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GM Loses Over $49,000 On Every Chevy Volt
Watching Phil LeBlow providing Ford with a reacharound this morning reminded us of total farce that is both the forest and the trees of the US auto industry. We have discussed the FUBAR channel-stuffing and the subprime-lending SNAFU but now, as Reuters reports, we see the ugly truth about GM's little baby "the Volt is over-engineered and over-priced". Nearly two years after the introduction of the path-breaking plug-in hybrid, GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds.
...
Furthermore, there are some Americans paying just $5,050 to drive around for two years in a vehicle that cost as much as $89,000 to produce. And while the loss per vehicle will shrink as more are built and sold, GM is still years away from making money on the Volt, which will soon face new competitors from Ford, Honda and others.
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The weak sales are forcing GM to idle the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant that makes the Chevrolet Volt for four weeks from September 17, according to plant suppliers and union sources. It is the second time GM has had to call a Volt production halt this year.GM acknowledges the Volt continues to lose money, and suggests it might not reach break even until the next-generation model is launched in about three years. "It's true, we're not making money yet" on the Volt, said Doug Parks, GM's vice president of global product programs and the former Volt development chief, in an interview. The car "eventually will make money. As the volume comes up and we get into the Gen 2 car, we're going to turn (the losses) around," Parks said.
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Estimates on the cost to build a Volt range from $76,000 to $88,000, according to four industry consultants contacted by Reuters with one concluding: "I don't see how General Motors will ever get its money back on that vehicle,"
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The Obama administration, which engineered a $50-billion taxpayer rescue of GM from bankruptcy in 2009 and has provided more than $5 billion in subsidies for green-car development, praised the Volt as an example of the country's commitment to building more fuel-efficient cars.
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As a reminder: presenting the Obama Volt
Chevy Volt - Building a Better Tomorrow from Mister Smith Media on Vimeo.
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Osama bin Laden is dead and ...
so is GM
That's what happens to an auto industry when the decider in chief heads up the manufacturing politburo of the USSA.
Why is there an assumption that GM's goal is to make money?
Obummer will help find every possible way to bankrupt America!
gotta love GM logic-
loosing money on every sale, but sure to make it up on volume.
cue Ringo's Law.
Dear Government,
Please keep my Volt...and just send me a new Corvette.
Regards,
GetZee
P.S. a red one if it's not too much trouble.
Salvage...
Get Zee valuable Metals out of that cAR ...
{Theres probably more GOLD Grams in that car than in an Olympic GOLD Medal}
Post of the day, gold.
I'll take triple black if it's not too much trouble.
Can’t you make a case that the Obamamobile Volt is an example of cost for electricity skyrocketing?
Yeah!!...send me a Vet too...
so I can sell it and buy a good German built product.
When dumb deluded people run a crippled ineffiecent state-owned company that makes inappropriate products, and that state has also been systematically undermined by obsessive reactionary 'green' politics and uneconomic legislation and policy decree noise, then those companies are going go broke, in a spectacular way ... sorry, I meant to say ... those tax payers will go broke ... in a spectacular way.
As a far better run and organised private company, from much saner country, will take away their market share, their jobs, and the state's revenues, with great ease.
And so they should.
like, duh
JUNK...
They are all destined for the FAR-OFF China junk yards, to be scavenged for their METALS...
They didn't lose that.
Apparently GM didn't build these volts, therefor it cannot be responsible for the loss.
I don't see what the problem is. More debt equals more wealth.
We're just ROLLING in it.
<Just like my dog loves to roll around in his s**t.>
"the Volt is over-engineered and over-priced"
sounds like the T-Bill
...Or the euro.
when you have the same engineers
Ohm - my. Resistance is not so futile, apparently!
...or the S&P Index
Nobody ever went broke buying T-Bills...........yet.
The "return" on those T-Bills will soon be reverse-engineered.
