PILOT SPIN
Spin Zone => Spin Zone => Topic started by: invflatspin on November 27, 2018, 07:56:31 AM
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https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/gm-pulls-plug-chevrolet-volt-004100630.html
GM lost money on every Volt built. Consumers were given from $3000 to $7500 in federal tax money to buy them, but even with that Consumers saw little gain from the over-priced, and under-delivered electric-gas hybrid.
Toyota has had marginal success with electric-gas hybrid, however their gas-electric hybrid has had very good success over the years, noting that the fuel economy of the Prius is largely determined by the Atkinson-cycle engine, and has little to do with the battery efficiency.
I've owned 6 gas-electric hybrids over the years, and investigated the Volt for its economy and utility. I was not impressed enough to buy one although it had some nice features. the Nissan Leaf(all electric, no gas) is said to be hanging on by it's fingernails due to poor sales, and high initial cost. Having driven a Leaf for a demo, I can see why.
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Consumers largely do not want EV's and hybrids. They don't sell for a reason. It is performance, and VALUE, even with the large government subsidies. For political reasons, bowing to the Green/Environmental Lobby government has pushed these vehicles. It is vey questionable how "environmentally friendly" they actually are due to battery construction, materials, disposal, AND the fact they largely use FOSSIL FUELS to charge them.
However, dangerously, some cities, are banning internal combustion engine vehicles, and some states maybe going in that direction also in certain areas. States like California use HIGH gasoline prices as a way to deter use. Obama himself said it was a good thing when gasoline went over $4/gallon during his Presidency as it would reduce demand. These people know noting about economics.
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Every time some virtue signalling progressive talks about 'clean' automobiles such as the volt, I ask them if they have looked into the environmental footprint of lithium batteries.
They always get that blank, stupid look, that was made famous by hilary every time she asked an unscripted question.
I always follow up by asking if they know anything at all about working conditions placed upon child slaves at lithium mines, and get an even stupider blank look.
We have succeeded in raising a generation of cowards, bigots, morons, mentally impaired idiots.
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We may be forced by various governments to buy EV's, and then instead of the Volt, you may have the RE-VOLT.
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You guys are absolutely correct. The market will determine winners and losers. I was pretty interested in the Volt when it debuted back in 2008. It appeared at the time, as if GM was going to make a marketable car. Then, they and the others developing hybrids learned the stone-cold facts of battery efficiency, and energy density of batteries. It must have been a sinking feeling in the meeting where the engineers told management that batteries would only get the Volt to go 25 miles down the road before switching to gas engine. And - to charge the Volt would be similar cost in SoCal electric rates to filling the gas tank with 25 miles of equivalent fuel.
lolz... I'm sure that turd in the punchbowl was ignored.
I bought a Saturn Vue hybrid mini-van a few years ago. I bought it because it got great gas mileage, and where I was driving, it qualified me to drive in the HOV lanes without a passenger. This was a big deal then, because I was driving in an area of very dense traffic, and using the HOV lane was quite nice. I got pulled over 3 times in the HOV lane and threatened with citation, but I was very careful to keep the state's list of qualified cars with that model listed, so the cops had to let me go. sigh,,,, I laughed, they cried, it was all good.
The downside was the 'hybrid' part of the mini-van was more or less useless. It had a marginal battery pack, but some nice design features like regen braking to charge the batt, and engine shut-down on stopping, and some coasting situations. The mini-van was very well designed, and Saturn did a decent job of incorporating the 'hybrid' parts of the car to the useful features like AC and lighting.
Sadly, right after they offered the deal, Saturn was part of the reason that GM was losing billions so the entire line was killed off in 2010. Once I no longer had to drive much in that area, I sold the deal to a guy who commuted like I was, and my ad said it qualified for the HOV driving lanes without a pax. I sold it for more than I paid for it, and was happy to see it go. Since it was a 2010 model, and the feds made the hybrid part of the car require a 10 year, 100k mile warranty, I don't know how, but the company has to still stand behind it with warranty support until 2020, or over 100k miles. I sold it at 72k miles, wondering who would repair the car under warranty now that Saturn was Tango Uniform. The sticker in the door jam said 'Produced by GM for Saturn motor cars USA'. Oh well.
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Obama, 2012: “I got to get inside a brand-new Chevy Volt fresh off the line, I’ll bet it drives real good. And five years from now when I’m not president anymore, I’ll buy one and drive it myself.”
No, actually, you won't.
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Obama, 2012: “I got to get inside a brand-new Chevy Volt fresh off the line, I’ll bet it drives real good. And five years from now when I’m not president anymore, I’ll buy one and drive it myself.”
No, actually, you won't.
That treasonous clown certainly knew how to lie.
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I'd like a Tesla, but not necessarily because it's electric. I just think it's 0-60 times are hilarious given it's a "luxury" sedan and a veritable elephant.
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Teslas are a huge status symbol, and very popular in my area. There is a dealer pretty close by, so that may be part of it. For $100K, I just don't get it, as there are nice, better performance sedans out there for less. Again, pure Lib Status Symbol.
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Tesla cars are the only ones that got more subsidy money than GM. I saw a critical report about Tesla cars that said something like - of every $100,000 spent on a Tesla by a buyer, about $20,000 of the price was subsidized by the feds. So, 20% of the car price is part of the money that Musk got for development, and building. No one can say exactly because of the interlocking, and spider web of companies that Tesla has. Some states have given Tesla(Musk) more than $150 million of tax money or subsidies, or relief from tax payments. They have also gotten millions in energy credits for pennies on the dollar from other auto makers. It's complex, but Tesla would never, ever produce a car if it weren't for fed/state tax incentives and subsidies.
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More wreckage from the debacle at GM:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/thousands-moved-gm-factory-now-213345509.html
I didn't know the city under pressure from GM sacrificed thousands of homes, businesses, and a community to build the plant via condemnation using eminent domain. When GM and the govt combine together for gain - what could go wrong? Turns out, everything went wrong.
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Yep, I’m going to say there were absolutely no other qualified people, especially white males with more seniority, who could fill this position.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/14/meet-general-motors-new-39-year-old-cfo-dhivya-suryadevara.html
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-11-27/trump-angry-tremendously-disappointed-gm-ceo-mary-barra
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Well, lets hope all the execs sold their shares before Trump hammered them. That was the plan of course, so the bigwigs could bail and leave the rest of GM holding the smelly bag. one can only hope that GM goes Tango Uniform before Trump is out of office.
That CFO lady was managing part of the pension system? Talk about the kiss of death....