Well it had to happen. GM has announced that it is suspending production of the Chevy Volt and laying off over one thousand workers due to the need to "balance" the inventory. In English what this means is that GM has to stop building the cars until it can actually sell enough of them to get rid of its built up inventory. Expectations is that production will recommence in late April, but that, of course, is dependent on GM actually being aboe to sell these white elephants. So here is the question: is anyone actually surprised with this development? After all, the Volt was designed in Washington for political reasons. There was no demand for a very expensive small car that is electrical for 28 miles and then switches to gasoline. Other than limosine liberals who want to show off their commitment to the environment by buying a $45,000 compact, who else would pay over twice the going rate for a car that size just so that the first 28 miles of a trip were electric? Especially in these terrible economic times, there just are not that many folks who can even afford such a "luxury". Then, when the news came out that even a minor bump to the car might be causing the batteries to burst into flame one or two weeks later, the few folks considering buying the Volt gave up the plan. Think about it: GM only planned to sell 10,000 of these cars last year, and it just got to about 60% of that number. To put this in context, GM sold millions of Chevrolets during 2011 but only 6000 Volts.
Maybe it is time for the idiots in Washington to realize that the USA cannot subsidize its way to energy self-sufficiency. The Volt is a flop foisted on GM by the Obamacrats. If GM is to prosper, the Obamacrats have to let it get back to building cars people want rather than the cars that the pols in Washington decide people should want.
No comments:
Post a Comment