Production-ready Volt in September?
Can it stop the bleeding?In September, in a well-planned move to coincide with GM's 100th Anniversary, GM will debut a production-ready Chevy Volt and announce a supplier for the Volt's lithium-ion battery pack (Yahoo). Unfortunately, this doesn't mean that the Volt will be ready to hit the market sooner than expected, as the first production-ready Volts will be put through numerous lab and real-world tests. Still, however, it will be a great step forward.
Nonetheless, the move does seem driven by PR. With GM stock at a 54 year low, GM needs to give investors something in which to believe. Obviously, the Volt is perfect for such an occasion, and if GM could also announce more aggressive numbers for initial production runs, it seems the Volt could provide a real lift to GM stock.
If not, however, 100,000 Volts per year could still be several years away. Will that be enough proof for investors?
posted by Dahcredyns at
8:00 AM
4 Comments:
It may be hard to belive but there will be a lot of people who will not buy a Volt because it is American. They will try to drag us all down with their ignorant ideas. I expect the Volt to sell well overseas and also here in the USA.
I don't think GM will have any problem finding buyers for the Volt.
My main concern is how long will it take for GM to start producing the Volt in numbers that can really make a difference? It could easily take 5 years before GM is capable of producing 100,000 Volts per year.
Certainly, much like the Prius - probably better than the Prius - the Volt will drive consumers into GM showrooms. Many of those, if they buy a car, will buy something other than a Volt. So, the Volt will definitely help GM in that regard.
Still, can GM tough it out another few years if the US economy keeps struggling, gas prices stay high, and stock keeps falling?
While I'm an advocate of the Volt, I really believe that GM made a critical mistake by not developing a Prius-contender much, much sooner, such as already.
Still, IF, GM can survive and nail the Volt, they'll be laughing all the way to the bank. Unfortunately, that's still a pretty big IF considering their current financial situation.
"It may be hard to belive but there will be a lot of people who will not buy a Volt because it is American. They will try to drag us all down with their ignorant ideas."
With domestic sales tanking and GM admitting that a large minority of buyers would not even consider one of their vehicles, perhaps it is more common sense than ignorance. I won't buy a GM or Ford product because I've had bad experiences owning both within the last 3 years on recent models. The physical home of the producer has no bearing, the quality of the product does. With the recall of 9,000 GM hybrids recently, I am afraid it might be "ignorant" to trust GM technology at this point. Whether a vehicle comes from a domestic or import manufacturer, if there is a bad track record than the blame lies squarely on the company itself. Tell us we're bad people, file a grievance with your union, most consumers really don't care. We just want a quality product (hence why I buy Hondas and Honda hybrids).
"Tell us we're bad people, file a grievance with your union, most consumers really don't care. We just want a quality product."
I think you are absolutely right, and I really like that 'file a grievance with your union' line - thanks for the laugh.
US automakers have considerably improved their products. I think its important to note that fact proven by JD Power, Consumer Reports, etc. Still, for decades they did produce a lot of trash. My parents also owned some of this trash.
So, much distrust of US automakers is extremely well founded and not based in ignorance.
Even more important, how American are most vehicles from US auto companies? Many are produced in Canada or in Mexico. Even those produced in the US are produced with significant amounts of foreign parts.
And, as India and China begin to drive the world auto market, most US branded vehicles will be built outside of the US. This appears inevitable.
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