Over engineered my ass. Those batteries haven't been tested to anywhere close to what they should be. That car should be labelled experimental. You can't sell a car based on a wish, and wishing isn't going to make it so with those batteries.
Surprised there haven't been more problems but maybe that's the blessing of these sale levels.
It's obviously Bush's fault.
Excellent post Pladizow.
It leads to my thought that the right is failing in their feeble attempt to fight socialism. And there is always the thought that the right isn't actually against socialism, they are only against the democrats in control of it.
It would seem to me if the republicans really realized what Obama was doing, the republicans would be up in arms much more.
The Volt was on the books before Berri became their puppet ( puppet squared I guess, as he himself is a puppet ). To me that article is misleading however you have a confluence of political feces including:
This is just another car on the crony capitalist fail train, albeit a prominent one.
Electric Ladaland
It's called fuhrerprinzip
Don't worry about the losses. GM will make it up in volume.
I feel the same way about vomit - Margaux Hemmingway
Obscure +1
both proud and disturbed that you got that
If there was any volume, rest assured they would offshore production to China.
can we throw it out to see?
Hope not (GM being dead, again), I own one, and if they really cost that much to make, it's not obvious looking at the car and internals. Of course, this is total BS, and probably includes all the NRE...if you don't know what that is, then you're not qualified to make a comment.
All the more reason to own one, actually, since "someone else" paid all that, and all I had to pay was sticker - plus buy some solar panels so I drive for free from now on (or at least for the 8 year full warranty).
Got the tax break too, bitchez. If this were a trade (and of course, it is) my making it would make me a hero here except for all the ridiculous GM-hate.
In fact, I traded in a Camaro (2010, SS) for it, which I bought by shorting GM *after* they announced a probable bankruptcy. Thanks UAW! (who else would have been stupid enough to be long then?).
Calling it an Obama car is just stupid lack of fact checking. The concept was shown in 2006, and that was after a lot of development had been done...
what losers with an agenda your writers are. Fuck, there's enough truth that's bad enough without faking it. And...what payoff did we get for the same subsidies we gave Chrysler - where's their electric? Why don't we hate them?
Bunch of morons - bitchez.
I think you made a great trade. Don't mind the haters. If I was there and in the market for a car, I'd have taken one of those subsidymobiles for a try too. After all, you just got some of your tax money back.
It is a shitty deal for the country, though. You can't ignore that fact.
DC it is good that the UAW can find some tempory work for its laid off members. By the way how many of your fellow brothers are qualified to be sock puppets.
I'd still buy the tried and proven Prius for half the $$, and buy PMs with the difference.
I agree! I paid net 40k for a car worth 80k or more given the tech, tooling, etc.
Also, people are expecting tooling and R&D costs to be recouped in 1 year? What kind of moron expects that? If you look at the breakdown the Volt actually costs around $24k to build excluding the sunk costs (most of which got stuck on Old GM in the bankrupcy, so on paper Volt is actually profitable at 40k).
Plus, getting that sweet 7.5k subsidy was nice, as usually the Feds fuck me for about $15-20k per year. Additionally, I pay at most 4 cents per mile for American power, and blended with cheap public charging it's more like 2 cents per mile. So far, the Volt has exceeded my expectations, except for the digital OnStar stuff.
OnStar just helps the government track you better. When more people start driving electric cars the government is not going to like all of the monies collected via gasoline tax. They will use the On Star to know how many miles you drove and more importantly where so they can tax you and then divvy up the tax based on which jurisdictions you were driving in.
The onstar humans are ok, the rest kinda sucks. I get google maps downloaded into the onstar on board and that works well. The voice recog on the built in phone kinda stinks, but I'm used to voice recog stinking and know how to make all the things it's supposed to recognize sound unique enough to make it work. You'd think that the ford Sync which everyone hated (but at least they've done upgrades on) would have attracted more hate here, but...this isn't rational, it's ZeroHedge.
