GM has killed production of the Chevy Volt. The car that is completely useless, slow, underpowered, handles like an iceberg, and has the range of a Punt.
And GM blames the Media. Uh huh.
Here’s the thing… It’s actually not a bad looking little car. Much better looking that a Prius. I bet the Volt would actually sell and do fairly well if they made a version of the Volt that was powered by a simple little eco-friendly 4 cylinder gas or diesel engine.
Cool I can’t wait to get my share of the tax money they took to develop it refunded…
A check will work.
A soon as I get it, I’m ordering a Crusader Longbow.
You know, a product I actually want form a company I voluntarily support…
In my honest opinion, I think the Volt would have done much better sales-wise if the Prius didn’t exist. Sure, the Volt is more fuel-efficient, but the Prius is:
-cheaper
-a known quantity reliability-wise
-doesn’t have the unfortunate habit of catching fire, and
-didn’t have the unfortunate history of being rammed down the throats of GM and the buying public by Congress.
Mostly, I blame the .Gov. IMO, they meddled in the development of the Volt way too much (setting absurd efficiency reqquirements, ordering it to use technologies that didn’t exist at the time, etc) for it to have any chance of success.
That said, I was greatly impressed by the original concept Volt. A fuel-cell powered”car” that’s only a few inches thick and can have different bodies easily attached to it at will? Sign me up!
The Volt is a US National Socialist version of the Trabant, only more expensive.
GM’s “YUGO”. RIP. Ack
If I were in the marked for a commuter car in the $25000+ range it would be a VW Getta Diesle. 50 or so MPG of proven tech. But at the same time why should I spend an extra $10k for 10mpg compared to most new econo boxes made these days. Too bad they don’t put a small diesle in something the size of a Fiesta.
VW lupo or Polo.
Do they sell those in the US?
They do in Europe.
Except I am not a car importer…..
Top Gear Series Twelve, Episode Four. Jeremy used a Jaguar XJ6 Diesel to drive from Basel, Switzerland to Blackpool, UK on a single tank of diesel. That is 780 miles plus he had 120 miles left in the tank. Alas that car is not imported to the states.
Good news: there ARE no Volt fans.
The bailout flap, and the defacto nationalization of General Motors (even if temporary) left me with the resolve to never buy a GM car. The apologists whine about how awful it would’ve been if they’d have gone bankrupt, about the poor unemployed UAW members. As if all of GM’s infrastructure and facilities would’ve sat unused or been scrapped. The company would’ve broken up, or been bought and sold, and someone else would’ve taken a whack at it.
Instead we get the Volt.
You know what the real sad thing is? If you buy an American car, you’re helping to fund the election campaign of a Democrat somewhere. Think about it. What percentage, do you think, of each Detroit-built automobile sold goes into the coffers of the UAW? The UAW uses its money to lobby for left-wing politicians.
So personally, I saw screw Detroit and screw the UAW. If I want an American car, I’ll take a Toyota built in Texas or a Honda built in Alabama. You get the side benefit of the car being less likely to be a cut-corner, shoddily-built piece of junk. GM was going out of business for a reason.
Yup. I’ve always been a Corvette fan. My first was a 1979, and I didn’t sell that one until my wife was pregnant with our third child. Always planned to get another. Probably not, any more.
I take issue with your characterization of all American vehicles, though. There’s no truck on the market that can compete with the Ford diesels.
You are absolutely right.
It might make sense at $25K, not $40K. Might.
Fortunately, the Volt can supply its own viking funeral. Good riddance.
That’s funny right there.
Relax Sports fans… they are only SHUTDOWN for 5 weeks due to too many vehicles in inventory… That being said they are still a hard sell.. The time will come when vehicles like this will be commonplace… that time is just not right now
Well, yes, they have too many vehicles in inventory… because alomst no one is buying them. That was the point.
Hybrid technology has been around in modern form for a third of a century. Unfortunately, the Feds have been fighting it for decades. If not, we could have had actually-worhtwhile hybrid cars in the US, years ago.
I just read that the Volt was named the EU American car of the year for 2012. Perfect timing, LOL!
Maybe the Volt styling is too good? Maybe it doesn’t appeal to the Smug Pollution set.
OTOH, Prius styling screams “DWEEB!” “GEEK!” “NERD LOVE!”