After running on a low battery for months, the Chevrolet Volt officially ran out of juice this month. The final unit of the plug-in hybrid rolled off of the assembly line at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant on Feb. 15.
A GM spokesperson told The Detroit News last Friday that production of the Volt ended sooner than expected to align better with customer demand. Translation: there are hundreds of Volts currently sitting on dealership lots and GM had no incentive to continue building them.
The death of the Chevrolet Volt comes after GM announced a sweeping restructuring this past November. The automaker will idle the Detroit-Hamtramck plant, Lordstown, and two transmission facilities in the U.S. It will close the Oshawa plant in Canada by the end of this year. GM will need to negotiate the closure of the four U.S. facilities with the United Auto Workers union in contract negotiations this year. However, GM also recently gave the Detroit-Hamtramck a limited lease on life.
Production of the Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac CT6 will continue at the plant for another seven months past its original idle date, which was scheduled for this June. The Volt, though, was not part of the extended production plan. Neither was the Buick LaCrosse, which also ended production on Feb. 15.
The Chevrolet Volt was GM’s attempt to start reinventing the automaker last decade. Shown in concept form in 2007, the Volt entered production as one of the first mass-market plug-in hybrids. It spawned a second-generation car for the 2016 model year and has been adored by a loyal group of owners for years. Indeed, Volt owners are some of the most satisfied Chevy owners to date.
Yet, GM points to market shifts as one of the main reasons for its death. GM President Mark Reuss commented in January that plug-in hybrids no longer make sense as the automaker targets the goal of fully electric cars.
For thousands of people, the Volt provided a practical balance between yesteryear and a brave new world. One where a charging infrastructure in its infancy couldn’t stop the Volt from a cross-country road trip. Unpopular in its prime, we’ll remember the Volt as a true milestone in GM’s continued electrification endeavor.
Comments
It’s a shame they never spread the technology to other vehicles, it would have been successful if they had. It has to be frustrating as an engineer to see the fruits of ones labor so wasted. I hope they can maintain talent in the future.
GM: “1.The future is electric 2. The Volt has no future”
So true. GM makes no sense so often these days.
My assessment: The Gen 1 Volt was a great looking car that was perhaps still a bit ahead of its time. The Gen 2 Volt was dull and anonymous looking when buyers were more ready for the technology. Typical for GM, they bail on the market niche when they really just needed to work harder to get the product right for the times.
So sad. Thanks for the balanced presentation on the Volt’s exceptional value and customer satisfaction. Too bad that is in the Volt’s epitaph rather than in the aggressive marketing it deserved and needed.
As things stand now, I can’t imagine ever being a GM new car customer ever again…
Volt was the right step but wrong packaging.
I think the end of day dual electric motor models have less acceptance in market and one motor model is working. One motor models moving to EV as battery size grows.
They key is current working model seems single motor (a modular one ) fixed between the transmission and ICE which can propel the car as well as add torque to ICE and regenerate energy is the winner ( same old IMA or BAS/Eassist concept but a bigger motor and bigger battery with lot more operating modes with a defeat switch ) . Everything still traditional .. but can be a plug-in hybrid as battery size grows and city there is no serial hybrid idea .
The real reasons of failure is not 2 motor mode. Its
1) Packaging : battery – they forgot the in floor model. People buy cars for convenience and functionality. having a battery tunnel on mid and rest space is yours is not an acceptable model. Skateboard models are running good. Sedan packaging also adds ( second gen should have moved to crossover ). It never had the bragging numbers an electric drive can bring in too.
2) Never pushed the tech to other vehicles ( ex: cross overs -all of them hybrid or plugin version ) . The version 2 of volt was supposed to be a scale able one and should have been across equinox to traverse ( FWD architecture ) and they should have come up with e-awd as an option (no drive shaft and tunnel , a Motor/generator Rear taking care of rear drive )
3) a 40K car is expected to have a better interior than Volt. When i spend my hard earned money, i expect value for it.
Again if GM was doing aluminum conversion instead of ford, it would have been a failure. For some of stuff to became hit , you need to bet all resources on one horse. It can fail but the new world is you can be a follower or you can be a failure if you don’t do that. The best example is 2 mode hybrids. They never able to reduce complications or cost of power train or scale it to make people feel the cost benefits.
One area i think they still miss is the Cadillac CT6 plugin-hybrid transmission to Trucks. Or they can be follower again to ford by attaching a single motor between 10 speed and ICE ( may be more acceptable model with defeat switch )
unni: Good post. Even though I totally love my Volt, I have to agree with many of your observations.
I fully agree the Voltec technology should have been applied to many other vehicles as the obvious transitional technology to an realizable “all electric future”. That would have been part of my suggested aggressive product marketing approach.
But, I am curious as to why you think a single motor with transmission design is more desirable than the Voltec dual motor/generator approach? (Other than perhaps a slight cost advantage for now.)
