Volt production halted

[Pipcecil]

If you really want to compare the volt cost compared to a standard prius you can easily make a mathmatical formula to compare. If you only get to charge one way, the efficiency ends at about 65ish miles (I think it was 66, I did the math and cant remember now). Of course this increases as gas increases. But if you get to charge at home and at work, the numbers skew way into the volt ownership versus the prius or even the PiP (who's EV range is abysmal). But thats looking at a pure running cost perspective. Some prefer the "electric drive feel" but need a longer range than a leaf (hybrid driving has a completely different feel). Some also want the more higher end interior. Having driven both, the Volt definetely has a more luxury feel. So the volt's not all bad, it just depends on your needs and wants.

Currently my wife and I are in a little bit of limbo. She ordered her Volt Febuary 8th and we are concerned it won't make it to production. Timing is important because she didn't want to dump more money into her current maintence hell vehicle, which would be due up soon for maintence (and title renewal!!). Our order got "accepted for production" on February 29th, so no clue if that means it will be built before the break or if its just in a long que line. The dealership has no clue what it ment either (if anyone knows what this means, you can sheld some light on it).

 

[quartzav]

Have you called Volt Advisor? They are usually very good at this sort of questions. Their number is (877) 486-5846. My guess is they will finish all orders and then halt the line.

If you really want to compare the volt cost compared to a standard prius you can easily make a mathmatical formula to compare. If you only get to charge one way, the efficiency ends at about 65ish miles (I think it was 66, I did the math and cant remember now). Of course this increases as gas increases. But if you get to charge at home and at work, the numbers skew way into the volt ownership versus the prius or even the PiP (who's EV range is abysmal). But thats looking at a pure running cost perspective. Some prefer the "electric drive feel" but need a longer range than a leaf (hybrid driving has a completely different feel). Some also want the more higher end interior. Having driven both, the Volt definetely has a more luxury feel. So the volt's not all bad, it just depends on your needs and wants.

Currently my wife and I are in a little bit of limbo. She ordered her Volt Febuary 8th and we are concerned it won't make it to production. Timing is important because she didn't want to dump more money into her current maintence hell vehicle, which would be due up soon for maintence (and title renewal!!). Our order got "accepted for production" on February 29th, so no clue if that means it will be built before the break or if its just in a long que line. The dealership has no clue what it ment either (if anyone knows what this means, you can sheld some light on it).

 

[scottf200]

Thought this was a great interview. Video in link below.

http://gmwesternregion.visibli.com/share/Wm0xzZ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The new CEO of General Motors, Dan Akerson, came to San Francisco. Before he spoke before the Commonwealth Club, he sat down with ABC7.

Akerson has been CEO of GM since Sept. 2010. He was initially appointed to the board of directors by the U.S. Treasury in 2009. He says the old, pre-bankruptcy GM did many things right, like 90 percent, but that other 10 percent was the difference between success and failure.

Akerson says the new GM tries to be more tuned in to what the customer wants and aims to better understand trends with more pointed, in-depth research.

"In 2011, in the 103-year history of General Motors, we never produced greater profits than we did last year, two-and-a-half years out of bankruptcy. At the same time, we have our issues. To use a sports analogy in baseball, it's about the second or third inning and we've got a lot of work to do," said Akerson.

GM entered the electric hybrid market last year with the Chevy Volt. One of every four volts is sold in California, but production is being suspended for five weeks, beginning this month to reduce inventory. Demand has turned out to be less than expected.

Akerson believes sales dropped off because late last year a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report on a Volt crash got politicized, but he says adjusting production is no big deal.

"We have the number one selling car in America called the Chevy Cruz. We introduced it in November of 2010 and it literally outsold Honda, Toyota, in the compact category, best-selling car. In November, we closed plants in Lawrencetown, Ohio for two weeks to match inventory with production," said Akerson.


Akerson says GM has paid back the $25 billion bailout, but the government still owns a 27 percent stake in the company. He says he doesn't have the luxury of debating the politics of the bailout, he's too busy doing his job.

