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      03-03-2012, 10:00 PM   #1
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GM stops Chevy Volt production

http://jalopnik.com/5890072/gm-halts...les-suck?34235

GM Halts Chevy Volt Production Because Sales Suck

General Motors has told 1,300 employees at the automaker's Detroit Hamtramck plant they will be temporarily laid off for five weeks as the company halts production of the Chevrolet Volt and its European counterpart, the Opel Ampera.

"Even with sales up in February over January, we are still seeking to align our production with demand," said GM spokesman Chris Lee to the Detroit Free Press. Another way of phrasing that? Because sales still suck.

Lee said employees were told Thursday that production would put on hold from March 19 to April 23.

Chevrolet sold 1,023 Volts in the U.S. in February and has sold 1,626 so far this year.
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      03-03-2012, 11:13 PM   #2
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Good way to put it

Gas prices are going to have to double before we start seriously considering cars like this.
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      03-03-2012, 11:25 PM   #3
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Did they really sell over 1,000 Volts in Feb? Honestly that isn't bad for niche car. Damn good actually.
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      03-04-2012, 06:23 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kyleb350 View Post
Good way to put it

Gas prices are going to have to double before we start seriously considering cars like this.
Well, where do you think the price of gas is going? I just test drove a Volt yesterday. You should go test drive one. There is no compromise in owning one, it drives excelently and has adequate room for four adults and 10 cubic feet of cargo space. I'm not sure what you mean by "cars like this". Toyota sell 200,000 Prius a year, the Volt is even more fuel efficient than the Prius. The Volt drives way better than a Prius and has a much nicer interior (when you order the leather). And the Volt actually puts the gauges in front of the driver!
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      03-04-2012, 08:00 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by ENINTY View Post
Well, where do you think the price of gas is going? I just test drove a Volt yesterday. You should go test drive one. There is no compromise in owning one, it drives excelently and has adequate room for four adults and 10 cubic feet of cargo space. I'm not sure what you mean by "cars like this". Toyota sell 200,000 Prius a year, the Volt is even more fuel efficient than the Prius. The Volt drives way better than a Prius and has a much nicer interior (when you order the leather). And the Volt actually puts the gauges in front of the driver!

Two comments...

1) The Prius is God's proof that stupid people exist abundantly. It has become the symbol of the idiotically conservation minded. You could make a very valid argument as to why a Jetta TDI is cheaper and better for the environment all things considered, but they don't care. They're in the club now. Not that there aren't a few genuine ones in there who aren't smart, but then you have celebrities who buy the Prius. Come on, as if they don't have 5 acres worth of landscaping around their mansion that requires a swimming pool's worth of water to keep alive every week and 6 Mexican gardeners in an old Ford pickup that coughs up oil-filled smoke like a chimney to come over and maintain it. And those Mexicans have to drive on the highway, next to you, from at least 20 miles away. Your carbon footprint just kicked you in the ass for being short-sighted.

2) The Volt is $40,000 before you touch a single option or you add tax, tag, title, anything. In other words, you could buy an ugly Prius for yourself AND an ugly Yaris for your ugly kid, and still point and laugh at a Volt owner. Or if you want to make the Mexican gardeners happy, two Jettas.



EDITED to add: This wasn't directed at you, ENINTY, more so a rant at hybrid drivers.

Last edited by Redcapote; 03-04-2012 at 08:33 AM..
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      03-04-2012, 08:31 AM   #6
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i am not surprise, GM came too late the trend for those cars is behind us, billions they spend on that project is a pure waste,the Volt is a management fiasco!
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      03-04-2012, 08:54 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Redcapote View Post
Two comments...

1) The Prius is God's proof that stupid people exist abundantly. It has become the symbol of the idiotically conservation minded. You could make a very valid argument as to why a Jetta TDI is cheaper and better for the environment all things considered, but they don't care. They're in the club now. Not that there aren't a few genuine ones in there who aren't smart, but then you have celebrities who buy the Prius. Come on, as if they don't have 5 acres worth of landscaping around their mansion that requires a swimming pool's worth of water to keep alive every week and 6 Mexican gardeners in an old Ford pickup that coughs up oil-filled smoke like a chimney to come over and maintain it. And those Mexicans have to drive on the highway, next to you, from at least 20 miles away. Your carbon footprint just kicked you in the ass for being short-sighted.