Suzy I can answer your question to unni – HE NEVER OWNED OR DROVE ONE! if he did he would know how superior the Volt is to any Honda or Toyota, in performance, efficiency and build quality. it’s just too damn bad that GM seems to be lost in a fog lately.
Thanks, Why i think single motor design desirable seems to be more of market preference than tech. I am not saying its superior or inferior . Only reason i found is lot times people think a defeat switch will make things simple or say some case my battery or motor is not doing right, i can switch off the mechanism and drive . Its more perceived acceptance vs reality. The new world mantra is more modular design ( ex: GM and BMW were together in 2 mode design , BMW moved to a modular design. Ford had hybrid share with Toyota, they moved to one motor model (or moving ), . VW, Hyundai goes on one motor model . May be its costs also a factor.
unni: You’re welcome and thanks for the reply; those are good points, I have an outstanding question about the Volt to which so far I have found no answer, related to the defeat switch function you mentioned. Does the Volt have any “limp home mode” in case of significant battery, motor, or inverter/control, etc failure?
Thanks, I think its automatic , The car will notify the owner : One of the statement from General Motors on a battery related issue states :
“An error in the software update may prevent the batteries in these vehicles from balancing the voltage among individual battery cells, which under certain circumstances can result in a low-voltage condition in one or more battery cells. If the voltage in a given battery cell falls below a certain level, the vehicle may enter a reduced power mode and notify the driver that propulsion power is reduced. If the vehicle continues to be driven after the vehicle enters reduced power mode, the vehicle may lose propulsion.”
Add this to the history of GM vehicles with great promise that did not pan out, either due to being rushed to market, or in the case of the Volt the market changing dramatically and fuel prices dropping dramatically. Cars like the Corvair, Vega, X Car and Fiero come to mind.
Edward M Pate: Surely you are not comparing the Volt to the Vega!
I owned a Vega and regard it as perhaps one of the biggest frauds in recent automotive history. I knew a former GM engineer who regaled me with stories about every attempt GM engineering made to make it a quality product was overridden by the bean counters in GM management. I think you could safely say that the Vega made Toyota what it is today.
As to the others you listed, they also had some design and styling problems, some of which were eventually resolved, but all too late in GM’s product planning/marketing philosophy to save the product.
I get a little weary of the refrain that “the market is changing dramatically and fuel prices dropping”. If that was really the problem with the Volt, why was it not offered in today’s supposedly “hot” body styles and why, if fuel prices are no longer going to be a significant market driver, would GM be investing so heavily in electric vehicles?
I think Mary Barra’s insistence on an all electric future is really walking against the market forces out there. As long as relatively cheap fuel is available there is no market driver for people to move to these vehicles. At best I believe they will never make up more than 20 to 25% of the market. I really liked the Volt and if I really did not need a pickup for towing and hauling It would have been high on my list as far as cars go. To me the Volt a far more practical vehicle than the range limited Bolt which for the time being is going to be stuck as a second vehicle used for commuting.
Live to dream.. replacing the 1.5L 4-cyl engine with a fuel cell and this would have made the car design instantly green and depending on the size of the vehicle could have powered small cars or even a Cadillac Escalade.
If GM had been bold they would have put the voltec drive train in nearly every vehicle they make as the standard transmission. Imagine the cost reductions they could have had from that, every vehicle would then have come with a minimum battery like that from the Malibu hybrid. Want to step it up, offer a PHEV sized battery. It would have also enabled the addition of e-AWD to almost any vehicle with little development costs. The total system costs that could be saved would have been massive, and it would setup an easier transition for the full switch to EVs later on.
I had the first gen and it was a great car. Had there been an SUV with the Voltec powertrain I would have had one of those. I believe this is what killed it. GM never really gave the Volt a chance and advertising was a joke. Many people out there never knew anything about this car. Now what do they give us? A Cadillac XT4 with no plug. No thanks.
Good points from all. I am a new Volt owner – July 2018 – for years I was tracking progress and updates. 1st gen volt was not for me due to interior style. The 2nd gen. volt is very enjoyable to drive and I am very pleased with the car. I also wish GM would of gone with the same technology as the volt but is an SUV, which I was driving. I held out as long as I can since my Envoy XUV had 305,000 miles on it, purchased new. This was another vehicle GM did not promote to well. Great thinking and functionality and poor marketing to show its features. Maybe on the new Envoy they well come out with similar features and a drive-train that can get considerably better mileage. I was real close to buying a Toyota hybrid highlander but realized I didn’t need an SUV at this time in my life.
Well, I have my 2nd Gen Volt, with my solar panel home in Green Valley AZ driving north to Tucson whenever I want a 125 MPG my electric cost me $21 a month at TEP and $21 a month at Circle K for gasoline. Do you say this car has a problem??? No, no it a great car poor interior a second grader designed your control panel. That’s easy to fix, no its the perfect car. GM can’t help itself in building something that works, there is no profit in it for a short run. Sad day.