You'd think on a site that understands flow vs amount when it's the fed, they'd understand that channel stuffing (which is done in all industries that use distributers) has kind of a limit - the amount of parking lot that exists to stuff. And they're not real full now.
Fact checking, just in case you didn't know, Tyler, includes more than just looking at what other so-called journalists print. It's a damn echo chamber, not journalism.
Most of these "wizards" evidendly haven't tried to actually run a business that sells something that mainly sells in springime, with union workers (or any other kind) who expect year-round jobs. And plants that cost money to sit there when no operating - especially if you build them so big they can make the peak sales month volume in that month. That's just not how it's done.
I suspect most here are either infantile (the ones that aren't know I'm not talking about them) or only paper pushing screwballs who never have to make anything real, or run an actual payroll.
I love my Volt, I like the way GM compensated for the pretty high sales price by loading it up with all the luxury features that don't cost them much to add, but usually are expensive options in the showroom. It's a neat car. The most agile in city driving I've ever experienced, and it gets my rural mountain driving done fine too. I've spent zero on power co electrticity, since I'm off the grid anyhow, and used 18.5 gallong in 5987 miles, some of that on purpose to make sure I break in the ICE.
But, if people here want bad deals from other manufacturers, or lousy looking, noisy, cheap, bad handling, econobox cars, let'em buy a prius - they are what they are, some people like them. They get good mileage too. Just not as good.
Must really piss off the GM haters that this is such a leapfrog tech that everyone else has hired away their engineering team to make copies - from BMW to Mercedes, to VIA motors.
So, we can remind them when they buy one of them, who it's a copy from - the Volt.
There's a reason last months Volt sales were record - and 3 times the Leaf sales, and also more than the Prius for the same time in the market if you look back to their second year availability.
Cash talks, this ZH here's all bullshit, so I'm walkin'.
Junk away losers - do you think I give a half-shit? Do you go collect likes like they meant something of value to anyone with an iq above room temp? Fine for ya. Drivel to me.
DCFusor,
I really, really like the Volt, it's interesting technology, but Here are my concerns with it.
1) The IC engine is overly integrated with the primary propulsion, I think that's a problem in the prius, too, multi port transmissions and
extra clutches are just maintainance problems waiting to happen.
2) The Volt lacks an offboard takeout inverter mode. If the Volt were designed to feed power to the grid or house, then it could serve to handle peak loads, and still let your Solar PV or Wind Turbine handle average loads.
3) The price point is a little high, if you look at the Plug in Prius vs the Volt, you see, A line between Range, Cost that Volt, Prius plug in, Fiskar, are all exploring.
I bought a used 2010 Honda INsight because at the time my car was dying and I needed something then. I love the Volt and can't wait to pick up one that's Second generation or buy one used.
I think the BS about GM losing $80K per Volt is just that. The NRE, particularly the tooling and Battery engineering is Program costs, the key is are they hitting their sales numbers, and is the car generating Buzz and Halo.
When the Prius came out, Toyota was losing $10K/car and GM wasn't willing to lose $100Million investing into their Hybrid.
it was a "Big Mistake" according to Bob Lutz. http://priuschat.com/threads/gm-not-making-hybrid-a-mistake-so-says-lutz...
Rick Wagoner says killing the EV1 was the biggest mistake of his career. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/31/business/fi-gm-cars31
Had GM kept up the EV1 and released a version with a small generator that would serve as a range extender, the car would have sold well. a 2 seater with decent performance, great aero and a gas augmented range of 200 miles, would have challenged the Prius
early off the blocks.
It will take a few years for the Volt to pay for it's investment, but, lots of technology struggles at first, and the Plug in Prius, Plug in Accord, Tesla S and Roadster, Fiskar Karma all argue that GM is right.
I am probably not a good volt target right now, my backyard is kind of small but, I think the Volt will prove to command it's niche much as the Prius is starting to become Toyotas biggest seller.
