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.
Somebody Has To Be First
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Chevy Volt Production Suspended
GM To Suspend Production Of Chevrolet Volt
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 thats 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 (Its currently for an absurd $41,000 in the US) and that can only happen with huge economies of scalewhich can only happen if people buy the car in droves. In that light, Chevys 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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