Everything about the Chevy Volt is a metaphor for the Obama presidency. A product that everyone thought was great until they tried it out, now no-one wants it. It costs way too much. The performance reviews are horrible. It was overpromised and profoundly under-delivered. Less expensive competition can go twice as far, and if you’re not careful with it, it just might kill you while you’re sleeping.
Yep, a sh!t car for a sh!t presidency.
(ZDNet) — General Motors is closely watching sales of its Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle and will adjust its production of the car accordingly, potentially by June, according to a report Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal.
Actually, it sounds like the company’s Volt electric vehicles may be available strictly on a build-to-order basis in the future. The revelation comes amid continued reports of disappointing electric vehicle sales to mainstream consumers. GM only sold about 7,700 Volts during 2011, missing its 10,000-vehicle projection. It also has put the brakes on its original prediction that it would sell 45,000 Volts in 2012. GM CEO Dan Akerson told attendees of the Detroit auto show this week that the automaker will only build as many Volts as it needs.
But GM executives intend to keep experimenting with electric vehicle design and pricing. “The worst thing we could do is back off the technology and the commitment because of things we can’t control,” GM Vice Chairman Steve Girsky told the WSJ. (read more)
Errr, those “things you can’t control” are called customers, doofus. They don’t want your stinking product regardless of how much Obama invests in it…..
Govt Motors. I think that’s the way Lada’s were made. You place your order. Ten years later, you pick it up. Then 9 months later, you finally get all the bugs fixed and the fires put out and it’s yours to use!
They’re going to stop production of coal powered cars? Whadda ya know?
A brother of a friend of ours is one of the engineers who worked on the Volt project. He told us that everyone in his department thought it was a piece of sh!t to begin with. Wow.
I am a retired engineer…don’t think for a moment that older experienced engineers are all for this car…a few might carelessly state they like it…but no one seems to like the whole picture in my neck of the business world.
It is a “Dead-End” idea and very expensive to execute.
A VOLT is an engine driving a generator driving a motor driving the wheels, with losses each step of the way.
Successful hybrids separate the package as follows:
1- an engine driving the wheels
2- batteries driving a motor driving the wheels.
3- NO generator other than regenerative braking power back to the batteries
GM will definitely have to dump the engineering and the VOLT name and start over…typical for a company famous for shooting themselves in the foot.
Toyota does a startlingly effective job of all this with a car that has a 15 year head start on GM and Toyota does it at half the purchase price. The best part of Toyota’s design(s) is that there is an unlimited amount of room and direction(s) for the technology to improve dramatically as demonstrated lately with the “Prius c” @ $19,700 , 53 mpg city, 50 mpg combined…and loaded with features…4 doors, hatchback, pretty and riding on well established technology. In time, these Prius types will be the car that you use for long distance trips and your second car will be a long range pure electric vehicle, good for commutes and mid-length trips (under 300 miles) Toyota will have one when the battery technology catches up with these needs, and not before. Tesla is doing it now with a stunning 4 door sedan that has a 280 mile range…in time Toyota will introduce the same for less than $25,000…MARK MY WORD
Not to pick on anyone, but I read the other day about the TESLA “bricking” if not plugged in. I don’t care about EV’s one whit. Don’t want anythng to do with any of them. Just thought it interesting. The attached article indicates the Volt and Leaf don’t have this problem. Just wanted to drop my $.02 in.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/02/the-tesla-roadster-bricking-story-details-deconstructed/
I Pods, laptops, Teslas…this owner was adequately warned and just makes a fool of himself complaining about the fact…he wasn’t paying attention @ $100,000 worth.
The Tesla Roadster is the first iteration of this design…enormous progress has been made since they first hit the road…great testbed.
The “platform frame” (battery package) is revolutionary and all, I repeat ALL 100% electric vehicles will feature this gem of an idea in the future.
“Errr, those “things you can’t control” are called customers, doofus. They don’t want your stinking product regardless of how much Obama invests in it…..”
Unless they were required to buy it, like we will all be required to buy ObamaCare.
I weep for our nation.
