Volt Birth Watch 123: Wagoner "Volt is a Born Loser"
An ironic number for this post, of course, as A123 Batteries just lost their chance to supply batteries for the Hail Mary-shaped plug-in electric – gas hybrid Chevy. But one has to wonder: will GM last long enough for Volts to hit the showroom? Speaking to NPR, GM CEO Rick Wagoner put the onus on you, the taxpayer, to make it so. “”My own view is that the opportunity for these [electric cars] to develop into high-volume vehicles is good,” Wagoner told the taxpayer-funded news org. “But to be honest, it’s going to depend on our ability to work on things like getting the cost down and it’s going to be very much dependant on government policies which support the growth of electricity in vehicles.” Whoah, Dude! Does that mean that GM is acknowledging that the Volt is a non-starter? “Wagoner says electric cars are very expensive to make. Even if the Volt rolls out in 2011 or 2012, as a new technology its cost will be ‘significantly more than the consumer will be willing to pay for.’ That means GM will have to take losses on the vehicle in order to advance the technology, Wagoner says.” And who, pray tell, is going to cover those losses? You! The non-Volt-buying, tax paying consumer.
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Also for lokki, know that GM must have a mutation in their genes to take different technology to extremes the first year it's introduced. In 1978 the olds diesel which later was made standard on high dollar cadillacs in 1980, blew up. It damamged the GM large car brand from which they never fully recovered. Fast foreward to now. GM knows damned well that a $40K economy car is an oxymoron (made by morons). You can't save enough gas to justify the initial purchase price over either a hybrid or a cheaper econobox like a honda fit. Further, for those without garages who park on public streets in bad weather there is no infranstructure to plug in overnight. It's a similar problem to hydrogen fillup stations. Toyota, honda, & now ford must have imported nuclear physicists to tell them that, because they got it right by going to non plug in hybrids. Just two rules: The car must cost 20 some thou not 40 and the car must be as easy to use and refuel as anything already out there. Hello Lutz and Wagoner.
Here is a future movie title in the year 2017. "Who killed the Volt".
Go figure, go figure, go figure. I think GM enjoys killing these things. Why don't they try giving them a chance to catch on before they yank it from the market before people haven't even sat in the drivers eat yet. Psh, whatev. Letsee, they created then killed the EV1, created the Volt then thats most likely going to die too, later they'll probably come out with another "groundbreaking" electric/hybrid/plug in thing-car in 2016 only to be canceled four years later due to inefficient technology and lack of demand. MAN GM CAN"T WIN! *sarcasm of course* round and round we go.
Of course the Volt is a non-starter. It was never intended as anything more than a lure for tax dollars; GM's new target market. This is what you get with government ownership. On the positive side, those spy photos of the 2012 Chevy Cossack look promising.