My Uncle is a big Detroit Exec and he said "Electric Cars aren't Selling", and I said "If you count Hybrids, Electrics are now the 3 biggest seller by platform. All a plug in Hybrid is a Hybrid with a bigger abttery and a small charger. All that's happening now is the
Range is increasing and the charger rates are picking up
As Hybrids get bigger and Badder, the world will change.
"1) The IC engine is overly integrated with the primary propulsion, I think that's a problem in the prius, too, multi port transmissions and
extra clutches are just maintainance problems waiting to happen."
Disagree. The IC only kicks in when the battery is depleted, and operates either serially (at speeds below say 55mph) or in an efficient clutched-in mode at speeds 55mph and above. The computers control when the clutches engage, and have total control over the motor/engine RPMs so theoretically they can do RPM matching and minimize wear when engaging.
"3) The price point is a little high, if you look at the Plug in Prius vs the Volt, you see, A line between Range, Cost that Volt, Prius plug in, Fiskar, are all exploring."
Early adopters get the shaft, and as a lot of haters whinge, the high price point is still too low to cover all of the R&D and tooling that got written off during the bankrupcy. The "unique" electric powertrain and associated batteries add probably 10k to the final cost (though GM quotes a replacement battery currently at 3k assuming you turn in your current battery), and that will only come down as battery tech improves and R&D + tooling get amortized over a larger pool of hardware and electrified drivetrains gain economies of scale.
I doubt there will be a $30k EREV from GM that's a Volt, but in 5-10 years I could see the EREV platform available in a number of different existing lines as a $5-10k option, with the Volt being either a mini-brand or branching out with a number of models such as MPV/CUV and 2-seater Chevy equivalent ELR (perhaps Volt SS?).
DCFusor,
I really, really like the Volt, it's interesting technology, but Here are my concerns with it.
1) The IC engine is overly integrated with the primary propulsion, I think that's a problem in the prius, too, multi port transmissions and
extra clutches are just maintainance problems waiting to happen.
2) The Volt lacks an offboard takeout inverter mode. If the Volt were designed to feed power to the grid or house, then it could serve to handle peak loads, and still let your Solar PV or Wind Turbine handle average loads.
3) The price point is a little high, if you look at the Plug in Prius vs the Volt, you see, A line between Range, Cost that Volt, Prius plug in, Fiskar, are all exploring.
I bought a used 2010 Honda INsight because at the time my car was dying and I needed something then. I love the Volt and can't wait to pick up one that's Second generation or buy one used.
I think the BS about GM losing $80K per Volt is just that. The NRE, particularly the tooling and Battery engineering is Program costs, the key is are they hitting their sales numbers, and is the car generating Buzz and Halo.
When the Prius came out, Toyota was losing $10K/car and GM wasn't willing to lose $100Million investing into their Hybrid.
it was a "Big Mistake" according to Bob Lutz. http://priuschat.com/threads/gm-not-making-hybrid-a-mistake-so-says-lutz...
Rick Wagoner says killing the EV1 was the biggest mistake of his career. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/31/business/fi-gm-cars31
Had GM kept up the EV1 and released a version with a small generator that would serve as a range extender, the car would have sold well. a 2 seater with decent performance, great aero and a gas augmented range of 200 miles, would have challenged the Prius
early off the blocks.
It will take a few years for the Volt to pay for it's investment, but, lots of technology struggles at first, and the Plug in Prius, Plug in Accord, Tesla S and Roadster, Fiskar Karma all argue that GM is right.
I am probably not a good volt target right now, my backyard is kind of small but, I think the Volt will prove to command it's niche much as the Prius is starting to become Toyotas biggest seller.
My Uncle is a big Detroit Exec and he said "Electric Cars aren't Selling", and I said "If you count Hybrids, Electrics are now the 3 biggest seller by platform. All a plug in Hybrid is a Hybrid with a bigger abttery and a small charger. All that's happening now is the
Range is increasing and the charger rates are picking up
As Hybrids get bigger and Badder, the world will change.