I wish you folks didn’t all hate General Motors. Really I do, especially as a person living in Detroit, who depends on the automotive companies (all of them) for her livelihood. Much of what I see in the press is inaccurate, and believe me I will check this one out too. General Motors has it’s faults, but I still have faith that they will dig out of the ditch. They may have had their problems, and the government didn’t exactly do what they expected, and they got stuck with it. Do you really think that GM execs expected a union payoff? Why do you think that Rick Wagoner was fired?
It probably would have been better, in hindsight, to go through a regular bankruptcy, but there are many in this town who believe that would have meant the end of GM. I don’t think that would have been a good thing. There are a lot of people in the supplier network who almost went down as it is, and all auto companies use the same suppliers, so even Toyota and Honda were pulling for GM, and went on record saying so. Most of the people who would have been put out of work are not union employees.
I will do a post on this very soon. You can all disagree with me as much as you like, but I intend to put it all out there for you to see my point of view.
P.S.: One of the things they “can’t control” is the price of gasoline. If the price of gasoline comes down, the Volt is toast. The government is still pushing the electric car crap, and I’m not in favor of the subsidies. If the Volt can make it on its own, so be it, but our taxes shouldn’t be used to push electrics any more than they should be used for wind farms and solar panels.
Sorry about the Govt Motors comment, Stella. I also still have a lot of respect for the company, and much of what has happened is the fault of the various folks (Govt, Unions, oil prices, fickle consumers, etc) I’d welcome your point of view on all this. Please comment more!
I don’t “hate” General Motors. I own a Hummer and a Buick Enclave. No “hate” here.
The aversion is toward the interventionist government principle on private enterprise. Yes, GM should have gone through a regular bankruptcy, restructured, revised the unsustainable UAW contracts including necessary retirement benefit cuts, and attempted to re-emerge a stronger, albeit leaner, company. That is the issue I have.
With the government intervention they ultimately played the role of picking a single individual company to be the winner in the U.S. auto competition. Had they not intervened Ford would have ultimately benefitted the most. Why? Because they had the stronger, fiscally sustainable, business model. The decision to “bailout” GM was politically motivated socialistic style intervention.
Now that they have the government in a position of funding their flawed business model they are producing an unsustainable product no-one wants yet they are not carrying the burden of their failures, we are.
And all of this does not reflect the systemic Obama GM flaw that their inventory is collecting dust yet they keep producing the product at our expense. There are more Volt’s in the supply chain than litterally are driving on the road.
THAT is what I have a problem with.
I wasn’t aiming my remarks at you, SD, even if this was your post.
Ford was lucky they had Allen Mullaly, who mortgaged everything Ford had for cash before the crash. That is the only reason they survived. They didn’t have to take money from the government – if they needed it, they would have. And they didn’t have “the stronger, fiscally sustainable, business model.” Ford was smarter and luckier. Their refusal of government money had nothing to do with virtue!
We don’t disagree about what happened, except that Chrysler was the real stinky deal as far as cutting out the bond holders and rewarding the union is concerned. It’s the history that many people either don’t know, or believe because that is what they have been told. The government had no business doing what they did, and intervening in the structure and internal corporate business. If they had been willing to extend a loan (remember, financing had dried up, and the auto market tanked at the same time. A loan is what Rick Wagoner wanted) instead of a bailout of the unions, things would be very different.
As I said, I don’t disagree and I don’t think the government should be propping up the electric car market. GM has ventured into that market before, if you remember, and was criticized for dropping out. The Volt should stand on its own, or fail on its own. Of course, if it weren’t for the government COLA standards being as ridiculous as they are (and becoming more so), GM wouldn’t be so happy to enter the EV market.
I do find the “piling on” a little much (not from you – it’s cumulative). The “Government Motors” thing, the “Volt is a piece of shit” remarks (it isn’t, no matter what your friend said his brother told him), GM cars are like Russian cars (in other words, crap). I’ve been hearing it for a few years now and, honestly, I’m tired of it.
I have no problem having a discussion, but I hate hearing, “I’ll never drive a GM product again; they’re dead to me.”
ADD: The company I work for lost more than a million dollars as a result of the Chrysler bankruptcy alone.
ADD2: From Wikipedia: “In 2006, Mulally led the effort for Ford to borrow US$23.6 billion by mortgaging all of Ford’s assets. Mulally said that he intended to use the money to finance a major overhaul and provide “a cushion to protect for a recession or other unexpected event.” At the time the loan was interpreted as a sign of desperation, but is now widely credited with stabilizing Ford’s financial position.” In 2007, Mulally sold Land Rover and Jaguar. He also presided over the sale of Volvo and Aston Martin, and reduced Ford’s stake in Mazda.
