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Chevy stops Volt production (temporarily ...)

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by Dark_matter_doesn't, Mar 2, 2012.

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  1. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    fyi, it's chevy truck month.:p
     
  2. Skoorbmax

    Skoorbmax Senior Member

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    With gas fast approaching record levels nationally I can't think of a better vehicle to buy than a truck, make it a king cab please!

    There is a long thread on chevy volt forum http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread...s-GM-to-temp.-layoff-1500-Volt-workers/page12 about this news and some other similar threads about it. The stance there is interesting, a lot of wild ideas thrown out by people who are still trying to spin yet another piece of bad news about volt sales as something else. I assume that for some it's getting hard to ignore reality, however.
     
  3. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Owners of the 2011 Volt in CA (or any state where buyers are motivated by HOV access) best not look at how much their car has depreciated in 6 months. its going to be a record!
     
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  4. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    Due to unfortunate circumstances Mother just bought a new Chevy. The list of GM's rebates is lengthy: Owner Loyalty, Cashback, Auto Show, Presidents' Day for a total of $4250. These rebates were available across the line though at different amounts. Rebates exist to move inventory which means too much production & not enough demand.

    There is still too much capacity so production has to be cut resulting in more unemployment & less demand. The industry may be better but it is still in the toilet and the hand is on the lever.
     
  5. Erikon

    Erikon Active Member

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    Peculiar strategy, even the Volt should sell very well this summer so getting inventories up right now would seem to be the logical thing to do, not reduce them! I have seen the Volt advertised heavily lately, those strange assembly line commercials, but how do they make the customer think "Cool car, I want one!"?
     
  6. Skoorbmax

    Skoorbmax Senior Member

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    Right now demand is way lower than supply and there is a glut of them. If demand really spikes they can put people back to work, not to mention add a second and third shift. Potential production of these vehicles is way ahead of real demand.

    There is the GM that speaks to the media and the real GM. The GM that speaks to the media says the demand is high and at the turn of the year they'd sell 45,000 of these in the US. The real GM knows this is nonsense and is already acting upon what their real projected sales are.
     
  7. SlowTurd

    SlowTurd I LIKE PRIUS'S

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    will the batteries go bad if they sit too long without being topped off?
     
  8. Rokeby

    Rokeby Member

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    No problem...

    With the proper spin it could be called a feature.

    Anti-theft maybe?

    Built like a brick outhouse?
     
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  9. ngc4565

    ngc4565 Member

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    Given the abysmal sales record, the workers at this plant may want to get used to the idea of that plant being idle. Capacity exceeds demand by a factor of five or more, I would wager.
     
  10. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    Just validating hill's contention that some GM dealers are doing bad things. This is a minority but it His point was taking the credit then trying to sell the cars with out it as if it was a huge discount. I added the dealer that was the worst unscrupulous pain. Firing a guy for ordering a volt. Multiple editorials, regular fox segments to bash, creating legislation against it and holding congressional hearings. He only has 3 bills, free trade with korea, get rid of funding of bike paths, and kill plug in subsidies. He also is loudly in favor of oil subsidies, and wants to increase offshore oil drilling in states that don't currently allow it. I think his next move is to hire people to smash volts at other dealerships, and to shoot pandas.

    I googled it, and your right. It's toyota truck month too

    Toyota Truck Month
    $8000 off on a tundra crewmax:confused:
    Yes, but it takes a long time. The dealers should periodically wash the cars and charge them. Test drives will increase charge to a safe for battery level too, but having the charge low may be a tactic to sell a cruze instead.

    :focus:
    What do the real numbers look like on excess inventory. It sounds like from the volt people gm wants 2 volts at a number of dealerships, making planned inventory 4K, leaving about 2.3K of excess inventory. At Februaries take rate that is 10 weeks, and then they plan to build to demand. The temporary shutdown is about half the excess inventory, then its likely they build at a slower rate to draw this down.
     
  11. cycledrum

    cycledrum PSOCSOASP

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    Welp, if the Volt is bad, the Leaf is worse ....

    Volt sold 1,200 units in Feb ... Leaf sold about 400 units, what's up with that?
     
  12. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    (Speculation) U.S. printing fake paper money in order to buy up failing banking/business systems means worldwide dollar value is nearing worthlessness. U.S. already gets lowest price Leaf and (likely) selling at a loss is a wacky business model. More Leaf sales/manufacturing are thus being focused world wide, rather than U.S. market. One thing 'made-known' by Nissan is that they are striving hard to assure all dealerships nation wide get demo vehicles. Couple those 2 things together and low numbers make sense. Over all however, if you look at this chart of top European selling cars;

    Best Selling Cars – Matt's blog » Europe Full Year 2011: Top 318 All models ranking now available!

    . . . you'll find that the Leaf, just like here in the U.S., outsold (european version of ) the Volt by about 5 to 1 for all of last year. And even though February was one bad month, at least they're not temporarily shutting down Leaf production. With U.S. gas prices soaring, March numbers will be worth looking at to see how trends are going. that's straight from the 'hill' crystal ball. :)

    .
     
  13. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Look at sold production. The US is just one market of many.
     
  14. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    I wonder if election year politics drives the recent Volt plant delay announcement.
    No matter how you slice it, it is at least bad PR coming on the heels of the fire issue and in the midst of the Volt TV commercial campaign (hearing one now as I type this). Possibly there was a decision to take the PR hit now while repubs are decomposing so nicely.
     
  15. john1701a

    john1701a Prius Guru

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    Leaf was always portrayed differently. It's a great compliment to a 2-car family. Those with limited driving needs would enjoy it too, though they'd be less inclined to spend a lot on transportation.

    Seeing sales of Leaf way down could be an indication of saturation, where all those interested in being the first to own one now do.

    It was introduced to a market not ready for plugging in though. Just listening to the in-person feedback I get about my PHV soon to be delivered makes that overwhelmingly clear. There's quite a few misconceptions to deal with still.
    .
     
  16. Sergiospl

    Sergiospl Senior Member

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    Hybrid sales share:3.2%
    Year to date Hybrid sales: 58,000
    Year to date Plug-in sales: 3,089.

    Plug-in sales: about 5.3% so far of all hybrids sold.

    February 2012 Dashboard | Hybrid Cars
    .
     
  17. DavidA

    DavidA Prius owner since July 2009

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    I've been seeing Volt commercials every few hours on TV here in Chicago. They're really trying to sell those suckers off the lots.
     
  18. scottf200

    scottf200 Member

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  19. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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  20. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    ...in that case my Post #53 prior speculation above is proven wrong...I will try to do better. Or maybe I was right, and GM tries to do this every time the repubs decompose.
     
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