AUTOSJANUARY 10, 2012, 9:56 P.M. ET
GM to Decide in June Whether Volt Has Legs
Article
Stock Quotes
Comments (23)
MORE IN AUTO INDUSTRY NEWS »
BY SHARON TERLEP

DETROIT—General Motors Co. will know by June whether it's Chevrolet Volt battery-powered car is successful and, if its not, the company will scale back production, GM Vice Chairman Steve Girsky said Tuesday.

"We don't know how many Volts we're going to sell," Mr. Girsky said, speaking at an auto industry event. "I think we'll know in June whether this car will have legs or not."

"We are prepared for it if it does," he said. ...

JOURNAL COMMUNITY
Add a Comment
View All Comments (23)


No biggie...taxpayers will pick up the bill.

 

I partly think hybrids are just a bridge to the all-electric car and will fade out at some point. The hybrid allowed us to make leaps forward in tech, where we could continue to develop batteries, motors etc while not having to fully commit to all elec.

This is just another product that wasn’t ready to market and the market wasn’t ready for the product.

All in time….

 

True but a $40+K number for the Volt didn't help along with the fire potential.

 

When the tech is ready it will be cheap enough.... and yeah the fires did not help

But you see this often across many markets, some products hit the market before their time and fail, then 10 years later its the next big thing...

 

So true.

 

GM is amazing.


After Receiving Bailout, GM Considers Moving Volt Production to China
January 5, 2012

87

Although it happened back in September, 2011, it appears many American taxpayers are unaware that General Motors struck a deal in Shanghai wherein the company has agreed to develop an electric vehicle (EV) platform with its longtime Chinese partner SAIC.

What else was included in this deal? GM has agreed to effectively move all future EV development to China. It could also mean that production of the vehicle itself will be moved overseas.

Considering that all of GM’s EV development was financed with taxpayer dollars, it seems perfectly reasonable that many people are upset with the car manufacturer. On the other hand, given what appears to be GM’s failure to develop a successful, affordable and stable EV, one might feel compelled to say of the Shanghai deal, “They can have it.”

Given the fact that Federal government helped itself to millions and millions of taxpayer dollars under the pretense that it was going to combat high unemployment by creating “green jobs,” it would seem that moving research and development (and possibly manufacturing) overseas is slightly, well, counterproductive.


http://patriotupdate.com/16780/after...ction-to-china

 

"yeah, we're prepared to bend over the taxpayers again"

I'm disgusted to even read the article. After it moves there, it's still going to cost $40k right?

 

 

I'm guessing it really was a failure. I've only seen one on the road. Don't they cost $40,000 brand new?

 

No, the car itself is not necessarily a failure. But the PRICE is a failure, big-time. By the time you add in options and the inevitable dealer mark-up, you're talking at least mid-upper 40s. Subtract the Federal $7500 tax-credit, and you are STILL talking probably 40K or more....which is simply too much for a Cruze-based Chevy compact with some extended-range electronics and (IMO) lousy ergonomics inside.

 

GM will not pass the savings to the consumer. Yes GM will save lots of money by producing the Volt in China. You can pay a worker there 2 cents an hour and get away with it. There are no labor laws in China. GM will save tons of money and they might even increase the sales price to $50K to make even more money. That is how American corporations use outsourcing...shaking my head...

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/bu...pagewanted=all

 

 

it's a failure in every way, and worse, a tragedy for the american public, ripped off to the tune of billions for this albatross.

 

This is a disgrace, the car that was promised to change our view of GM and show the future is a failure after the bailout and now they may just move production to China along with everything else we sell out to and move to China.

China will probably just copy the technology and then sell their own POS version for half the price. The US and GM will just have to deal with it because we are so dependent on China's loans since we can't get our spending under control.