To Sundancracker
Congratulations on the well informed and realistic comment. You are so right, there are bankruptcy laws in place that have worked very well thousands of times. It’s refreshing to hear logic instead of some altruistic bone head rattling his gums.
Just who is this “altruistic bone head” that you refer to? By the way, how many large corporations can you name that have come through traditional bankruptcy successfully? You do realize that GM and Chrysler did indeed go through bankruptcy proceedings? If you have something substantive to add here, we all welcome thoughtful comments.
Hi stellap
Please note that I was replying to sundancecracker not you. I hadn’t even read your comment. The answer to your question is “all the major airlines”. And no, GM and Chrysler did not go through bankruptcy. In bankruptcy bond holders, prefered stock holders get their money. It seems in this case the unions and pension plans got paid before the poor people that had cash equity in the company. Oh, and how many companies that went through bankruptcy are 255% owned by the U.S. government. It all stinks to the high heavens.
Limpy, if you were directing that comparison to Stella, I think that was uncalled for. She’s said nothing mindless here, and her experience with, and knowledge of, the Detroit automakers is extensive. Please be polite, Sir.
Thanks for the defense, Grunt, but at least he/she didn’t swear at me!
P.S.: It just goes to show you that there are GM and Chrysler haters out there.
Nobama should lead by example. Replace his presidential limo with a Volt.
The Beast is a Cadillac, isn’t it?
Maybe he could install solar panels.
Everyone wants to down the President, but he didn’t start this Mess. He is attempting to fix, and all you haters out there should be ashamed of yourselves. You probably voted for the Bushes. What did that era get us?…..um….No surprise there! Another thing, the ones hating on him probably didn’t vote period. And if you did, you are probably the ones whom didn’t vote for other democrats as well. HATERS!!! Every President before him had limos TOOO! Did you jump at them for having limos, taking vacations, etc. Leave this President alone! Or get off your lazy butts and help out your environment!
So, if they are going to make it as an special order product, how much will it cost to make it one at at a time. Reminds me of the Tucker, except that car was before it time and this one seems to be one that was created by committee.
For me, I got the angriest when I heard about the trip the US automakers made to DC when I saw Nardelli’s name. He is the guy who basically ran Home Depot in the ground and got a huge golden parachute to leave the company. To me that is the problem, the C level make short term decisions to make themselves look good without regard to the long term future of a company and then move on to another company to do the same thing for a bigger paycheck.
Garnette, I don’t think GM said they were going to make them one at a time. That was someone else. GM said they would only build as many Volts as they need – as they do with every other automobile they build. They adjust production to meet demand.
Nardelli was at Chrysler, which had recently been taken private by a private equity firm, Cerberus Capital Management. GM was, and is, a public corporation.
Thanks for updating me on Chrysler. I haven’t been keeping up with what has been going on with the automakers.
What Nardelli did to Home Depot was catastrophic. I was there, and it was heartbreaking. I was in management at the time, and what he did to the hourly associates ALMOST made me pro union. He raped them. And yes, you were right about the terms he left with.
To clarify, I wasn’t defending Nardelli, just explaining. Cerberus is a private company (they also bought part of GMAC), who was in it for the money, and Nardelli was there during Cerberus’ ownership. Chrysler has been a disaster for a long time, and Cerberus ended up getting their clock cleaned. I don’t know/remember what happened to Nardelli.
Oh, I know. I knew Nardelli was at Chrysler, and I did not misunderstand your comment. I just cannot help but throw my two cents in when his name is mentioned. I loved my time at Home Depot, and I hate what he did to the company. I sincerely hope they are recovering from what he did to the people, the company, and the stockholders.
Such a shame what men like Nardelli have done to our country. I still can’t stand to hear Jack Welch praised after what he did to companies like RCA that he acquired and raped while at GE. My Father lost his pension at RCA so that Jack could afford another set of gold-plated golf clubs. Indirectly, I think that guys like that made it easier for O’Bozo to come to power because he took advantage of the widespread hatred of ruthless golden boys like them.