"Was it worth it? I think it's a success. What path did I take? Rather than argue from a political point of view, let's just argue it pragmatically. Was it a success? General Motors is not in the Fortune 500, but Fortune 10 now," said Akerson.
<snip>

 

[cwerdna]

Thought this was a great interview. Video in link below.

http://gmwesternregion.visibli.com/share/Wm0xzZ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...
"We have the number one selling car in America called the Chevy Cruz. We introduced it in November of 2010 and it literally outsold Honda, Toyota, in the compact category, best-selling car. In November, we closed plants in Lawrencetown, Ohio for two weeks to match inventory with production," said Akerson.

It would be nice if the above statement were true.

See https://www.examiner.com/cars-in-national/top-20-best-selling-cars-of-february-2012" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-autosales.html#autosalesC" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2012/03/top-10-best-selling-cars-february-2012.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. There are plenty of cars ahead of the Cruze in sales for Feb '12.

The Cruze also got the bottom two reliability slots for small cars in Consumer Reports and as a related rating, the Cruze 1LT got the worst value small car (http://pressroom.consumerreports.org/pressroom/2012/01/analysis-of-performance-reliability-and-owner-cost-finds-small-cars-and-family-sedans-deliver-the-most-bang-for-the-buck-y.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Chevy Cruise and Focus are probably #1 and 2 in my parking lot at work. probably seen 3 new Cruises all within the past 2 months or less

 

[scottf200]

Thought this was a great interview. Video in link below.
http://gmwesternregion.visibli.com/share/Wm0xzZ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...
"We have the number one selling car in America called the Chevy Cruz. We introduced it in November of 2010 and it literally outsold Honda, Toyota, in the compact category, best-selling car. In November, we closed plants in Lawrencetown, Ohio for two weeks to match inventory with production," said Akerson.

It would be nice if the above statement were true. See https://www.examiner.com/cars-in-national/top-20-best-selling-cars-of-february-2012" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-autosales.html#autosalesC" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2012/03/top-10-best-selling-cars-february-2012.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. There are plenty of cars ahead of the Cruze in sales for Feb '12. The Cruze also got the bottom two reliability slots for small cars in Consumer Reports and as a related rating, the Cruze 1LT got the worst value small car (http://pressroom.consumerreports.org/pressroom/2012/01/analysis-of-performance-reliability-and-owner-cost-finds-small-cars-and-family-sedans-deliver-the-most-bang-for-the-buck-y.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

What a hater. You did read above it was compact cars right? The point is they closed down a really really popular car with high sales for a couple weeks in November and the media didn't make a big deal out of it but if it happens to the EREV Volt it is a disaster and the they are folding up shop.

The GM press release about the Cruze.

Chevrolet Cruze Remains Best Selling Compact Car in U.S.
Contributed to 16 percent increase in total Chevrolet sales in August
http://media.gm.com/content/media/us/en/chevrolet/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2011/Sep/chevsales" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cruze hits its stride as top-selling compact car in the U.S.
http://www.statesman.com/life/cars/cruze-hits-its-stride-as-top-selling-compact-1898140.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Herm]

For some reason, Feb was not a good sales month for GM

 

[AndyH]

It would be nice if the above statement were true.

See https://www.examiner.com/cars-in-national/top-20-best-selling-cars-of-february-2012" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-autosales.html#autosalesC" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2012/03/top-10-best-selling-cars-february-2012.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. There are plenty of cars ahead of the Cruze in sales for Feb '12.

The Cruze also got the bottom two reliability slots for small cars in Consumer Reports and as a related rating, the Cruze 1LT got the worst value small car (http://pressroom.consumerreports.org/pressroom/2012/01/analysis-of-performance-reliability-and-owner-cost-finds-small-cars-and-family-sedans-deliver-the-most-bang-for-the-buck-y.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

Nice job. Real data rather than cherry-picked press releases.



This is the second Volt line shut down, right? If the shutdowns are to realign production/inventory (makes good sense), then I think we can expect more shutdowns to come...

