Oh oh! Not Good (GM temporarily suspends Volt production for slow sales)

[Ladogaboy]

I'm glad to see that many Cruze's being sold... Got to look on the bright side!

[tjts1]

The Volt was doomed to failure they day they decided on a series hybrid. Its too expensive, too heavy with too little FE benefit. Either build a real EV or a real hybrid, not both.

[MetroMPG]

Continuing to put the Volt sales in perspective (1626 year to date)...

Some other year to date sales figures:

1721 - Ford Fusion hybrid
1265 - Honda Insight
829 - Honda CRZ
1190 - Civic hybrid

[cfg83]

MetroMPG -

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Continuing to put the Volt sales in perspective (1626 year to date)...

Some other year to date sales figures:

1721 - Ford Fusion hybrid
1265 - Honda Insight
829 - Honda CRZ
1190 - Civic hybrid

Wow, I wonder how many CRZs Honda was expecting to sell.

CarloSW2

[Ladogaboy]

The problem is with image... The people to whom the CRZ appeals most can't afford a new car. Long gone are the days when kids straight out of high school would consistently find themselves in jobs paying a liveable wage.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Ladogaboy

I'm glad to see that many Cruze's being sold... Got to look on the bright side!

It's the real eco(nomic)-Volt

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

1265 - Honda Insight
829 - Honda CRZ
1190 - Civic hybrid

That's got to be disappointing for Honda- and they ain't selling great in Europe either.

[sendler]

Some of you guys think GM is intentionally killing the Volt? Go look on the lots. They are piling up since anybody that was on the fence has decided to hold off due the the media overkill of the fire issue. Plus, the Volt was long awaited. The few people that wanted one were early adopters. Those ready made sales are saturated. The rest of us can't afford a $27,000 Prius, let alone $40,000 for a Volt or a Leaf. The Focus and the Cruze are catching on. The Fit and the Yaris aren't bad and the Fiesta is a great deal at $14,000 which will be the go to car if they can hold that price next year with the new eco boost engine which will sticker for 44 mpgUS. I looked at one yesterday and was amazed at the standard height seat and big headroom.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Continuing to put the Volt sales in perspective (1626 year to date)...

Some other year to date sales figures:

1721 - Ford Fusion hybrid
1265 - Honda Insight
829 - Honda CRZ
1190 - Civic hybrid

Wow that's meager. But I see these cars moderately frequently down here in OC California. Also, I saw a commentary on GM's Volt decision that really ought to get wider consideration: the 5 week delay in production is exactly the kind of thing they did not do in the past and should have done when models piled-up. They are adjusting supply to demand, and the Volt got some lousy press with the hyped-up fire incidents. Looks to me like normal and smart business adjustments.

[NeilBlanchard]

I think that GM has missed the mark by a bit and they need to stick with it and work it out. It is too expensive and a bit too small -- the backseat in particular is only good for up to 6' tall people.

They took an off-the-shelf cast iron 1.4L 4 cylinder block, and they are running the it in a low efficiency mode; varying the RPM depending on the load -- the engine should be run at a single fixed RPM and charge the battery directly in as short a time as possible; and then it gets shut off. They have three clutches -- it should have ZERO clutches. The only transmission should a single speed reduction gear.

They need to design a smaller displacement low RPM high torque 2 or 3 cylinder engine that has it's valves and intakes and exhaust all fine tuned to hit it's peak efficiency at a single RPM.

The engine's output only has to meet the *average* power use of the electric drive motor, by using the battery as a buffer. It would warm up more quickly, and should only have to run 1 hour for every 2 or 3 hours of driving, after the initial charge is used.

The engine would weight half as much, and the cooling system would be half the size. No clutches and no multi-speed transmission means a lot less weight, as well. Hopefully their next gen battery cell costs far less and is more powerful -- GM has invested in a battery company that makes cells that are ~$125/kWh vs the $500-600/kWh and it could have much greater range, as well.