Even if his motives were good, CEO’s from outside the automotive world have had disastrous results here in Detroit, with the exception of Mullaly at Ford. Mullaly is getting ready to retire next year, I think. Ford has been lucky to have him; he saved Ford, which was in a sorry state when he arrived.
Agreed. 2010 Man of the Year. Automobile Mag.
http://www.automobilemag.com/features/awards/1001_2010_man_of_the_year_alan_mulally_ceo_ford_motor_company/viewall.html
Food for thought: An audit was done on the actual cost of producing a Volt and found that tax subsidies of between $230,000 to 440,000 went towards the production of each car. How much would it cost tax payers to replace every gas car in the US with a Volt?
62,000,000 cars (US DoT) X $250,000 per Volt = $15,500,000,000 !!!!!!!!!
We would have to double the national debt to replace gas cars with electric vehicles. Does anyone with a brain think this a workable plan?
Lets see:
Chevy Volt x Amps (power factor or volume) = What?(Watts)
Volts x Amps = watts
250,000 x 62,000,000 = 15,000,000,000
YUP did the math right. Unbelievable
Lucifer drives a VOLT down here. He sets his on fire every morning and loves the car.
Good to see you in the Treehouse, FDR! See you all the time at iOTW and elsewhere, but never here. Appreciate your hellish humor.
Welcome to the Treehouse FDR. Pull up a branch and stay four terms.
So if GM pulled the plug (no pun intended) on the Chevrolet Volt, as this guy from the Cato Institute proposed, would that be enough?
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=14008
Would that include killing off the Volt in every market worldwide, like for example the Holden Volt scheduled to appear in Australia as well as the Opel Ampera in Europe?
I assume your wrath is directed at GM but not Ford’s EV lineup (2012 Ford Focus Electric which is similar to the Nissan Leaf and the recently announced 2013 Ford Fusion Energi which is similar to the Chevrolet Volt)?
I believe their wrath is directed not at EV’s particularly, but at government intervention and, since GM was the big name at bailout time, they are the ones being discussed.
P.S.: I think government intervention is a bad thing too, but I don’t think it is helpful to demonize a U.S. manufacturer. Let the electric vehicles stand on their own, I say. All of the electric vehicles.
All VOLT manufacturing worldwide will cease soon.
The last 100 or so will be offered in pink with yellow polka dotted upholstery in a bid to corral into the showrooms, the last few blithefully insane “out there” fools…
The VOLT drive train will be offered on other GM products and once again, total failure will result…….General Motors IS stupid you know? Read, educate yourselves….wake up!
You say in your other comment that you are an engineer. What kind of engineer, and what is your background and experience? Just curious. As for GM, yes they have made many mistakes in the more than 100 years they have been in business. I hope they will succeed in the future, as the lives and futures of many 10′s of thousands of people partially depend on their success. I am always suspicious of people who praise foreign manufacturers and dump wholesale on a US company. It’s quite common these days.
What is your background that you feel qualified to make sweeping pronouncements (I know it’s a blog, but you should have something behind it).
Marine engineer stella…diesel engine and steam licenses since 1964
Mechanical engineering degree, Graduate work in Time and Motion Studies and Drivetrains…extensive background and general studies in Electrical Drivetrains. Worked for the Department of Defense for most of my life…retired.
Your credentials are impressive. How does this, however, make you an authority on the auto business? And I quote, “GM IS stupid you know?” Rather a sweeping generalization, in my opinion. I know lots of folks out there are so angry with Obama, that they want to take GM down in retaliation. Shame on you if you are one of those people. There are a lot of good people (non-union people, btw) who would be punished, while the people responsible for the mistakes have and will walk away with money in their pockets – executives, politicians, and union leaders alike.
You have a tendency to mix your apples and oranges in one bag stella. Engineering realities, limits and laws apply across all engineering fields…there are no exceptions in the automotive field.
I have every electioneering T-Shirt issued by the Obama for President campaign of 2008…You?
By the way, a company famous for shooting itself in the foot is a company famous for shooting itself in the foot. A spade is a spade…the politics surrounding this spade are another matter entirely.
Yeah, they have shot themselves in the foot a couple of times – still been in business for over 100 years. I think your opinion that “GM is stupid” is over the top. Can’t you think of a few good things that GM has done well over the years?
