however, claimed itself as the world's top...

Link only - GM Breaks 9 Million Taking Global Sales Crown From Toyota: Cars

Liberals burn tax money on flammable carsWealthy liberals love nothing better than flaunting their enlightened attitudes. They see the selection of a trendy set of wheels as a great way to advertise their concern for the survival of polar bears. At the top of the must-have list for the self-enlightened is the Chevy Volt. This $40,000 plug-in hybrid can travel 35 miles on battery power, a feat enabling smug owners - their average annual salary is $175,000 - to pretend that their emissions are pure. Of course, instead of coming out the tailpipe, the unwanted carbon-dioxide molecules are instead released...

Last week the Detroit News reported that NHTSA claimed that the White House had nothing to do with the agency's delay in disclosing its Chevy Volt fires to the public. Supposedly, NHTSA contacted the White House three months after the Volt fires and waited another two months before releasing the information to the public. Whether or not the Obama Administration is being honest about its involvement in NHTSA's Chevy Volt investigation, it is clear that we are in an unprecedented situation with the President of the US having his reelection chances largely tied to the success of General Motors,...

It seems that General Motors is sticking to its guns as they continue to blame lack of supply for low sales of the Chevy Volt. A story by the Detroit Free Press quotes GM Vice Chairman, Steve Girsky, as saying that market demand for the Volt will not be known until around June as "...there are still dealer orders that are getting filled and there are customers that are still getting out there." GM's president of North American operations, Mark Reuss, addressed criticism of the Volt by adding, "The worst thing we could do would be to back off...

VIDEO 4:19 minutes NLPC Associate Fellow Mark Modica says it is time to end tax credits and subsidies for electric vehicles. He is interviewed by Neil Cavuto on the Fox Business Network on Friday, January 6. Here's a transcript: Neil Cavuto : Meanwhile, a Fox Business Alert that is going to be a topical issue, drivers paying more to fill up. But it doesn't look like they're getting fed up with the gas guzzlers. Gasoline now at its highest price ever for the start of the year. It's still rising. But look what else is rising. Sales of really big...

See what I did there with that headline? Government Motors won’t like it. Here’s a little vignette that might tell us much about the difference between the mainstream media and the rest of us. As I’m walking into Newt Gingrich’s townhall at Public Service New Hampshire in Manchester, I am behind a pair of MSMers, a man and a woman. The two are chatting about the event and the fact that it’s a Republican candidate, and the woman mutters something about “crosses and swastikas.” The man just chuckles. No bias to see here. As we’re walking along the sidewalk...

GM challenges German brands with small CadillacBy Deepa Seetharaman and Ben Klayman DETROIT | Mon Jan 9, 2012 7:55am EST (Reuters) - General Motors Co proved with the Chevrolet Cruze it can build a top-selling compact car, cracking a market long dominated by Japanese brands. Now the No.1 U.S. automaker is targeting the entrenched German luxury brands with a more nimble compact Cadillac. The 2013 ATS is central to GM chief executive Dan Akerson's mission to refashion Cadillac into a global luxury brand by winning over younger buyers with a sportier image. From the start, GM took aim at BMW's...

Pitched to the American voter as the vanguard of a “greener” future, the heavily subsidized Chevy Volt was dubbed one of the worst product flops of 2011 by Yahoo Finance’s 24/7 Wall Street site. The low sales volume—-an estimated 8,000 vehicles for 2011 (all of which are currently under recall notices to correct defects)–-has made the effective unit cost for each car amount to around $250,000. Representative Hansen Clarke (D-Mich) insists that “despite the reluctance of the American driver to buy these cars we must not falter in our efforts to make them understand the necessity for government’s role in...

MSN Autos - General Motors announced in Shanghai today that it will jointly develop an electric vehicle with longtime Chinese partner SAIC -- a move that some U.S. lawmakers have likened to a shakedown. China has built its manufacturing infrastructure around low-cost production and continues to lag behind other developed countries when it comes to developing and implementing cutting-edge automotive technology. For the past 25 years, the Chinese government has required foreign automakers to partner with Chinese companies, which are required to own a stake of at least 50 percent. China also imposes heavy tariffs on imported cars, which some...

The Link above is for the photos of the car leaked from a Czech Blog, but is their a bigger story?Look at this car compared to the Volt, obviously easier on the eyes, but will it spark a bigger debate? I.E., the free-market approach of product improvement vs the Governments envolvement in GM and lack of market acceptance of the Volt.What we know from the web. * It will use the very good handling "Ford Mondeo" Chassis ( possibly new or upgraded ) * It will probably be 4 or 5 star crash rated, seems to be Fords redesign mantra...