Even if the car was a concept shown in 2006, it would have never made it to production if GM wasn't bailed out by the gooberment. Also, taking a car from concept to full production requires ample amounts of time and money.
shit happens, get over it.
BTW, the Feds bailed out Chrysler Twice, Lockheed in the 70's,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailout
and lots of other companies
No reason to be upset about the bank bailouts with taxpayer money or any of their 0% Fed loans either then I guess. ZH or any other non-propagandist website should just fold, because you know, shit happens.
DCFuson -
Don't you know these posters hate facts even more than science. An experimental electric car - Oh my God, must be the fault of that facist, socialist, nazi, communist Obama.
Has anyone ever heard of research and development. In the world of new experiments, failure is typically the end result. VOLT is relatively new hybrid concept and it is doubtful that it will ever be profitable. All electric cars are going to have issues until there is a breakthrough in battery/energy storage. Guess there should never be any R&D again. Let's skip the Middle Ages and go right Back to the Dark Ages.
The drawbacks and problems with battery operated anything have been known for 130
years.An enormous ammount of money has been spent over that time on R & D.
The same flaws remain in spite of it.
Banging your head against a brick wall rarely topples it.
Its not different this time.
It's all a matter of price point.
Battery $/KWH are falling steadily.
Motor $/KW are rising.
It's all in the data.
"all I had to pay was sticker - plus buy some solar panels so I drive for free from now on "
So that's analagous to buying a car and buying the fuel and saying "I drive for free" ?????
Econ 101?
I still have to replace tires, and no it's not, I use the excess power from the solar system to run my R&D (nuclear fusion) lab too, and other stuff. I get a break on that - if you're not a city dweller, and just build on raw land, often you can have your home built without bulding permits and PP taxes are for a barn instead of a home - payoff time is very short in that case.
I've used 18.5 gallons of gas total this year. The additional solar which turned out to be in excess of what was needed to also run the Volt, was about 10k. Econ 101 over the life of a car, anyone?
Or, oops, some of the panels in my system are already from the '70s and still putting out power.
That'd be econ 103 I guess.
The fuel is sunlight, which is free. The cost to harvest it (gather and deliver the fuel) is not. However, those are sunk costs presumably, from which he's deriving additional value.
At a certain point, solar installations pay for themselves vs. paying a utility for the equivalent delivered power, and from that point on until the end of usable life of the panels the power you get is indeed free. Perhaps DC has reached that point already.
Me, I'm strongly considering a grid-tie system with battery backup after I close on my house, though I may lay in some water storage and rainwater gathering stuff (plus softening and filtering all water into the house, as I also have co-op and well on the property) to go with my year's dried food.
You can buy Poly Crystal Solar now from Canadian Solar for $1/Watt Retail, Inverters, install take it up to $3/watt,
but that's not a bad payback, figure 5-10 years, less if you add the credits.
This is effectively a 10-20% ROI, for low risk.
Neither myself nor any of my other patriotic brethren will purchase a Volt nor did we participate in cash for clunkers. Everyone who does/did so facilitates the abuse of our constitution by an unscrupulous and fascist government.
And everyone who doesn't is paying the middle east money to buy weapons to kill us with, asshole.
My car was made in America, by americans, and the fuel comes from here too. Eat shit or work it all out a little better.
You do buy gas, right? How about Chinese goods?
Do you think delaying the crash helps us or hurts us?
I believe the sooner the crash comes, the better, though hopefully not before I'm fully prep'd. The sooner it comes, the less damage is done, as damage is compounded with interest.
Disgusting parasitic SOB.
I'm not dead yet!
I'm not dead yet!
how do you know O-Samma's dead ? oh -you saw it on the tee-vee.
How about a book by the preacher that gave that 45 minute ceremony before feeding OBL to the fish...