Dude, I wouldn’t tell ANYBODY that about the t-shirts…
LOL
It indicates to stella that I more than supported Obama’s election campaign. As president, his accomplishments are a mere shadow of his promises. We are still at war…and THAT is the biggie.
However, the Republicans in government are the biggest criminals. Their failure to back their fairly elected Chief Executive Officer in any and all endeavors is treason, plain and simple. Their obstructionism and outright fraud surrounding Obama is a black mark in history. At a time when all Americans should be pulling together the Republican Party is engaged in a divisive and debilitating campaign to harm America as it has never been harmed before.
“..However, the Republicans in government are the biggest criminals. Their failure to back their fairly elected Chief Executive Officer in any and all endeavors is treason, plain and simple. Their obstructionism and outright fraud surrounding Obama is a black mark in history.” Seriously?? THEIR obstructionism??? Listen to PMSNBC a little too much, do we????
“Their failure to back their fairly elected Chief Executive Officer in any and all endeavors is treason, plain and simple.”
Seriously? Wow! Treason is a crime, and it is defined in Article III, section 3 of the U.S. Constitution as:
“Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.”
Treason, Disloyalty and Malice…plain and simple…not to mention blatant racism.
I didn’t vote for Obama, and won’t vote for Obama, since you brought it up.
Owlafaye, Always a pleasure to have a new visitor throw his weight around. The DOD is a great example of a highly cost effective organization. No wastefulness there, no stupid ideas pursued against all common sense or expert advice. You of all people here should recognize the governments handprints all over this mess.
barnslayer is correct…the DoD, like most government agencies, is a quite wasteful agency… It makes a lot of mistakes and authorizes a lot of boondoggles. They build and buy some of the most amazingly BAD military hardware, throwing money at them until their total cost is many multiples higher than projected, then “mothballing” or destroying the ugly baby. This pork barreling behavior is highly criminal but no one ever gets prosecuted. Ships that cost over 300 million dollars are designed, built, used for a year or two and then retired or scrapped…this is done on a regular basis. The most recent being the gas turbine freighters. I made a 6 month tour on a BRAND NEW freighter that had only one engine operational the whole time. The entire fleet of this class ship was “retired” the next year. Ships are designed to last a minimum of 25 years usually. The money spent on keeping the battleship USS Missouri running, far beyond its original projected life, would have paid for a Nimitz Class aircraft carrier. After its last overhaul many years ago, I came on board to see hatches that wouldn’t shut, a myriad of non-operational machinery and original World War Two damages still evident….it was a primitive weapon the day it was launched.
A gun doesn’t kill people! People kill people. Money is not evil in itself. People are evil.
Well the same applies here. DUH! I mean lets do the race card here to whiole we are at it. Why not? GMAB! It is not hard to figure out.
My first love was my SS Chevy Nova (sorry what”s your name) and I own 3 Dodge 4×4″s. I love all of them, but, I would not spend a dime on a new Chevy or Dodge right now if I had too.
Bail Outs and
Barack Obama
Both make me and my Country weak and ill.
Simple math tells anyone that the best advertised VOLT mileage still results in a huge financial loss over the period of ownership. VOLT is not financially viable. You will not see future VOLTs with 200,000 miles on them…the engineering nightmare almost guarantees a lot of expensive repairs and failures. All of this added to GM’s propensity for shooting themselves in the foot….FAIL
So you think GM did this all on their own? The white house had no involvement in the creation of this obamanation called the Volt? That was all the president’s nod to the green movement (I’ve seen cows get that too). GM’s problems are : the ubama economy, taking ubama bailout money, and the UAW leadership.
I don’t see how you can have possibly come to that conclusion…I personally think that GM should have been allowed to implode…now it is just a matter of time until it goes bankrupt again. The company was destroyed from within for the past 20 years at a great cost to taxpayers and customers. They rode their early reputation atop shoddy merchandise and got away with it. It seems to be a game…look at RCA, for another example…these are criminals, supported by our government.
I agree. No business is too big to fail, including GM. But obama has failed. Now it’s his turn.
Satire:
Chevy Volt – Building A Better Tomorrow
Excellent! I like the inclusion of wind farms too.
Looks like the Chevy may go the way of the Ford Edsel.