https://twitter.com/rwwelton/status/245195611694055425
This morning, Reuters published a devastating article on the astronomical price of Government General Motors insistence on propping up a dud. Two years after the Chevy Volt was introduced, dismal sales are doing nothing to offset the high costs of production. GM may be able to unload at least one more Volt this November, but that’s unlikely to make too much of a dent. According to Reuters, GM has invested an estimated $1.2 billion into production and is losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt. The investment clearly isn’t paying off:
The lack of interest in the car has prevented GM from coming close to its early, optimistic sales projections. Discounted leases as low as $199 a month helped propel Volt sales in August to 2,831, pushing year-to-date sales to 13,500, well below the 40,000 cars that GM originally had hoped to sell in 2012.
…
A Chevrolet dealership that is part of an auto dealer group in Toms River, New Jersey, has sold only one Volt in the last year, said its president Adam Kraushaar. The dealership sells 90 to 100 Chevrolets a month.
The weak sales are forcing GM to idle the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant that makes the Chevrolet Volt for four weeks from September 17, according to plant suppliers and union sources. It is the second time GM has had to call a Volt production halt this year.
So, the costs of GM’s investment are more than just financial; jobs are being affected as well.
Read #GM's response to @Reuters' conclusions. GM May Be Losing $50,000 On Each Chevrolet Volt – @Forbes http://t.co/zAuqV76Q
— Micheline Maynard (@MickiMaynard) September 10, 2012
The Volt, which has been on sale for nearly two years, carries an official sticker price of $39,995. Through August, GM has sold a total of 21,500 Volts. That’s well short of the figure GM hoped to sell. It originally estimated that by this year, it could be selling as many as 60,000 Volts annually worldwide (a version of the Volt is also sold as the Opel Ampera).
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But the sticker price doesn’t begin to cover the original investment for Volt, which GM puts at $1 billion, and which some analysts say is probably closer to $1.2 billion. Nor does it reflect production costs for the Volt, which has expensive technology including lithium-polymer batteries, and sophisticated electronics, plus an electric motor as well as its gasoline engine, Reuters says.
…
“It’s true, we’re not making money yet” on the Volt, Doug Parks, GM’s vice president of global product programs and the former Volt development chief, told Reuters. The car “eventually will make money. As the volume comes up and we get into the Gen 2 car, we’re going to turn (the losses) around,” Parks said.
The economic ramifications of GM’s poor decision-making are huge, yet GM’s response to the Reuters report clearly demonstrate that GM is in denial:
.@Reuters estimate 4 each @ChevyVolt sold is grossly wrong; every investment in tech we make is designed 2 have a payoff 4 our customers ^MS
— General Motors (@GM) September 10, 2012
For those discussing the @Reuters & @Forbes articles on the @ChevyVolt today – the articles are grossly wrong: http://t.co/iLgnkQEl ^MS
— General Motors (@GM) September 10, 2012
Our core research into battery cells, battery packs, controls, electric motors, regenerative braking and other technologies has applications across multiple current and future products, which will help spread costs over a much higher volume, thereby reducing manufacturing and purchasing costs. This will eventually lead to profitability for the Volt and future electrified vehicles.
Every investment in technology that GM makes is designed to have a payoff for our customers, to meet future regulatory requirements and add to the bottom line. The Volt is no different, even if it takes longer to become profitable.
No word on just how long taxpayers are supposed to wait.
Citizens are rightly disgusted — and not surprised:
#DNC2012 goes $15M in the red, Obama admin is $1T in the red, GM loses $49k on every volt they sell… I sense a pattern here. #tcot #p2
— James Madison (@SpiritOfMadison) September 10, 2012
https://twitter.com/phillipdblake/status/245201907512135680
GM's Volt, The ugly math of low sales, high costs http://t.co/Tb1m4qr7 @MSN_Money Consider this when O touts how great the GM bailout is.
— Matt Costello (@MattACostello) September 10, 2012
https://twitter.com/StephenNSiddall/status/245219595256995841
“@GrantCardone: Is the chevy volt so important that GM would be willing to lose so much money?”great question
— JB (@easyindy) September 10, 2012
Is this what Obama & Biden call Success? More General Motors losses… http://t.co/WGCDMGk9 #GM
— Color Me Red ? (@ColorMeRed) September 10, 2012
Stunner: GM May Be Losing $50,000 On Each Chevrolet Volt – Forbes http://t.co/dlwAg1HT Yeah thats a great business plan #RomneyRyan2012
— txchick4mitt (@txchick4mitt) September 10, 2012
https://twitter.com/DSGNTD_PLYR/status/245214389534330881
https://twitter.com/javaguysammckee/status/245214221938335745
GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds. Kinda' like the federal government. http://t.co/e6p4no7e
— A Republic… if we can keep it. (@TexGEOas) September 10, 2012
GM loses $49MM on every Chevy Volt it sells. What a business model.
— Allen Hunt (@AllenHunt) September 10, 2012
Only a community organizer would think this is good. Insight: GM's Volt: The ugly math of low sales, high costs http://t.co/mFd6S6eG
— Mike Bartis (@bartman4862) September 10, 2012
@GM so, no, Reuters isn't wrong. GM is just trying to state a buried fact in the article more clearly.
— Colin Bird-Martinez (@Auto_Bird) September 10, 2012
GM didn't have to be bailed out. They could have filed bankruptcy like everyone else and would have been back on their feet in no time
— RR (@WarEverlasting) September 10, 2012
This is what happens when Government becomes an equity investor in a car company: GM Loses $49,000 on Every Volt http://t.co/gyLZaNpt #Obama
— Red Pill Analytics (@Aloha_Analytics) September 10, 2012
https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/245181255359012865
I didn't buy a Chevy Volt today. This saved GM $49k, and therefore the federal government $13k. Where do I pick up my reward?
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) September 10, 2012
@iowahawkblog Got you beat, I didn't buy *two* Chevy Volts.
— soncharm (@soncharm) September 10, 2012
One Twitterer found himself experiencing a bit of déja vu:
W/GM losing $46K on each Volt, are we now like the Soviet Union, where products of state owned firms were worth less than the raw materials?
— ❌PubliusNV (@PubliusNV) September 10, 2012
Revolting.
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