Quote:
Originally Posted by barryr
This and more "shovel ready" jobs he later had to admit don't even exist, but threw millions at these imaginary jobs anyway and where the money went and who is accounting for it is anyone'e guess.
|
just like the lone bolt wants to talk about the future this is wasted money TODAY.. wonder if this plant will be able to produce the "future" products when they even become viable.. Or if they will need to rebuild it to make the new stuff..
they were supposed to build a battery for the volt.. which is not selling and costing near $50,000.oo per unit to build..
I know that NObama is propping it up by buying the and sending them to Europe for embassy no bodies to drive.. because they had to divert $105,000.00 for a charging station in IIRC Belgium.. from there budget that was hard pressed enough to cut back on security for embassies..
just noticed this little blurb..
Is The Volt In Danger Of Becoming The Next Edsel?
Quote:
Is the house of cards falling around the Chevrolet Volt? If you remember when GM was restructuring just a few years back, they described the Volt as a Must Have Item to be competitive.
An all electric wonder machine no less.
As the Volt came to reality one of the first big shockers we ran into (pun intended) was the addition of a gasoline motor to help the Volt along if battery power ran low. While there was an initial outcry at first, it soon died down as this was seen as a last resort assist from the pure EV experience. That was until we found out the Volt has the average range of a golf cart. That "assist" motor obviously would be used far more often than we were originally led to believe. But the hardcore fan said "hey we were still saving on the cost of fuel right?", so it all works out in the quest of leading edge technology.
That kept many of the skeptics quiet until the reality of sticker shock set in. There was simply no way to recoup any of the investment in fuel savings. If you wanted the keep the green in your wallet you had to lease and let the taxpayer foot the bill. Being "green" was going to cost both you and you neighbors
So now we look at the facts. While the Volt is selling better, than it used to, it can in no way be classified as a volume seller and recent reports indicate that this"must have" for GM is costing almost $50K per unit "sold". Do you really want such a money loser in the lineup? How long will the burden continue. Will sales ever increase? Has the Volt become the Edsel for this generation?
|
http://www.autospies.com/news/Is-The...t-Edsel-73014/
let me add..
Quote:
Mon Sep 10, 2012 1:14pm EDT
(Reuters) - General Motors Co sold a record number of Chevrolet Volt sedans in August — but that probably isn't a good thing for the automaker's bottom line.
Nearly two years after the introduction of the path-breaking plug-in hybrid, GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds, according to estimates provided to Reuters by industry analysts and manufacturing experts. GM on Monday issued a statement disputing the estimates.
Cheap Volt lease offers meant to drive more customers to Chevy showrooms this summer may have pushed that loss even higher. There are some Americans paying just $5,050 to drive around for two years in a vehicle that cost as much as $89,000 to produce.
And while the loss per vehicle will shrink as more are built and sold, GM is still years away from making money on the Volt, which will soon face new competitors from Ford, Honda and others.
GM's basic problem is that "the Volt is over-engineered and over-priced," said Dennis Virag, president of the Michigan-based Automotive Consulting Group.
And in a sign that there may be a wider market problem, Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi have been struggling to sell their electric and hybrid vehicles,
GM's quandary is how to increase sales volume so that it can spread its estimated $1.2-billion investment in the Volt over more vehicles while reducing manufacturing and component costs - which will be difficult to bring down until sales increase.
But the Volt's steep $39,995 base price and its complex technology — the car uses expensive lithium-polymer batteries, sophisticated electronics and an electric motor combined with a gasoline engine — have kept many prospective buyers away from Chevy showrooms.
Some are put off by the technical challenges of ownership, mainly related to charging the battery. Plug-in hybrids such as the Volt still take hours to fully charge the batteries - a process that can be speeded up a bit with the installation of a $2,000 commercial-grade charger in the garage.
PLANT SHUTDOWN
The lack of interest in the car has prevented GM from coming close to its early, optimistic sales projections. Discounted leases as low as $199 a month helped propel Volt sales in August to 2,831, pushing year-to-date sales to 13,500, well below the 40,000 cars that GM originally had hoped to sell in 2012.
|
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...88904J20120910