 

[davewill]

... This is the second Volt line shut down, right? If the shutdowns are to realign production/inventory (makes good sense), then I think we can expect more shutdowns to come...

The first time was to retool to increase production levels. GM was definitely selling all they made at that time.

 

[cwerdna]

What a hater. You did read above it was compact cars right? The point is they closed down a really really popular car with high sales for a couple weeks in November

The interview you cited appears to have been done in March 2012 (given the article says March 07, 2012) and from http://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2012-03-07/gm-ceo-dan-akerson" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, he spoke at the Commonwealth Club on March 7, 2012. His statement "We have the number one selling car in America called the Chevy Cruze" was definitely not true in February 2012 (see my earlier post), the last month where we have US auto sales stats.

It seems like Akerson is picking some random unknown month (from the distant past?) out of the the air when making his present tense statement about the Cruze. Perhaps the lying/misleading people is a form of marketing to get people interested?

It seems that Akerson is prone to do this but at the end of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anTDQPRV52U&feature=player_detailpage#t=147s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, it seems the Reuters reporter put words in his mouth in December 2011, where it again was untrue (http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/12/top-10-best-selling-cars-november-2011.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.examiner.com/cars-in-national/top-20-best-selling-cars-of-october-2011-picture" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false.

 

[TRONZ]

It would be nice if the above statement were true.

See https://www.examiner.com/cars-in-national/top-20-best-selling-cars-of-february-2012" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-autosales.html#autosalesC" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2012/03/top-10-best-selling-cars-february-2012.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. There are plenty of cars ahead of the Cruze in sales for Feb '12.

The Cruze also got the bottom two reliability slots for small cars in Consumer Reports and as a related rating, the Cruze 1LT got the worst value small car (http://pressroom.consumerreports.org/pressroom/2012/01/analysis-of-performance-reliability-and-owner-cost-finds-small-cars-and-family-sedans-deliver-the-most-bang-for-the-buck-y.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

Nice job. Real data rather than cherry-picked press releases.



This is the second Volt line shut down, right? If the shutdowns are to realign production/inventory (makes good sense), then I think we can expect more shutdowns to come...

LOL :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Pipcecil]

Have you called Volt Advisor? They are usually very good at this sort of questions. Their number is (877) 486-5846. My guess is they will finish all orders and then halt the line.

If you really want to compare the volt cost compared to a standard prius you can easily make a mathmatical formula to compare. If you only get to charge one way, the efficiency ends at about 65ish miles (I think it was 66, I did the math and cant remember now). Of course this increases as gas increases. But if you get to charge at home and at work, the numbers skew way into the volt ownership versus the prius or even the PiP (who's EV range is abysmal). But thats looking at a pure running cost perspective. Some prefer the "electric drive feel" but need a longer range than a leaf (hybrid driving has a completely different feel). Some also want the more higher end interior. Having driven both, the Volt definetely has a more luxury feel. So the volt's not all bad, it just depends on your needs and wants.

Currently my wife and I are in a little bit of limbo. She ordered her Volt Febuary 8th and we are concerned it won't make it to production. Timing is important because she didn't want to dump more money into her current maintence hell vehicle, which would be due up soon for maintence (and title renewal!!). Our order got "accepted for production" on February 29th, so no clue if that means it will be built before the break or if its just in a long que line. The dealership has no clue what it ment either (if anyone knows what this means, you can sheld some light on it).

Did, and at first said it would start production first week of March, now its pushed back to freakin May (and thats just to start production)! :evil: Wife is really really really pissed atm. Her car is litterly breaking down. Don't know what we are going to do...we were banking on late March early April arrival.

 

[scottf200]

What a hater. You did read above it was compact cars right? The point is they closed down a really really popular car with high sales for a couple weeks in November

The interview you cited appears to have been done in March 2012 (given the article says March 07, 2012) and from http://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2012-03-07/gm-ceo-dan-akerson" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, he spoke at the Commonwealth Club on March 7, 2012. His statement "We have the number one selling car in America called the Chevy Cruze" was definitely not true in February 2012 (see my earlier post), the last month where we have US auto sales stats.

