General Motors was the corporate villain in the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” It’s hoping to be the hero in the sequel.
After years of ignoring trends and losing market share on hybrid cars and green vehicles in general, GM has been racing to develop a plug-in electric car, the Chevy Volt.
It’s good to hear that GM is racing to do anything these days. U.S. automakers of late haven’t been known for their vision or sense of urgency — and they’re paying a steep price as the SUV market tanks.
Expectations for the sleek plug-in Volt have been sky-high. “The eyes of the world are now on the Volt,” John McCain told a GM crowd last week. “It’s the future of America and the world.”
But the Volt business plan is said to be shaky, with the car potentially costing upwards of $48,000, twice as much as its hybrid competitors. GM is seeking generous buyer tax breaks to offset the price.
And here’s a story about GM working out electricity infrastructure issues for the car, which is scheduled for release in late 2010.
Your thoughts?
21 Comments
GM has been in serious trouble for some time. The gas price has brought it to the forefront much sooner than expected, though. They’ve pretty much dropped funding NASCAR; their late model cars are not selling because they ignored the signs.
Wanna bet they ask for federal bailout in the near future . . . and the governments stupid enough to do it? Like I said in an earlier post: Business should be allowed to succeed, but should also be allowed to fail. They’re bringing this on themselves.
American carmakers SHOULD be penalized, and then trying to depend on tax breaks to cover their butt? I shouldn’t have to pay for them to charge this much for an electric car.
No. They need to provide what the market is demanding in a more efficient way.
And another thing…quality. I’m tired of crappy quality out of American cars.
Maybe GM could make a partnership deal with Tesla to use some of their manufacturing empire to put thousands of Teslas on the road quickly.
This is a good op-ed titled, “How GM and Ford failed.”
http://www.davidbruceallen.com/strategyoped/2006/09/general_motors_.html
I’m reminded of a story told in a seminar years ago. A company put out world-wide requests for bids on a component of their widgets. They specified in writing they would accept no less than 3% defect. A Japanese company won the bidding process and 100 components were ordered. When they arrived ON TIME the box was opened and right on top of the carefully packed parts a packing slip stated per contract terms enclosed were 100 quality and 3 faulty component parts. Packing slip noted it was company policy to complete orders with 100% quality so there would be no charge for the faulty parts.
ROFL Linda. That just says it in a nutshell, doesnt it?
And while american car makers are outsoursing more of their production to third world companies, Japanese car makers are building more US plants.
Chevy makes a great truck. The rest of their junk? Not so much. From the looks of the rebates, they pretty much cant get rid of their full lots of four door, big ass pickups.
No rebates available for new single cab six bangers like mine. I dont pull cattle trailers or heavy equipment with it, but I have all the power I need for regular farm activities. And I get GREAT fuel economy out on the road.
I wonder which truck GM amped up production on over the last five years? Just try to FIND a full size six with a single cab.
You should be using chicken poop for fuel kfg.
Maybe it would make your exhaust smell like eggs.
Chicken poop fuels my garden, not my truck!
And to think we used to lead the world in manufacturing. Now? Not so much. In fact, we’re chasing the market, not leading it.
Too bad GM made the decision to destroy the EF-1. They would have a decade lead right now.
As for trucks I once had a Mazda B-2000 that got 25 mpg. Very plain and ordinary. Unfortunately both the Mazdas and their twins the Rengers have developed a glandular condition and gotten oversized and reduced gas mileage.
this is a fantastic idea
Ben, my truck is a full sized Chevy, but with the six cyl overdrive, it does better on gas than some of the so-called little trucks.
Size doesnt always matter :)
The back story says the Volt will go 40 miles on an 80 cent charge. A typical gas powered car (20 mpg) would go the same distance for 8 dollars (at 4 dollars / gallon gas).
So the Volt cost roughly 1/10th to operate.
BUT, given that the car will likely cost 30K, that’s a very big upfront cost for a sub-compact. A Dodge Neon retails for about 10K.
20,000 could buy 5,000 gallons of gas or 100,000 miles of driving a 20 mpg car.
Not really cost effective, is it.
Ben–
You’re exactly right. When I first moved to Wichita, I bought an Isuzu Pick Up.
Why? Because it was literally the cheapest new car you could buy at the time. 8800 dollars with air conditioning (which I consider essential in Kansas).
It was so cheap that it didn’t even have a model name. It was just a “Pickup.”
So ten years go by and I want to buy a new mini-truck. Hey, where are they? They’re all “midsize” now.
Fortunately, my more efficient fuel-injected engine gives me about the same mileage as the old mini-Isuzu.
In the early Eighties, GM, in their infinite wisdom decided to improve fuel mileage on their fullsized pick ups by deboring their 350 V8 to a 305. The end result was an underpowered, poorly performing engine that got worse gas mileage than the engine it replaced.
To make it all better, however, the bottom end of the motor tended to breakdown after about 110,000 miles.
In the late Eighties, I bought a 1985 4×4 GMC Sierra with about 30,000 miles on it. At that time, I was unaware of just how bad the 305 motor really was. On my initial drive home, about 35 miles, I thought the gas gauge was broken, as it was noticeably dropping as I drove.
It didn’t take long for me to figure out that the truck only got about eight miles to the gallon.
$48,000?
A catch 22, why bother to manufacture and claim any savings.
The problem with too high of a price is it does not capture the market.
Compare this to the current affairs of motorcycles, BigDogs, because of their high price, the economy, and lack of sales, had to laid off employees and reduce inventory, downsizing but at the same time Honda is selling their bikes so fast that they can not keep up with demands.
On the other side the coin, I can pay a mechanic $10,000 to convert a car or truck to electric that is just as efficient.
The big auto manufactures are just going to have to go back to what Henry Ford knew.
Cheaper is the way to capture a market.
Clark, maybe I just have a “good un” but…
I drove it off the showroom floor in 2000, and now I have 175,000 miles on my truck. No problems ever. None anticipated. I hope to put at least another 100,000 on it. Of course, I do maintain the hell out of ‘er. I change the oil on time, flush all the fluids every fifty thousand miles, keep the tires inflated, keep it in the shed, etc.
We have a deal. She takes care of me, and I take care of her. It’s worked for us so far. I cant imagine ever getting rid of her. She’s my best friend. Well, she and the dog…
On the other hand…
I had 1989 Chrysler LeBaron converible I also drove off the showroom floor, and it was a piece of crap from the day I brought it home. Oh, it was a p@#^sy wagon, white with red leather interior and all the bells and whistles, but it was the biggest money pit I ever owned. I maintained it well too, but had to replace the engine at 50,000 and, among other repairs, put three a/c’s in it before I mercifully put a bullet through the radiator at 70,000 miles.
I dont give a damn what changes the company makes, I’m still mad about that car. I will NEVER drive another Chrysler product.
The power of a lemon. Chrysler will never get another DIME from me.
“Clark, maybe I just have a “good un” but…”
After the disaster of the 305 and the similar design 260, GM learned their lessons regarding deboring as a way to improve V8 gas mileage.
It don’t work.
Their trucks are very good to excellent, but the rest of their product line pretty much sucks.
Meanwhile …
Toyota set to beat GM in sales this year
Japanese automaker claims 4.8 million vehicles sold, exceeding General Motors, in first half of the year.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/23/news/companies/toyota.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008072309
What they didn’t tell you; the $48 grand doesn’t include the necessary 5,000 mile extension cord- that’s another $52,000!