Actually, it is kind of a bummer, because 1300 are being laid off, and I’d be surprised if they were all rehired once they restart the lines
(The Hill) General Motors has temporarily suspended production of its Volt electric car, the company announced Friday.
GM, which is based in Detroit, announced to employees at one of its facilities that it was halting production of the beleaguered electric car for five weeks and temporarily laying off 1,300 employees.
A GM spokesman told The Hill on Friday that production of the Volt would resume April 23.
“We needed to maintain proper inventory and make sure that we continued to meet market demand,” GM spokesman Chris Lee said in a telephone interview.
Lee noted that sales of the Volt were higher in February than they were in January, and added that California recently decided to allow the electric car to qualify for High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes in the state.
“We see positive trends, but we needed to make this market adjustment,” he said.
Throughout all the Corporate Speak, what is being said is that they’re selling so few Edsels, er, Volts, that the market is saturated with ones simply sitting around on either a dealer lot or Chevy’s production lot, and, rather than reduce the price and take a serious monetary hit, the production line will be suspended, because the “market demand” is somewhere between Jack Sh*t and None, and JS has almost left the room.
Just about the only thing keeping JS in the room is government and GM purchasing the souped up golf carts, all at taxpayer expense. Oh, and a few of those “Evil Rich” people.
Regardless of puny sales of the Fuego, er, Volt, the production line will restart: GM, Democrats, and Obama cannot afford to have the production halted for longer then 5 weeks in a presidential election year. So, they’ll restart the line, albeit much reduced, and my money is on half the employees being rehired. Hopefully, GM will rehire the rest to work on their lines that sell.
They were looking to sell 45,000 this year………….sorry, laugh break, that’s ridiculous, they’ve sold 1,626 so far this year. So, they play the blame game
“GM blamed the lack of sales in January on “exaggerated†media reports and the federal government’s investigation into Volt batteries catching fire, which officially began in November and ended Jan. 21,” the Ann Arbor (Mich.) News reported.
So, without the media reports, they might have sold 1,700 so far this year? Mini more than doubled sales of the Volt in February alone, and they intentionally keep production low as a niche car. I wonder if the media is at fault (and, hey, you know I love to go after the media, mostly for being biased) for the car barely being able to get to work before it needs a recharge? For people who commute or travel, they would have to rely on the gas engine quite a bit: spending $40,000 on a base model would be absurd, when they could purchase a Civic, Malibu, or Impala (the last two are popular for “fleet” purchase).
Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.
There is so much that is fishy with the Volt.
The car caught fire 2 months after a crash test but there was no problem with the car, according to GM. The announcement of the NHSTB was made months after the incident and on late Black Friday when we know how many people were watching news cycles.
Chevy then tried to fix the “media perception” by saying “there is no problem, but we will loan you a car until the problem that doesn’t exist is fixed.” Then they went to the defense of “because there is no problem, we’ll buy back the cars that don’t have problems.” Finally they announced a voluntary program to install a “fix” on the cars they claim have no problem.
At the same time the Volt was dealing with an actual problem, Toyota was hauled before Congress to testify about the safety of their cars – cars the NHSTB had already ruled after an investigation were safe.
And in case you missed in, GE announced that all people who worked for them who wanted to be reimbursed for travel expenses would have to own a Chevy Bolt. (Not a Prius, not a Leaf, not a Tesla, not even the higher mileage Cruze. Just the Volt.) Given GE’s tie in with the government through Immholt, this is seen for what it is – an attempt to force people to buy the Volt. Once again, Obama and his supporters are trying to control the marketplace.
Lastly, what the Hill article did not say (and perhaps should have) is that the same factory stopped work from Christmas of 2011 to February 8, calling it an “extended holiday.”
I recently talked with a Raleigh area firefighter, who said they are being trained in dealing with fires from these batteries. It’s obviously a concern, considering how few are actually on the road.
I have a feeling Chevy would love to shut the entire Volt production line down: they know it’s a money loser, and, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it deep sixed in November, no matter who wins. Obama has too much riding on the POS for GM to crash it now.
GM tried to kill off the moneyloser just before they went bankrupt. Go figure.
But, Obama demanded that it be produced and subsidized. Granted, I live in a fairly common-sense conservative state, but I have not seen a self-immolation mobile .. err.. Volt. (lol.. Yugo jokes return)
Also, has anyone else noticed this? Any time you see a Prius.. it is usually driving OVER the speed limit and zipping in and out of traffic.
Ford, by comparison, sold over 47,000 units in February alone. Chevy sold 32,300 units while Dodge sold 23,300 Ram Trucks in February.
Someone just told me: it will take 17 days at least, to get the smiles off all 1300 GM workers….spring like conditions….when the got there layoff notice…and hope it will extentd….through out the summer months as working puts a damper on summer fun at almost full pay….there wish might come true…///