GM’s 1,300 employees at the Detroit Hamtramck assembly plant will have to go through a temporary layoff for no less than five weeks as the company has temporarily pulled the plug on the Chevy Volt and Opel Ampera until April 23. Why? Because sales have been less than optimal.
“Even with sales up in February over January, we are still seeking to align our production with demand,” said GM spokesman Chris Lee to the Detroit Free Press.
Last month, Chevrolet sold 1,023 Volts in the U.S., and currently totals 1,626 for the year. Currently, inventory for the Volt stands at 3,596 units, including demos and what’s already in the dealer network. Is it due to the factor that people who have never experienced the Volt are labeling it as a flop? Or is it because it’s expensive? The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, as usual with things like this. Meanwhile, Glenn Beck is laughing.
Moving opposite to market trends.
With four model years recommended for purchase.
This example is a former NCRS award winner.
Many automakers oppose right-to-repair laws citing cybersecurity concerns.
Breaking out the spec sheets for a comparison.
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The Volt/Ampera assembly line has even less monetary slack than most productions, because General Motors is already losing money on every Volt produced, at least in the initial sense, and is only producing the cars to prove the technology and boost its corporate fuel-economy ratings, so I'm afraid this doesn't surprise me one bit.
Well, I know how this is going to be spun in the media, but what they don't realize is that the "old GM" would have just kept the factory going and pile on incentives to get rid of excess inventory. I'm glad that the "new GM" is carefully watching inventory levels and costs. It would be worse to see a fire sale (no pun intended) to get rid of excess Volt inventory. In the past, incentives were killing all the profit on GM's cars, so I'm glad that past behavior isn't being repeated. It is painful to the workers (no one likes layoffs, temporary or permanent), but it was the right thing to do.
My only thought is, not everyone is going to like this car, it is a little nichie. The design may not appeal to everyone either, then there is price. I think though that give it time and the vehicle will become more popular, let's hope so, here is to the Volt; cheers..
Volt is a niche vehicle more appealing to EV enthusiast early adopter types, kinda like Camaro, Corvette, and the like appeal to a specific, relatvely small buyer group. But the Tech is great and will not only come down in cost but also find its way into other vehicles.
I think it's probably that there are people who still think is expensive, worthless, and there are still people that still worries about the recall... But my parents and I loved it except for that one gripe of I can't see the front of the car from inside.
I wonder sales would have been like if the volt's exterior looked like the concept volt did.
A point that someone made on another site, is that so many people live in apartments and don't have access to power sources.
Not to worry. Sales will pick up...since the price of fuel is approaching $4 per gallon and in some places (like here in Jamaica) the price has risen above $5 per gallon. Realities like that always shock people into the real world. But one of the things that we have to remember is that people who start crying about the price of fuel may really want to buy a Volt...but they really can't afford to. They probably can't afford a Prius or a LEAF either...I'm in that very group. Hence, I'm stuck with my 2.0L 16v Mitsubishi Galant, that is suddenly not as fuel efficient as I would hope it would be...
See I was right? There is light at the end of the tunnel. this is good News. Now let's focus ON Real Cars- Naturally aspirated Muscle.. Corvettes and Camaros.
The Volt perplexes me. I just don’t get why GM would produce a car that is so expensive that is essentially not much different than a Cruze. As a business I would have thought it more prudent to implement battery technology only to the level that it makes economic sense. So I see resources going into the Volt that could have gone into lower cost alternatives that might have benefited more vehicles, or that could have filled the many gaps in their lineup of small cars. The latter is costing GM more customers than it has gained by producing the Volt.
Even though with gas approaching $4 - $5 gallon so you can actually make a payback case depending on your driving habits and cost of electricity (which is 8.3 cents per KWH in my town, and mostly produced from hydro with some nuclear), the real reason GM produced the car was to show that they could and increase consideration of GM products. It's just too bad that politics and a NHTSA mistake got in the way.
"a car that is so expensive that is essentially not much different than a Cruze"
Really now?
I've got 44kms (27mi) to commute every day. It's in those 44kms that seperates a Cruze from a Volt.
Regular gas here (coverted) works out to a $5.18USD/Gal and that's with regulation to keep the prices stable and predictable (none of this daily spiking nonsense).
There's a lot to seperate the Cruze from the Volt; in this case, gas prices will tell you the difference between the two in no uncertain terms.
Really true!! The driving dynamics of the Volt is way different THAN a Cruze and that's a fact!
I think the Volt will get a sales jolt in California for two primary reasons. 1) The price of gas is extremely high. It's hit $5/gallon in many places and it looks like it's going to stay there for a while. 2) The Volt just got approved for the highly-coveted HOV sticker that now only applies to alternative fuel and some plug-in EVs. For example, the Honda Civic Natural Gas can get the sticker but the Civic Hybrid can't. The "regular" Prius no longer qualifies for the sticker, but the Plug-In Prius does. Getting single occupant access to the carpool lanes is a big deal in Los Angeles where Carmageddon happens daily.
Assuming the federal tax credit of $7500 is still available, along with the above conditions, I think the Volt is still an attractive buy for many.