Tag Archives: Chevy Volt

Volt Revival? By Eric Peters

The old Volt and the new Mazda car with similar technologies seem like good ideas. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:

Ten years ago, GM built the only electric car that made any sense as a practical, affordable car.

This was the Chevy Volt (RIP).

It wasn’t especially quick – no “Ludicrous” mode – but that wasn’t the point. It did not make you wait – as all other ludicrous electric cars do. And it did not make you sweat, because its range was about the same as any other car of its type – about 350 miles, unaffected by summer or winter or the use of accessories such as the heater and air conditioner. It cost about $33,000 to start when it was last offered back in 2019, about $20,000 less than a new Tesla Model 3 – which does make you sweat (and then, wait).

Here was a car you could drive like any other car. Spur of the moment, as far as you liked – without having to think about range or plan around recharge times. It thus solved every problem of practicality and functionality associated with electric cars, which was the point of the thing.

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Chevy Forced To Extend Shutdown Of Bolt Plant After Realizing That Literally No One Wants A Bolt, by Tyler Durden

Nobody wants Chevy’s $35,000 electric Volt, even with subsidies. You’ve got to wonder how Tesla’s $35,000 Model S will do. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

General Motors launched it’s much-hyped, all electric Chevy Bolt at the end of 2016.  The Bolt was expected to make a splash as it was the first electric car in the U.S. market to offer 200 miles of driving range at an affordable price starting around $35,000.  The only problem is that pretty much no one seems to want one.

Unfortunately, that lack of demand is about to earn a bunch of UAW workers at GM’s Orion, Michigan plant an extended summer vacation.

As AOL Finance points out today, GM has managed to sell just over 7,500 Chevy Bolts through the first six months of 2017.  Moreover, since dealers are sitting on about 111 days worth of inventory, we’re going to go out on a limb and say the Bolt launch slightly underperformed expectations.  All of which has resulted in GM’s decision to extend the shutdown currently in effect at it’s Orion plant for just a little while longer.

  General Motors Co has extended a shutdown at the Michigan factory that builds the new Chevrolet Bolt electric car as part of a broader effort to get control of bulging inventories of unsold vehicles in the United States.

“Shutdown periods vary by plant based on launch timing of new or refreshed models across the portfolio and our ongoing efforts to align production with market demand,” GM said in a statement.

Bolt

But it’s not just the Chevy Bolt that GM is having a hard time selling.  Overall, the company is battling a massive inventory glut, some 126 days of supplies, in passenger cars.  As such, the company has extended summer vacation shutdowns at three other North American assembly plants. The assembly plant at Lordstown, Ohio, that makes the Chevrolet Cruze and a plant near Kansas City, Missouri, that produces the Malibu sedan both have three additional weeks of downtime. An assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario, will be idled for two extra weeks to reduce inventories of the Chevrolet Impala large sedan.

To continue reading: Chevy Forced To Extend Shutdown Of Bolt Plant After Realizing That Literally No One Wants A Bolt