It seems like Akerson is picking some random unknown month (from the distant past?) out of the the air when making his present tense statement about the Cruze. Perhaps the lying/misleading people is a form of marketing to get people interested?

It seems that Akerson is prone to do this but at the end of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anTDQPRV52U&feature=player_detailpage#t=147s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, it seems the Reuters reporter put words in his mouth in December 2011, where it again was untrue (http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/12/top-10-best-selling-cars-november-2011.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.examiner.com/cars-in-national/top-20-best-selling-cars-of-october-2011-picture" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false.

- You are completely missing the point to and continue to be just a hater. Again the point is they even closed down a plant for a top selling car and the media did not jump on that yet for a slow selling Volt they considered it doomday and there were dozens and dozens of articles.
- You are pointing to best selling cars in general vs compact cars
- What does it matter if they are 1, 2, 3, 4, or just in the top 10 they were still very good/excellent/hit_the_nail_on_the_head selling cars and still shut down related to demand
- Bad *EV press affects all EVs. Why some EV owners/promoters still love to to put down the competitors instead of cheering for all *EVs so we can turn the tide is BEYOND me. Cut off your nose to spite your face.
(Perhaps you incorporated some of AndyHater's points ... I have no idea since I blocked him and stopped reading his post long ago)

 

[smkettner]

Have you called Volt Advisor? They are usually very good at this sort of questions. Their number is (877) 486-5846. My guess is they will finish all orders and then halt the line.

If you really want to compare the volt cost compared to a standard prius you can easily make a mathmatical formula to compare. If you only get to charge one way, the efficiency ends at about 65ish miles (I think it was 66, I did the math and cant remember now). Of course this increases as gas increases. But if you get to charge at home and at work, the numbers skew way into the volt ownership versus the prius or even the PiP (who's EV range is abysmal). But thats looking at a pure running cost perspective. Some prefer the "electric drive feel" but need a longer range than a leaf (hybrid driving has a completely different feel). Some also want the more higher end interior. Having driven both, the Volt definetely has a more luxury feel. So the volt's not all bad, it just depends on your needs and wants.

Currently my wife and I are in a little bit of limbo. She ordered her Volt Febuary 8th and we are concerned it won't make it to production. Timing is important because she didn't want to dump more money into her current maintence hell vehicle, which would be due up soon for maintence (and title renewal!!). Our order got "accepted for production" on February 29th, so no clue if that means it will be built before the break or if its just in a long que line. The dealership has no clue what it ment either (if anyone knows what this means, you can sheld some light on it).

Did, and at first said it would start production first week of March, now its pushed back to freakin May (and thats just to start production)! :evil: Wife is really really really pissed atm. Her car is litterly breaking down. Don't know what we are going to do...we were banking on late March early April arrival.

GM seems to think there are plenty on the lots. Go down and pick one up

 

[scottf200]

Did, and at first said it would start production first week of March, now its pushed back to freakin May (and thats just to start production)! :evil: Wife is really really really pissed atm. Her car is literally breaking down. Don't know what we are going to do...we were banking on late March early April arrival.

Sorry to hear about your frustration. I would be too! Seems lke there is some listening going on as they (GM) are making some adjustments to Canadian situations where they have some great opportunity with high ga$, low co$t hydro electricity, and credits. (http://www.gm-volt.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; thread) Hopefully they will fulfill all orders like yours before the shutdown. They certainly can crank them out now.

 

[cwerdna]

What a hater. You did read above it was compact cars right? The point is they closed down a really really popular car with high sales for a couple weeks in November

The interview you cited appears to have been done in March 2012 (given the article says March 07, 2012) and from http://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2012-03-07/gm-ceo-dan-akerson" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, he spoke at the Commonwealth Club on March 7, 2012. His statement "We have the number one selling car in America called the Chevy Cruze" was definitely not true in February 2012 (see my earlier post), the last month where we have US auto sales stats.