VIDEO 4 minutes Last night, NLPC Associate Fellow Paul Chesser discussed the Chevy Volt recall with Neil Cavuto on the Fox Business Network. Here's a transcript: Neil Cavuto : ...Forget Volt sales and that they are far from catching fire. Apparently the cars really are in danger of catching fire. GM is recalling nearly 8,000 Chevy Volts for what they're calling enhancements. I actually hate it when people do that but that's what they're calling them, enhancements, aimed at preventing the battery from bursting into flames. The National Legal and Policy Center's Paul Chesser says that this recall should be...

As long as government remains in the position to attempt to pick winners and losers in the free market, they can apparently claim a 50% success rate. They don’t score too well in the category of picking winners (see Solyndra, etc.) but they do a bang up job in picking losers. As Seton Motley informs us, GM is racking up all sorts of awards this year. General Motors stock (NYSE: GM) finished 2011 down 46.1% – the absolute worst car or car-related product stock on the board. Besting (so to speak) the second worst by 4.5%.And GM’s unprofitable, unpopular, combustible...

General Motors reported Chevy Volt sales of 1,529 for the month of December. The still unimpressive number is an improvement over previous months, but the gains were mostly driven by fleet sales. According to GM, 992 of the Volts sold were to retail customers while 537 went to fleet purchasers. GM says the fleet sales were to corporate buyers and not to rental companies. The number of Volts sold to townships receiving federal grants remains unknown. The corporate sales claim makes sense as crony company, General Electric, starts to make good on its promise to buy thousands of Volts....

General Motors plans to ask Volt owners to bring their electric cars into dealers to strengthen the structure around the batteries, according to a report. The move is similar to a recall and involves the 8,000 Volts sold in the U.S. in the past two years.

General Motors' much-hyped Chevy Volt has yet another distinction to add to its long list of commendations. We had all heard repeatedly about Motor Trends' Car of the Year award, Consumer Reports' recommendation and Jay Leno's love affair with the car, but the Volt now gets a less publicized, more deserved distinction from Yahoo Finance's 24/7 Wall Street site. The Volt has made the list of "The Worst Product Flops of 2011" and apologists for the vehicle are sure to, once again, attack the credibility of those issuing the opinion. The Obama Administrations' favorite car has had a rough...

Pennsylvania Congressman, Mike Kelly, wants to end the $7,500 tax credit that affluent purchasers of electric vehicles are currently taking advantage of. The most hyped of these vehicles has been General Motors' Chevy Volt, but other plug-in cars, like Fiskers and Teslas, sell for close to $100,000 and make a strong case for Rep. Kelly's argument. Let's look past the recent Chevy Volt fires. The value of a vehicle will be determined by the consumer. It does not matter if Jay Leno and other rich purchasers say they love their Volts. The real questions are, should taxpayers be paying...

Shortly after he gave General Motors a $53 billion bailout in 2009, President Barack Obama said the plug-in Chevrolet Volt would be salvation of the beleaguered automaker. Consumers will buy 120,000 Volts each year from 2012 onwards, the Energy Department predicted then. But through November, only 6,142 Volts have been sold. And that pitiful figure is inflated by purchases for government fleets. Johan de Nysschen, president of Audi of America, isn’t surprised. “No one is going to pay a $15,000 premium for a car that competes with a (Toyota) Corolla,” he told Lawrence Ulrich of MSN Autos in 2009. “So...

The disappearance of Teamsters union boss Jimmy Hoffa remains one of America’s most enduring mysteries. But now, nearly four decades after Hoffa vanished, his driver has claimed he knows where he is buried – and how he got there. Marvin Elkind said Hoffa was killed by a mob enforcer and buried in the foundations of the towering General Motors’ HQ in Detroit, Michigan. ‘It was his own people who did it,’ Mr Elkind said in excerpts of a new book published in the New York Post, adding Mafia member Tony Jack insinuated he was responsible.

Recently the Chevy Volt, General Motor's (GM) venerable electric-hybrid car, turned one-year old. This marks an important occasion for GM that they have been able to sell and bring to market this electric-hybrid car. The real question for GM, what's next?To date GM has fallen short of it's lofty sales target for the Volt. They expected to sell 10,000 Volts in a one-year period, but they have fallen short of that goal by about 40%. They have only sold around 6,000 Volts around the country. (Not surprising from a company that keeps making promises it cannot keep.) For GM, the...

