GM to suspend Volt production

[6 Shooter]

General Motors Co. will halt production of its plug-in Chevrolet Volt — which was to be the symbol of the cutting-edge, post-bankruptcy automaker — for five weeks starting March 19.

The Detroit News

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

I needed some good news today, thanks! The Volt is what it is, but GM's sales expectation and methods of hyping them probably did more harm than good.

 

[67vet]

Headline should read: "GM pulls plug on Volt"

 

[6 Shooter]

The plant will be running a good mix of vehicles over the next year or so, that will help keep the Volt limping along.

 

[jrose7004]

Any special Volt deals at the dealerships now?

 

[tracksnblades1]

OMG! OMG! OMG! What What Will we do? Perhaps the General can save one For President Obama. He says he wants one but the Secret Service won't let him have one. OMG!otfl

 

[6 Shooter]

JR - GM's trying ta stay out of the deal game by controlling production numbers, ...

Any special Volt deals at the dealerships now?

...hope it works out for them/us.

​

 

[catbert]

This is really strange. The dealers around here are selling these things. There are not very many available. A number of Volt forum members have had cars on order, with deposit, for months. What the hell is going on - shutting down with unfilled orders! Looks like stupid is back at Chevy. Every time I think GM has their sxxt together, they prove me wrong. We love the hell out of our Volt.

 

[xfirez51]

I would buy one and I applaud guys like Lutz and GM for having taken the risk.

 

[Tuna]

We're happy with our Volt - leased not owned.

Here in the OKC area, I see a lot of Volts on the dealer lots and very few on the streets. So, the shut down is probably a good thing.

 

[vett boy]

Many people live in rural areas and the Volt may not always be practical .I haven't seen one at a dealership or on the road .
I did like at lot of folks ,I bought a small gas car with a few options for $15,000 and the car gets up to 50 mpg .I also looked at battery replacement based on five years down the road and it's going to be big bucks.

 

[i10fwy]

A Volt would be perfect for me but its just too hard to justify for the price - Way too expensive IMHO, Instead we bought a new Fiat 500 for $15k and it gets 40mpg. I can buy a lot of fuel for the $25k I saved!

i10fwy

 

[catbert]

Many people live in rural areas and the Volt may not always be practical .I haven't seen one at a dealership or on the road .
I did like at lot of folks ,I bought a small gas car with a few options for $15,000 and the car gets up to 50 mpg .I also looked at battery replacement based on five years down the road and it's going to be big bucks.

The battery in the Volt will last a lot closer to 10 years than 5. Who knows what breakthroughs in battery technology or price will happen between now and then? Worst case scenario is to not replace the battery and use the gas engine for 37 highway, thirty city. It's not like it won't move without the battery.

Between now and then I won't be sending many thousands of dollars to our good OPEC friends that love us so much.

 

[Tuna]

If your daily commute is under 40 miles, the Volt is not a bad idea - compared to most vehicles out there and if you price per kWh isn't that high.
In our case, the wife's minimum daily drive is 32 miles which is well within the electric range of the Volt most days (cold days cut into the electric range a lot). Even if she has to make a side trip during the day for work, it's usually less than 40 total and the gas engine may or may not be used. In the almost 4 months that we've had the car, which included all the cold and least efficient days, our combined electric/gas mileage (MPGe) is 195 and we've put less than 9 gallons in the car. A full tank is only 9 gallons.
That's much better than even the C6 and I don't want to think about comparing it to my CTS V Wagon. Apples and oranges.

The going in price is high for now and if it's not used in its most efficient manner, it will not be worth the cost but for us, it is worth it so far. And if at the end of 3 years, it's not what we want to keep, we'll give ALLY the keys and move on.

Generally speaking, the Volt is a better appointed car than most everything else that gets 40+ MPG also. It carries 4 pretty comfortably, hauls groceries well and gets around town well. It has 273 #/Ft torgue so it accelerates well. It does a lot well and rarely needs any gas the way we drive it.

I also think GM overstated the sales estimates for the Volt and have let themselves down on that.
It didn't help to have the media jump in with very misleading headlines about the Volt while the story actually painted a much better picture. It doesn't help that the average citizen reads only the first 140 characters of a story and think they have all they need to know. We're a Twitter society with very short attention span.

We don't plan to drive our Volt cross country but we would not be worried if we did either. Just cross country driving isn't the most efficient use of the Volt.

 

[vett boy]

The battery in the Volt will last a lot closer to 10 years than 5. Who knows what breakthroughs in battery technology or price will happen between now and then? Worst case scenario is to not replace the battery and use the gas engine for 37 highway, thirty city. It's not like it won't move without the battery.

Between now and then I won't be sending many thousands of dollars to our good OPEC friends that love us so much.

GM warranty as I understand is 8yrs or 100,000 miles .The Lithium for the batteries is almost completely controlled by China .China produces directly 32% of the supply but have invested heavily in approximately another 62% .The investments include Lithium found in Nevada and Alberta .Lithium is used in commercial low energy T-5 and T-8 light fixities plus energy efficient light bulbs which have doubled in price recently .

The United states currently is an exporter of oil ,yes we import but only on rotation .Both GM ,Ford and Fiat are gearing up for natural gas conversions for current gas engines .Going back to oil ,over 30% of the gas and oil in New England comes from Canada .Canada is considering joining OPEC.

I did my research on the Volt along with several options before I bought a vehicle and it wasn't cost effective for me .

 

[Tuna]

I did my research on the Volt along with several options before I bought a vehicle and it wasn't cost effective for me .

And that's the way it should be.

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

I did my research on the Volt along with several options before I bought a vehicle and it wasn't cost effective for me .

Given the high cost of purchasing or leasing the Volt, I'll go as far as saying that it can't be cost effective for anyone unless they live in an area where electricity is extremely cheap and gas extremely expensive. A low priced conventional economy car beats a Volt any day for operating cost.

 

[Tuna]

Given the high cost of purchasing or leasing the Volt, I'll go as far as saying that it can't be cost effective for anyone unless they live in an area where electricity is extremely cheap and gas extremely expensive. A low priced conventional economy car beats a Volt any day for operating cost.

True. Glad I don't live in California where electricity is twice what I pay for it. Given the price of gas around here and the price per Kilowatt Hour, we're happy with the Volt as I'm only paying about $1.50 per gallon equivalent.

We traded off a Vette that my wife was very happy to drive when we got the Volt. We just wanted to try out the electric car opportunity. We realize the price for the Volt is higher than many other "cheap to drive" cars but we didn't want a cheap to drive car that did not make my wife happy when she drove it. She likes the Volt and it's fun to drive - not the same as the Vette but still fun.

When you consider that the other cars in our garage are another Vette and a CTS V Wagon, just saving money on gas was not the most important consideration. If we were strapped for money every month and needed cheap transportation with great gas mileage, we would not have gotten the Volt. Then again we would not have the Vette or the CTS V Wagon either.

The Volt is a great car but it's not a great car for everyone.

 

[vett boy]

The Volt is a great car but it's not a great car for everyone.

And you did your homework and got a good fit.