Any photographs?
Nah... that's not neccessary - and lock up that Doctor so he doesn;t say anything either.
Guys, now I know the US taxpayer loses a ton per unit sold, but just think of all the savings we get due to lower CO2 emissions and higher MPG!!!
Plus, the spontaneous combustion is INCLUDED in the sticker price. Can you say DEAL OF THE SUMMER?!
yes indeed....and think of all the underwater homes they burn down. I see win-win .
"What's a fire and why does it, what's the word, burn?" - The Little Mermaid Agent
DC FUSION, hello? Where are you?
Come tell us again how your chevy dolt is the best that we can do.
Seriously.
Go to a dealer and drive one and see for yourself. You're in for a surprise. People who own these like them so much they rival Apple Fanbois in their love for them, rational or not.
http://gm-volt.com/forum/index.php
(Try the what's new search)
http://www.coultersmithing.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=48
For my own alt-energy presence in the world.
Or check out /nuclear/fusion on my forums...
It's so the best we can do, everyone else has hired away the GM engineers that did it. So when you smugly buy your Beemer that's electric - it's a copy, they got the main design engineer.
Via motors got Bob Lutz, the Volt project manager, who can't be described as "green" at all, he's an AGW denier...and a Republican. When you only get your facts from a guy with a single agenda, which might be merely as simple as click baiting - you might as well just go get them from Faux news or something.
alive at the same time... until schrodinger's mechanic opens the hood.
By the logic in that article, you build a restarant, and the first meal costs a million bucks. Volt outsells the Leaf, the PIP, and any other BEV by quite a bit.
Just in case you care about any facts or stuff like that:
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?16759-Why-can-t-we-admit-when-we...
Yeah, but they plan to make it up on volume.
So they've adopted the Amazon Kindle Fire business model?
They adopted the Fire part, anyway.
So freaking awesome that we bailed-out these guys, isn't it?
#WINNING
Sorry Quintus. Didn't see your comment before I fired off mine.
No worries. Obambi will me sending the check as soon as he's reelected.
GM's volume will pick up when Barry introduces the zero-down, 30-year car loan via the FHA clone...the FAA--Federal Auto Administration.
No GMs volume will pick up when government says that you are mandated to buy a volt just like they did with healthcare.
Seems their is some on the Right that have the antidote for the Volt.
They are starting a car co.
Their first model is called the "Revolt"
It has 12 cylinders
600 cubic inch displacement
Two Holley 750 cfm double-pumper carbs.
No seat belts.
And a ashtray!
disclaimer-I got this from another sites comment section.
Where is the recall on the 2012 camaro torque converters and trans being bad ??????????????????????
Not before this election
anybody that buys a US muscle car/baby boomer penis hardener deserves to get ripped off.
I am not a baby boomer.
Wrong on both accords. It matches the 69' pace car we have in the family.
congrats on your investment- in 12 years it will be melted down into scrap and made into more eventual scrap. I'll drive my 2001 Camry another 165K miles-try that with your GM product.
2012 - 1969 = 43
Piss off
from my experience guys that are into cars are one-dimensional spazzes-thanks for reinforcing my opinion.
You are so funny. Want some mini pizzas?
actually guys that ride HDs(another govt. bailout-baby) are bigger spazzes- so take some solace in that
.
Have done, on two buicks and one olds. Well over 300k miles, before I got well off enough to not need to drive an out of date car anymore.
and penis hardeners are a bad thing? Tell me it isn't so.
Hey otto skorzeny-Are'nt you the guy who murdered Nicholas Tesla?
TOTUS should be driving one back to Chicago
This I can agree with - they're not bullet proof.
The Obama Volt. Forward!
The Obama Volt - "Spontaneous combustion is GUARANTEED or your money back...Well not really."
I wonder what the old Soviet Union lost on each Lada, not that they built than many. Perhaps GM should have licence built the Trabant, they'd a done better.