2) The Volt is $40,000 before you touch a single option or you add tax, tag, title, anything. In other words, you could buy an ugly Prius for yourself AND an ugly Yaris for your ugly kid, and still point and laugh at a Volt owner. Or if you want to make the Mexican gardeners happy, two Jettas.
Not sure why the discussion has to get so antagonistic, but whatever (I think the Prius is ugly too). I'll assume you own a BMW since you’re on this site and contribute posts to it. I could go make an argument that buying any BMW makes you as stupid as those who buy a Prius. There is no good reason to buy a BMW as there are far more less-expensive, more reliable, and far more efficient vehicles too choose from with less manufacturing impact on the environment, when all things are considered. I could make an argument that if you live in the USA you should only buy a car produced in North America since all 3-Series come to our fine country on a freight ship with God knows what it spews into the ocean along its trip.

Apparently the VW TDI, be it a Golf or Jetta or Bug, is the ultimate and only car to chose for gas mileage. So lest get back to a fascist type of Government and declare the German VW TDI as the only car that should be offered for sale world-wide. Maybe there's a job in the White House for you.

Yes we can argue the disturbance to the Earth for mining raw materials for hybrid batteries, but heck, the same hole gets material for computer and flashlight batteries too. Let's stop all battery production, because apparently using them in a capacity to store energy in a car is stupid. Following your logic, all manufacturing is for "stupid people".

I find hybrid vehicles interesting. And I agree a lot of hybrid owners Prius owners in particular buy them for the I-care-for-the-Earth-more-than-you-do statement they make (to those who believe that - I don't - I own a Hummer), but once produced in numbers that allow a positive ROI and are priced at the same cost as a non-hybrid (re: the Lincoln MKZ), some of the arugment against them goes away.

Last edited by ENINTY; 03-04-2012 at 09:00 AM..
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      03-04-2012, 09:08 AM   #8
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Don't miss my edit after the fact, it wasn't anything antagonistic towards you.

Original Hummer or H2/H3?
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      03-04-2012, 09:09 AM   #9
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But I thought you would get back like $8k from the Government because of the car being a Hybrid?

Oh and BTW, if Apple made a car that got 5mpg on the highway, space for 2 people and a enough luggage space for a briefcase that cost $45k.....people would buy it like it's a gift from God.

The Volt is a great car, but people are too dumb to see that and love that god awful Prius. I see those stupid things everywhere I go. At least 4 or 5 when I'm at a stop light.
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      03-04-2012, 09:19 AM   #10
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Not surprised at all actually...

A $40K electric car with a terrible range... this thing will end production before we know it.
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      03-04-2012, 02:44 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Redcapote View Post
Don't miss my edit after the fact, it wasn't anything antagonistic towards you.

Original Hummer or H2/H3?
H3T actually. Replaced my Wife's 13 year old Jeep with it. No offense taken. Saw your edit.
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      03-04-2012, 02:52 PM   #12
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Not surprised at all actually...

A $40K electric car with a terrible range... this thing will end production before we know it.
With a 90+ MPGe rating from the EPA, GM will keep producing it. It helps offset all the Corvettes and Suburbans.

If corporate America and (bailed out) Wall Street could actully understand investment rather than quartley profit metrics, GM could reduce the price, sell the Volt at a loss until the production numbers reached a profitable level. Toyota did that with the Prius. It saw a great American technology, invested R&D in it, and after 20 years or so is recognized as the leader of hybrid tech, when TRW actually invented it in the early '70s.

Go blame the Harvard Business school.
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      03-04-2012, 06:50 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ENINTY View Post
There is no good reason to buy a BMW as there are far more less-expensive, more reliable, and far more efficient vehicles too choose from with less manufacturing impact on the environment, when all things are considered.
Perhaps, though I have never heard a Prius owner say that got it for "fun". Which is a market that BMW aims for, the driving enthusiast.

To be fair though, I don't know a whole lot of Prius owners.
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      03-04-2012, 10:35 PM   #14
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It's unreasonable to expect a first- or even second-gen product like the Volt to be 'ready'. The Volt is more like an experiment that's usable. Electric/hybrid cars haven't had the benefit of a century's worth of R&D unlike internal combustion engines. It will take a WHILE before these products are practical, let alone competitive with petroleum-powered cars.

