Automotive

GM Killing Chevy Volt

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  • Dec 28th, 2018 9:12 am
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Feb 24, 2007
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GM Killing Chevy Volt

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gm ... 6d93146bee
General Motors just killed the best car you’ve never owned.

I am talking about the Chevy Volt, a plug-in hybrid GM has been producing since 2010. GM is idling the Detroit-Hamtramck plant that builds Volts and ending the car’s production altogether, the company announced on Monday. The last Volt will roll off the line in March.

The announcement was not a surprise. Sales never met expectations. Rumors about the end of the Volt had been circulating for months. Although workers said they got no warning about the plant closure, GM was following the lead of Ford, which announced cutbacks of its own a few months ago.
Go figure..
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Deal Expert
Feb 29, 2008
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This has been known for quite some time, at least on the Volt forums. Speculation is that the Voltec will be placed in some type of CUV vehicle.
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Sep 9, 2010
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People who bought a Volt probably will see their vehicle highly devaluated overnight. It seems that regarding hybrids or electric vehicles you should either go with a mainstream HEV/PHEV/BEV model or stay with a tried-and-tested conventional ICE model.


Bloomberg. GM Plans More Than 14,000 Job Cuts, Seven Factory Closings
GM Factories closing.JPG
The planned job reductions, which triggered political pushback in the Midwest U.S. and Canada, come on the heels of surprisingly strong third-quarter earnings. GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra is trying to make the company leaner as U.S. auto demand slides from a record in 2016 and sales in China -- GM’s other profit center -- are also in a slump. Barra is also shifting resources toward building electric cars and, eventually, vehicles that drive themselves.

GM also said that the company will jettison the Buick LaCrosse, Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac CT6 sedans next year. The Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid will also be dropped along with the Chevy Cruze compact, which will be made in Mexico for other markets.

Too many of GM’s factories are operating on a single shift to build models that have fallen out of favor, leading its plants to run about 1 million vehicles short of their full capacity, said Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry,labor and economics for the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

"Most of the one-shift plants are sedan plants,” Dziczek said. “That’s a real mismatch in a market where 40 percent of the vehicles sold are crossover utilities.”

Barra is reducing staff from operations that make conventional cars and hiring people who can design electric cars or add software prowess to GM Cruise LLC, the automaker’s autonomous vehicle unit in San Francisco. That means GM needs to allocate more resources to purely electric cars, unlike the hybrid Volt, and to autonomous technology, Barra said.
According to Wikipedia, there were ~9,000 Volts sold in Canada at the end of 2016.
Global combined Volt/Ampera-family sales totaled about 134,500 units by the end of December 2016.[15] The U.S. is the leading market, with 113,489 Volts delivered, followed by Canada with 8,884 Volts sold through November 2016.
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Edit:

2018 Second Half only. Price @ June datum.
Chevy Volt H2 2018 prices.JPG
Last edited by Guest13384726 on Dec 1st, 2018 9:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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I'm hoping it gets replaced by a 7 seat van or SUV.
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aviador wrote: People who bought a Volt probably will see their vehicle highly devaluated overnight. It seems that regarding hybrids or electric vehicles you should either go with a mainstream HEV/PHEV/BEV model or stay with a tried-and-tested conventional ICE model.


Bloomberg. GM Plans More Than 14,000 Job Cuts, Seven Factory Closings

GM Factories closing.JPG



According to Wikipedia, there were ~9,000 Volts sold in Canada at the end of 2016.
Why devalued? Nothing changed for current owners.
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engineered wrote: Why devalued? Nothing changed for current owners.
EOL product. Suppliers for spare parts will cease production or move on to small batches increasing costs of maintenance and repairs. Support from dealerships and manufacturer might become iffy. People's perception about niche discontinued products.

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This makes me feel better about not getting a volt, both in terms of future parts/service availability and for not supporting GM. The tech is solid though, really hope it makes it into something better than a heavy cruze hatchback.

There is something to be said for having access to interchangeable parts across several model years of a popular vehicle, particularly if you plan on keeping your car for some time.
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Were they by all accounts a unmitigated failure?

I still rbwr their first ev car in the 90s where all the silicon valley big hitters bought one. I guess the technology can be transferred to something bigger more profitable like a van or cuv?
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aviador wrote: EOL product. Suppliers for spare parts will cease production or move on to small batches increasing costs of maintenance and repairs. Support from dealerships and manufacturer might become iffy. People's perception about niche discontinued products.
I don't know. The Volt has a cult following. When it becomes scarce, I bet it will fetch a nice price on the used market. As for parts, GM should continue making them for years.
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Oct 2, 2017
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Yea parts are not an issue. I remember when the G6 was discontinued the same issue was raised but I still see them running on the roads in 2018
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aviador wrote: People who bought a GM probably will see their vehicle highly devalued overnight.
fixed that for you
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GM should have slashed the price of the Volt when the Hyundai Ionia PHEV came out. Instead of promoting buy American and charging a premium.

Bolt and Volt were only American cars I’d consider buying, but didn’t cuz I needed bigger trunk
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aviador wrote: EOL product. Suppliers for spare parts will cease production or move on to small batches increasing costs of maintenance and repairs. Support from dealerships and manufacturer might become iffy. People's perception about niche discontinued products.
Since when does that decrease value? Usually value goes up when a vehicle is no longer produced and buying new is no longer an alternative, especially with niche models. Volt's depreciation will not be any worse than any other BEV or Hybrid as newer tech is the primary cause of depreciation.
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Alex360 wrote: GM should have slashed the price of the Volt when the Hyundai Ionia PHEV came out. Instead of promoting buy American and charging a premium.

Bolt and Volt were only American cars I’d consider buying, but didn’t cuz I needed bigger trunk
They're losing money on every vehicle and only produced them to meet CAFE standards, since trump keen on keeping gas cheap and reducing fuel standards, NA keeps buying SUV and pickups.
BEV market is super tiny and only expensive Teslas are popular.
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The big American auto makers can't play in the full electric vehicle space. Let the Toyota's, Honda's and Tesla's look after that.
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I wonder if the next oil price shock or whatever will kill the U.S. 3? Strangely, FCA might survive if it can fill in product with FIAT/Alfa Romeo products.
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An 8 year life cycle for a model is pretty normal these days.

GM will soon have many new electric models to choose from.

Given that the Volt was not necessarily a runaway success, it's not surprising that they may not carry the Volt name onto a new generation of EV.
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i6s1 wrote: I'm hoping it gets replaced by a 7 seat van or SUV.
Paying $45K for a 4 seat compact sedan could be a stretch.

Paying $60K for a 7 seat PHEV SUV based on Voltech would be way more palatable to general public who have range anxiety of EV.
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carmaster wrote: The big American auto makers can't play in the full electric vehicle space. Let the Toyota's, Honda's and Tesla's look after that.
The Volt versus Prius is a great example of why Toyota isn’t GM. The Volt is by all technological measures, a better car. Shoppers who are already buying Toyotas were never going to buy a Chev because pops 1979 Caprice was a piece of shit. So they buy the more expensive and not as advanced Prius which is a piece of shit but hey, I heard its reliable. Point being, GM and according to everyone is shit. Why would they continue to make cars that people are not going to buy?

gtfo with that stupid statement. That has to be one of the most stupidest things I've read on RFD this year of our lord two thousand and eighteen. It upsets me because it made me dummer (not a word) reading it.
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