See the USA in your Chevrolet.
Sheeeeeeiiiittttt.
We lost this motherfucker a lonnggg time ago.
One word that will make you feel better: Geo Metro.
I can't wait for Obama to save the rest of our industries..............
this is another example of how short sighted special interests and their bitches in the federal gov't are screwing up yet another american company.
But it saves the world!
:)
Or at least the UAW bosses.
the Volt has a short circuit
I know I said it once today, but the Green Movment can go rake-fuck themselves.
For me, this has zero to do with green. It has to do with not having to work to pay a power bill, or send money and troops to people who hate us. Yeah, I live in a nature preserve too, to have room for my shooting ranges and some frigging privacy - you don't like what I do, get off my lawn and you'll not be able to see it anymore. Green comes along for the ride, free - then I show them the guns and gold and....
Another great achievment of the Debt-O-Brother totally worth re-electing.. Time to put foot-pedals in it and sell it still as ecological with a discount.
Good for the gubbermint for keeping the losses so low.
I was expecting maybe $75,000 loss per vehicle so this is good news to me.
I'm so proud, can I send my taxes in early or maybe pay them twice?
You can pay mine too while you're at it.
Thanks.
lol, I'm looking to move out of this country.
If Obama is re-elected I will close down my business, layoff my workers, and be gone.
In case you're wondering...New Zealand.
I used to want to go to NZ. Had the paper work filled out in 2004. Have you been paying attention to politics there?
Yes, I have....closely.
I can say the only political establishment that can compare to the depths of moral turpitude as the U.S are areas in Europe.
Would it not be kinder to sell to or give your employees the business so that they can stay in employment?
I've been gradually moving toward the same goal, myself. Left the states in 05. Hoping to be in NZ in a couple years' time.
Don't forget to bring a sheepdog.
ha/
...Who is John Galt?
Surfers Without Borders
Bob next we will hear Biden-dork crow about how they reduced the loss from $75,000 to 49,000 making a cool $26,000 profit per car for the American Taxpayer. The sad part is if he indeed did say that over 50% of public would believe it.
The number one selling car in China is a GM minivan. Is the American taxpayer footing the bill?
I think it says alot about a society(China) that Buick is a coveted luxury vehicle
Hardly. Coveted luxury vehicle in China = Beamer/Merc.
Buick is "luxury" when you compare it to the domestic makes, however.
Where is DCfuser to set us straight on the Volt?
He didn't like having the real sub 30mpg gasoline average of the Volt thrown in his face.
My 05 Focus with 230K miles on it gets better milage, of course Mazda makes the engine.
My bud had an '86 Tempo, 2.3L 5spd., that got an easy 38mpg on the freeway. Bought it for $300.
I get right around 40 mpg, when I use the engine, which is rarely. The round trip to the nearest beer/munchie store is only 27 miles out here in the boonies, which I make driving like a wild man even in winter with the heat blasting with battery left over. I only use enough gasoline to make sure the engine stays oiled up. That nets me at this instant, around 182 mpg, since last Oct when I picked up the car.
80% of all trips are under 40 Miles, if you are diligent about plugging in, you will rarely burn gas.
I'm in the DC area and know a few volt owners, they are pretty conssitently seeing effective 300-500 MPG.
Now sure, drive to CT, it burns gas on the highway at 30 MPG, but, spend a lot of time in town, you may well
never burn a tank out.
Is it DCfuser or DCfusion?
No matter, I'm sure he's copy/pasting something from the SF Chronicle to defend his purchase.
Fuck you, I write my own copy, thanks, and it gets published too - and not at vanity press, but for money. SF can go screw itself - oh, wait.....that IS what they do there, isn't it.
He still trying to figure out how to justify spending $40,000 on a $17,000 Chevy Cruze...