I am not surprised this vehicle has low sale numbers. Besides the car's unimpressive stats, other things may have contributed; poor marketing, branding. I wonder what this car's reception would have been if there was a BMW roundel on the hood. There is a lot of animosity aimed at GM. Lots of people are mad at the government bailout and how many tax dollars went into the Volt (and they have every right to be).
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      03-04-2012, 11:40 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ENINTY View Post
Well, where do you think the price of gas is going? I just test drove a Volt yesterday. You should go test drive one. There is no compromise in owning one, it drives excelently and has adequate room for four adults and 10 cubic feet of cargo space. I'm not sure what you mean by "cars like this". Toyota sell 200,000 Prius a year, the Volt is even more fuel efficient than the Prius. The Volt drives way better than a Prius and has a much nicer interior (when you order the leather). And the Volt actually puts the gauges in front of the driver!
I don't doubt it. Most days I daily drive my M3. While the price of filling up the tank is probably the only downside to the car, other options will no doubt become more desirable as gas prices continue to climb. Currently, I see the benefits of owning hybrids as being negligible at best.
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      03-04-2012, 11:56 PM   #16
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Interesting discussion folks. There are very valid reasons why people buy hybrids, and very valid reasons why people buy (less efficient) BMW's. Until the hybrids are as nearly as fun to drive as our cars (assuming that most share the same view I do that our cars are a LOT of fun, while maintaining some sanity at the pump), then we can all begin to agree on something here. German engineering, very hard to beat at the moment.
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      03-04-2012, 11:58 PM   #17
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Currently, I see the benefits of owning hybrids as being negligible at best.
Yea, I pretty much feel the same. I'd rather own a diesel. I like them. The city mileage may not be 50 mpg like a hybrid, but at least there's some power there for having a little fun.

Here's the question regarding Prius owners... do they still have sex? If so, can it possibly be any good? I figure they're as bad as owners of PT cruisers.
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      03-05-2012, 12:05 AM   #18
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Funny thing is the new BMW i3 will basically be a BMW Volt. Electric, with an option of having a gasoline range extender.

The Volt shouldn't be compared to the crap Prius, different technologies. There is nothing on the road like the Volt. It will only get better as the technology advances.
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      03-05-2012, 12:47 AM   #19
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No matter how low my MPG's get on my 335i(19mpg currently), Id Pick it over any of these cars any day.
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      03-05-2012, 07:50 AM   #20
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LOL, massively delayed car now not enough demand and mandatory recalls. Success GM! Looks like nothing has changed. Let me know when you want to take more of my money since we got fed up and don't buy your crap cars anymore and you just cry for a taxpayer bailout.
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      03-05-2012, 12:58 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Redcapote View Post
Two comments...

1) The Prius is God's proof that stupid people exist abundantly. It has become the symbol of the idiotically conservation minded. You could make a very valid argument as to why a Jetta TDI is cheaper and better for the environment all things considered, but they don't care. They're in the club now. Not that there aren't a few genuine ones in there who aren't smart, but then you have celebrities who buy the Prius. Come on, as if they don't have 5 acres worth of landscaping around their mansion that requires a swimming pool's worth of water to keep alive every week and 6 Mexican gardeners in an old Ford pickup that coughs up oil-filled smoke like a chimney to come over and maintain it. And those Mexicans have to drive on the highway, next to you, from at least 20 miles away. Your carbon footprint just kicked you in the ass for being short-sighted.

2) The Volt is $40,000 before you touch a single option or you add tax, tag, title, anything. In other words, you could buy an ugly Prius for yourself AND an ugly Yaris for your ugly kid, and still point and laugh at a Volt owner. Or if you want to make the Mexican gardeners happy, two Jettas.



EDITED to add: This wasn't directed at you, ENINTY, more so a rant at hybrid drivers.

AMEN!

Why would you spend $40k on a Volt when you can get a comparable Chevy Cruze at nearly half the price. You will never realize a gas savings on the Volt enough to offset the high price.

If a car needs a $7k tax credit (subsidy) from the government (and still doesn't sell) I would say that is proof the technology is not there yet to make a car like this viable.
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      03-05-2012, 02:25 PM   #22
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I mean c'mon... doesn't this say it ALL?

http://www.f30post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=657573

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...urce=pulsenews
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