Another Pet Project Of Obama's Grinds To A Halt: Volt Production Suspended

mudwhistle

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Last week Obama bragged about the Chevy Volt, how nice it was, how he was gonna buy one when he gets out of office in 5 years. I thought to myself, how does he know this thing will be around then? Well it may not be around if he loses in November.

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Somebody Has To Be First

The politics of this are quite odd. One would think the concept of an American-made car that can run without gasoline imported from the Middle East or Venezuela would be universally cheered. But the sense that the car is being heavily pushed by the federal government (read: the Obama administration) and the impracticality of a too expensive car that’s useful, because of its extremely limited range, only as a daily commuter has made it quite controversial.

This is a classic Catch-22 situation. Something like this will be successful only if the price comes way down (It’s currently for an absurd $41,000 in the US) and that can only happen with huge economies of scale–which can only happen if people buy the car in droves. In that light, Chevy’s marketing slogan, “Somebody has to be first,” takes on an unintended meaning.


DALLAS — General Motors Co. is suspending production of its Chevrolet Volt electric car for five weeks amid disappointing sales.

A GM spokesman said Friday that the company will shut down production of the Volt from March 19 until April 23, idling 1,300 workers at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant.

The Volt was rolled out with great fanfare in late 2010 but has since hit bumps in the road. Sales have fallen short of expectations, and its reputation was bruised by an investigation into a possible fire risk.

It carries a high price tag – around $41,000 before a U.S. tax credit of up to $7,500. Rising gasoline prices should boost the Volt's appeal, but there are plenty of other less-expensive cars that also get good mileage.

GM sold 7,671 Volts last year, below its original goal of 10,000 cars. The company stopped publicly announcing sales targets last year. It sold 1,023 Volts in February and 603 in January.

"The fact that GM is now facing an oversupply of Volts suggests that consumer demand is just not that strong for these vehicles," said Lacey Plache, chief economist for auto information site Edmunds.com.

GM spokesman Chris Lee said the company was "taking a temporary shutdown" of the assembly line.

"We're doing it to maintain our proper inventory levels as we align production with demand," he said.

Links

Chevy Volt Production Suspended

GM To Suspend Production Of Chevrolet Volt
 
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Yes, I have also read from an article that the Volt has struggled in gaining acceptance due to its relatively steep price tag. The lack of an infrastructure of charging stations as well as the necessity of installing a home charging station have also kept many new customers away. Not to mention the inconvenience of waiting the 10 hours it requires to get the car fully charged from the home 120-volt station. Another Volt production halt announced
 
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$41,000 and stranded sans green power.

That could be bad in mountains in winter, deserts in summer, and rush hour on a 7-lane freeway in Get-outta-my-way-land! <gulp>

Which Pelosi/Reid/Clinton/Obama/Senate/Representative relative gets all his/her money back this time while taxpayers get stuck for 100% of the tab?

:eek:
 
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Yeah but guys that ice cube that melted in Alaska is because you didn't buy a Volt.

Had you bought one, it would've given Al Gore the freedom to use another gallon or two of jet fuel in one of his dozen private jets.

HOW DO YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

The solution is next time Obama wants to throw money at the CEO's of one of his hand picked green energy pushing companies, you monsters should support it without question.
 
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Clearly the government needs to throw more money at the Yugo -- er, um, I mean the Volt. The $7,500 tax credit is not enough to trick people into buying this shitty car.
 
Color me shocked. Shocked I tell ya!!

I mean really. The $41 thousand dollar price tag. The $8 thousand dollar replacement cost for the battery. NO place to recharge it.

Really. Anyone surprised that its a product no sane person wants to buy??

Not me.
 
It'd be interesting give a shot of truth serum to all the Obamabots on this board and then poll them on how many of them own Volts.

My guess is the number is one or zero.
 
did that' other car he gave a half billion dollars in tax payers money burn up to a crisp??? yes,, Friskers or Fish or Fishy or sumpin..
 
did that' other car he gave a half billion dollars in tax payers money burn up to a crisp??? yes,, Friskers or Fish or Fishy or sumpin..

do you mean the mousy little Fiat that everyone has in Europe...but was a total flop here?

Obama's government fiat.......all kinds of double meanings here....:lol:
 
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The government gives money to pharma companies for research. Do Republicans suggest the government not do this? Because if they don't, the Pharma's won't do the research. It isn't the governments goal to make money. Sometimes government does this. It takes on projects that may lead to a great discovery or cure and corporations didn't come up with it because they didn't see the immediate ROI. Government plays a big role in our lives and liberal governments are the best. No rules free trade kills the middle class. Lets be honest.

And Government has to build the refineries for the oil companies. Why? Because there is no money in building refineries. Only running them. So Republicans privatize the profits and socialize the losses. Get it?

GW Bush got the Texas taxpayers to build the stadium and then he sold his shares and made a profit. He did not put any of his own money into it. How is that not socialism? Its referse socialism.

According to the GOP, American workers make too much. Meanwhile, we haven't got a raise in 20 years and the CEO's pay is now 320 times what we make. 5 years ago it was 270 and righties said so what? At what point will that gap be too wide? And if you say never, then you don't have enough common sense to be discussing politics.
 
did that' other car he gave a half billion dollars in tax payers money burn up to a crisp??? yes,, Friskers or Fish or Fishy or sumpin..

Too bad for 8 years instead of spending all that money on American infrastructure, Bush spent it all in Iraq and sent all the tax paying jobs overseas and then don't forget business owners hire illegals who don't pay taxes. And then there are the Bush tax breaks. No wonder we are broke.

Remember we had enough money to put a man on the moon? What would Paul Ryan said about that? Don't waste the money? Today the top 1% don't want to pay for shit like that.
 
The government gives money to pharma companies for research. Do Republicans suggest the government not do this? Because if they don't, the Pharma's won't do the research. It isn't the governments goal to make money. Sometimes government does this. It takes on projects that may lead to a great discovery or cure and corporations didn't come up with it because they didn't see the immediate ROI. Government plays a big role in our lives and liberal governments are the best. No rules free trade kills the middle class. Lets be honest.

And Government has to build the refineries for the oil companies. Why? Because there is no money in building refineries. Only running them. So Republicans privatize the profits and socialize the losses. Get it?

GW Bush got the Texas taxpayers to build the stadium and then he sold his shares and made a profit. He did not put any of his own money into it. How is that not socialism? Its referse socialism.

According to the GOP, American workers make too much. Meanwhile, we haven't got a raise in 20 years and the CEO's pay is now 320 times what we make. 5 years ago it was 270 and righties said so what? At what point will that gap be too wide? And if you say never, then you don't have enough common sense to be discussing politics.

That's 4 good swings in one post in order to get a deflection from the thread topic. Sadly though your swings all whiffed.

Now, can we have your opinion on the blatant and obvious failure of Obama and friends Chevy Volt ideas?
 

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