NLPC Associate Fellow Paul Chesser was interviewed last night on Cavuto on the Fox Business Network. Paul asserted that electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt have failed in the marketplace, despite massive taxpayer subsidies. VIDEO 3:49 minutes

Last night on Neil Cavuto's show on Fox News Channel, NLPC Associate Fellow Mark Modica discussed disappointing sales of the Chevy Volt, and GM's apparent goosing of sales figures through fleet sales. VIDEO 3:25 minutes

General Motors predicted it would sell 10,000 Chevrolet Volt automobiles by the end of the year, but it is only on track to sell roughly 6,000 of these plug-in hybrids before 2012. “We’ll probably hit that [6,000 target] early in 2012 … [but] we’re not going to get into specifics,” said Chevy spokesman Rob Peterson. President Barack Obama’s support for the Volt may have been a vote-winning strategy in states where the auto industry is a large employer. The president, however, has the backing of only 41 percent of likely voters in Michigan, according to a November poll sponsored by...

The former head of the Obama administration's auto task force says he should have pushed the United Auto Workers for steeper sacrifices in the General Motors bailout, including wage cuts. The people earning $9 a hour in a suburban Detroit GM plant would disagree. Former auto czar and wealthy Wall Street financier Steven Rattner told a luncheon in Detroit on Thursday that while the $50 billion GM bailout was successful, "we should have asked the UAW to do a bit more. We did not ask any UAW member to take a cut in their pay." He also said that "friends...

Sales for the Chevy Volt have been stagnant and it has become apparent that lack of supply is not the reason. GM CEO Dan Akerson is responsible for tying the success of GM into the success of the Volt by having made lofty claims that the vehicle was, in fact, the future of the company while investing a major portion of marketing dollars to help support the perception. Deception was evident as statements were made that the vehicle was "virtually" sold out and supply couldn't keep up with demand, while evidence surfaced that this was not the case ....

Bloomberg reported last week that General Motors will be paying $12 million in additional bonuses to its UAW workers for meeting "quality targets." It's nice to see the holiday spirit of giving at GM. Unfortunately; US taxpayers are not faring as well as Government Motors' politically favored union members. The Obama Administration still refuses to exit its stake in GM with Treasury serving as Money Manager for the American taxpayers. Geithner and friends continue to gamble on a market-timing strategy to "maximize" taxpayers return on its GM bailout (sorry, "investment.") So, how are they doing? Back in July, I...

In January of 2010 USA Today reported that Consumer Reports (CR) temporarily suspended its recommended rating for eight Toyota models. This was in response to the possibility of Toyota models being unsafe as accusations were made that the vehicles had sudden acceleration problems and NHTSA investigated the alleged incidents. In CRs' words, "Although incidents of sudden acceleration are rare, we are taking this action because the vehicles have been identified as potentially unsafe without a fix yet being available to consumers." CRs' response to the Chevy Volt NHTSA fires is quite different from the Toyota response. Change a few...

There have been many celebrations of Chevrolet’s 100th anniversary this year, and along with them commemorations of its namesake, Louis Chevrolet, but we must remember the man who built America’s “deep running” brand, as well as General Motors itself: William Crapo Durant. Born on December 8, 1861, Billy Durant was highly ambitious, and he got his start in the fledgling auto industry by purchasing Buick, and rolling this into GM with Cadillac, Oakland and Oldsmobile in 1908. He lost control of this corporation in 1911, the same year that he helped found Chevrolet – soon the Chevrolet Motor Division of...

With investigations into the safety of the Chevrolet Volt’s battery pack on-going , Automotive News reports that GM is going to go with a whole new battery technology in the upcoming 2013 Chevrolet Spark Electric that is safer, more stable, and will have a longer life than the Volt’s lithium ion battery pack. Currently most electric cars and hybrids including the Chevy Volt and Buick LaCrosse E-Assist use lithium metal oxide chemistry in their Lithium Ion battery packs, sourced from LG Chem in South Korea. According to Automotive News GM’s planning on using phosphate-based lithium ion batteries on its...

Volt Named 2011’s Collectible Car of Future Years from now General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Volt extended-range hybrid sedan will be the most desirable North American-made model from the 2011 model year, according to the Friends of the National Automotive History Collection in Detroit. The group names a future collectible each year. Past winners, which have all been domestic brand cars, include the Chevy Camaro (2010), Ford Flex (2009), Dodge Challenger (2008), Dodge Viper SRT10 (2007), Pontiac Solstice (2006), Ford Mustang (2005) and Chrysler 300 (2004). The honor was first bestowed on the Buick Riviera and Oldsmobile Aurora in 1995. The...

Here's another surprise for Chevy Volt owners. Autoblog reports that General Motors is holding an online chat with Volt owners about winter driving. Part of the chat reveals that, despite the fact that GM claimed the Volt is purely electric for a range of about 35 miles, the vehicle will use gas in cold conditions. GM states, "Please be aware: when starting your Volt in these colder months, in some instances, your gas engine may engage regardless of the state of charge of the battery. This was designed into (the) Volt to generate heat for the battery when temperatures...