I drove a Cruze. Nice for an econobox. Sucks for a daily driver, since 0-5 mph takes 3 carlengths. Then it takes off like a rocket, but if those 3 carlengths are turning across high speed traffic, you're going to die. They are noisy and cheap, like all other econoboxes. Nice if that's what you like. Not if you want some luxury, handling, quiet, true economy....
put a Solyndra solar panel on each Volt roof
And it must be union workers that are killing Best Buy too.. the economy is great, why else could they be failing?
I don't know what everybody's problem is with this.... This business model worked great for Solyndra..... Oh, wait.....
but, but, the people n the commercials r so happy!!!!!!!
great idea O'Sellout....
49 fucking big ones per car loss??
I for one horrible moment there thought you Americans had elected our last offical government of Labour cunts who could wreck an ecconomy from a hundred yards. Do tell though, has tony fucking b.liar had anything at all to do with this motor?
This smells like his hands could be all over it the fucking perma-tanned cunt war criminal
+1 for managing to flatter b.liar
It would be cheaper to let the workers go and pay them the 49000 $ so they can enyoj going fishin.
I thought electric cars were supposed to be so cheap that everyone could afford to buy one?
The losses don't stop there. You also have to add in the $7500 federal tax credit and the $8000 charger that is thrown in with state and local subsidies.
In other words, how to bankrupt a country for votes.
And let's not forget the cost - to the taxpayer - of all those charging stations that local utilities and state dept's of transportation are putting in in preparation for the 'electric car revolution'. Not one peep about switching over to CNG fuel, which can be made from garbage, literally. Cost of converting a gasoline engine to run on CNG anywhere between $600-$2500 depending on the engine. The technology is off-the-shelf and anyone the least bit mechanically inclined can do the conversion. But nooooo...
Americanspirit, I looked at converting the Company Chevy Silverado to CNG or LNG, at least back in 2009 it was going to be $10K. and I still needed to keep the Gas tanks because there was a shortage of LNG filling stations. You can't fill a LNG car with what comes out of a 1.5" Municipal Methane line, you need big lines, say 8 " and you need a big compressor/Chiller, Propane is about $3/Gal
so it's not a big savings there and LNG stations will requre a lot of money, it's why Pickens wanted a trillion dollars for LNG infrastructure.
Is there a better example of government "success"?
With success like this, we should be a bona fide turd world cuntry before year's end.
I swear to Mother Nature sometimes I just want to smash things and shout four letter words when it comes to the profound stupidity, bassackwardness and general fuckupedness of this society.
"I swear to Mother Nature sometimes I just want to smash things and shout four letter words when it comes to the profound stupidity, bassackwardness and general fuckupedness of this committe driven SOCIALIST society."
I'm sure TPTB will want to slap on a value added tax to that since I improved it a bit...
Be forewarned... the future was, 'designed to fail', period!!!
Note: the world will be buying all their eVolts from the Chinese in ten years or less at a premium,...
The demand function has income as a variable. No income plus no savings equals zero quantity demanded. China will be selling to countries with income like Canada, states of Africa, Australia.... states of western europe, USA, Japan will be debt slaves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkzBwXNACrM
... as Homer's half-brother [herb powell] cries, "I'm Ruined!"
We should put tarriffs on all chevy volts like we did Chinese solar panels. This government subsidy is unfair.
I think buying a used VW Jetta and converting it to run on used fryer oil is cheaper.
www.greasecar.com
I run a W124 Benz diesel. It's frugal, rides well, has all the space I need and yes it runs on used fryer oil too. It costs pennies to run and own compared to something like a Volt. We are not going forward at all, only backwards.
In all fairness to Obama...
GM didn't build those losses. Taxpayers did that.
GM needs to get Morgan Stanlye to help them do adjusted EBITDA accounting on every Volt, just like dot.com 2.0 babies LNKD, OPEN and the others.
They will quickly turn those unsightly losses into hefty profits, maybe even greater than revenue!!