It seems like Akerson is picking some random unknown month (from the distant past?) out of the the air when making his present tense statement about the Cruze. Perhaps the lying/misleading people is a form of marketing to get people interested?

It seems that Akerson is prone to do this but at the end of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anTDQPRV52U&feature=player_detailpage#t=147s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, it seems the Reuters reporter put words in his mouth in December 2011, where it again was untrue (http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/12/top-10-best-selling-cars-november-2011.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and http://www.examiner.com/cars-in-national/top-20-best-selling-cars-of-october-2011-picture" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false.

- You are completely missing the point to and continue to be just a hater. Again the point is they even closed down a plant for a top selling car and the media did not jump on that yet for a slow selling Volt they considered it doomday and there were dozens and dozens of articles.
- You are pointing to best selling cars in general vs compact cars
- What does it matter if they are 1, 2, 3, 4, or just in the top 10 they were still very good/excellent/hit_the_nail_on_the_head selling cars and still shut down related to demand
- Bad *EV press affects all EVs. Why some EV owners/promoters still love to to put down the competitors instead of cheering for all *EVs so we can turn the tide is BEYOND me.
(Perhaps you incorporated some of AndyHater's points ... I have no idea since I blocked him and stopped reading his post long ago)

I was merely responding to Akerson's false statements about the Cruze, not the Volt production stoppage.

How am I missing the point?

We have the number one selling car in America called the Chevy Cruze.

- made in March 2012 - NOT TRUE, based on the most recent month's sales. So, it's ok to make such a statement when it's neither true of cars in general or compact cars, to which you've interpreted his statement to mean? It's ok to say it's the #1 selling car but yet say, when it means it could be #1, 2, 3, or 4? Akerson did this before, but partly w/the help of a Reuters reporter.

What AndyH responded with was the top 10 best-selling maintstream compact car list for Feb 2012 at http://www.examiner.com/cars-in-national/sales-charts-of-the-top-10-best-selling-cars-of-january-2012-by-class-picture-1#slide=44131471" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Again, Cruze isn't #1 there either.

Why should I be a cheerleader for GM? My parents and I have owned 3 GM products in the past, they were all not good in terms of reliability. We don't buy GM anymore. The Volt is not the car for me, but that's besides the point of the Cruze sales lie/misleading statements. However, I do see GM's value proposition (e.g. no need to keep a gasser as a 2nd car, deal w/its maintenance, depreciation, insurance, etc.)

There are many other reasons to be anti-GM such as the mismanagement that forced them into bankruptcy and required a govt bailout, their greenwashing, etc.

 

[scottf200]

How am I missing the point?

The point I was making in my original post is they even closed down a plant for a top selling car, the Cruze, and the media did not jump on that yet for a slow selling Volt they considered it doomday and there were dozens and dozens of articles.

 

[evnow]

The point I was making in my original post is they even closed down a plant for a top selling car, the Cruze, and the media did not jump on that yet for a slow selling Volt they considered it doomday and there were dozens and dozens of articles.

The original point Ackerson was making is well and good - but he needs to watch his words. Otherwise the original point gets lost ("be on the message") in some side discussion dissecting the sentence, like it is happening here.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

It used to be a conspiracy theory that the oil companies bought off Detroit to keep them from building cars that get 100MPG. Now that Detroit has finally built a car that gets 100MPG the media tells us it's a conspiracy the government is going to force us to buy them and that the cars burst into flames. So nobody buys them, the plant that builds them shuts down, and everyone complains about gas prices. It's what makes America great.

 

[Pipcecil]

GM seems to think there are plenty on the lots. Go down and pick one up

I wish it was that easy, her choice of colors (interior and exterior) are not normal (red with the black/white leather - dealerships carry boring colors for her: silver, white, and black she dislikes abunch), but the biggest contention is the radio, which she refuses to budge on is a MyLink radio. Since production on those only started after the retooling on the factory in February, they aren't on the lots and no one carries any with MyLink. So its just disappointment for her and me dealing with it, especially having my $1,000k tied up even longer.