GM Is Dropping the Volt

I am not at all happy to say the Volt production will be ending as part of GM's cut backs.

GM is laying off thousands of workers, closing three plants, and ending production of the Chevy Volt

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From what has been posted here the Volt was an excellent hybrid auto with a lot going for it. I'm sorry to see it go. I wonder why sales were never very high?

On the other hand, with all the advanced electronics on board, maybe this will help with the shortages of the larger surface mount passives.

Rick C.

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Reply to
gnuarm.deletethisbit
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They can't give them away, a terrible design.

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Reply to
bloggs.fredbloggs.fred

Two months ago I considered buying a Volt. I want a plugin car with a gas-engine backup. An alternate was a Prius Prime, which I bought, because of its superior electronic safety features. And because it had a better cargo-area scheme. My understanding is that a more attractive Volt-like crossover will be introduced. Such a car probably would have won my buy, over the Prius Prime.

--
 Thanks, 
    - Win
Reply to
Winfield Hill

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

Because they did not sell them. They were only available to lease.

A bad model, IMO.

I am sure the respin will be better and incorporate many improvements based on what was learned from their first and from everyone else's foray into the game.

GM will be back.

Reply to
DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno

Lol you're wrong

Nonsense it was the best-reviewed sedan GM was making as of 2018

Probably correct

Reply to
bitrex

That's funny. I see a lot of used ones for sale. Maybe they are all black market?

Rick C.

Tesla referral code +

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Reply to
gnuarm.deletethisbit

Total sales will be around 250k units total over 8 years, not that bad for a "niche" car I'd say.

They spent very little effort marketing it, there were factions in GM that didn't want it undercutting market share of other vehicles. It was a EV around-town car and a good long-distance car as well with the range extender engine. You only have to buy one, they'd rather sell two!

Yeah, I was hoping there'd be a 3rd generation but looks like not to be. But the writing was on the wall for it and rumors had been flying about the possibility of it going away for a year or more.

When it came out in 2011 there was nothing like it, there still isn't really its serial-hybrid design is somewhat unique to GM. Other plug-in hybrids like the Honda Clarity always engage the gas engine above 45 mph, the Volt was a true EREV you could take it up to top speed on electric power alone.

There are many other options in late 2018 (Bolt, Tesla) that are taking market share back and sales have been undeniably sluggish.

Reply to
bitrex

[...]

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Quote "Chevrolet Volt $582 Average Annual Repair Cost"

... and quote "Toyota Prius $423 Average Annual Repair Cost"

I don't think the Volt is a bad design but there is obviously room for improvement.

[...]
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Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

You could buy them new off a GM lot from day 1 no problem, it's just the usual made up stuff from this guy

Reply to
bitrex

If you have nowhere to charge it the Prius is a better pure hybrid, it's smaller and lighter.

If you can full charge it even once or twice a week and drive say 1k miles a month your MPG-e figures destroy a Prius.

Also the Prius is a slushbox and looks like a dog's dinner. The Volt looks "like a hybrid I'd like to drive" as one person told me, and zips off the line really quick. It's not a sports car but very peppy for a "Green" car, the "feel" was designed to please American drivers.

Reply to
bitrex

Basically I think for the most part everyone who really wanted this half-and-half split-personality gas-electric type design already wanted one, they sold around 250k of them I think.

There wasn't really much further to go with this design without breaking the budget or the form factor, you have to lug around both a battery pack and gas engine, that limits your options for improvement. To do more you'd have to use a larger platform, turn it into a crossover or something. Probably easier just to clean-sheet it.

8 years isn't a bad run but sales were slumping compared to a high of around 35,000 a few years back. I feel they could've pushed it better but cutting older models that will be hard to refresh, for whatever reason aren't selling and have already sold quite a bit seems fairly sensible to me
Reply to
bitrex

Already had one, rather

Reply to
bitrex

of GM's cut backs.

production of the Chevy Volt

ith a lot going for it. I'm sorry to see it go. I wonder why sales were n ever very high?

is will help with the shortages of the larger surface mount passives.

Not sure why you even mentioned the Bolt. In the article I read I believe the sales of the Bolt were even worse than the sales of the Volt over the l ast few months.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, trying to sell a BEV without an adequate charging solution is like selling a gun without ammo. It was quit e humorous the way the salesman reacted when I asked about charging at the Chevy dealer. You would have thought I had asked about the child molesting uncle.

Even the Tesla Supercharging network is not as universally available as I w ould like. I have had to charge at destination chargers and even at J-1772 chargers to get home. But that is just in a pinch. If I had to depend on the non-Tesla charging network for charging when not at home I would have never bought a BEV. That is no small part of why I didn't buy a Bolt. GM just doesn't care about charging.

Rick C.

Tesla referral code --

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Reply to
gnuarm.deletethisbit

Supposedly, Volt sales have been weak. They are also ending production of the Cruze, which I think is the base frame of the Volt, so if they kill the Cruze, they won't have the chassis for the Volt.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

All true, provided that the manufacturer has an immediate replacement in that very same vehicle category. It is not smart to announce an obsolescence before that is the case.

Otherwise the competition will eat their lunch, as it has done many times before.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

They do, the all-electric Bolt crossover SUV. It's expected that class of vehicle will be GM's way forward with electric vehicle technology.

Circa 2010 the Volt was impressive on paper as both a pure hybrid car and an electric vehicle.

Since then ICE efficiency and pure-hybrid technology has improved somewhat, and all-electric technology has improved a lot.

The Volt's specs, even the second gen, aren't really impressive anymore as either an electric car based on range or charging time, or a gas-hybrid as compared to say the current gen Prius. And while some people who really value flexibility will still buy it I think it's hard to sell a car based on ambiguous "gender identity" alone.

Reply to
bitrex

They use the GM Delta II platform for other stuff, and it uses a variant of the GM Small Gas Engine also used in the Cruze, and other stuff, as a range extender.

Other than that it's mostly unrelated to the Cruze, probably more so the Malibu. The interior and dash of the current Malibu and Volt are very similar

Reply to
bitrex

On Tuesday, 27 November 2018 13:08:59 UTC-5, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote :

f GM's cut backs.

roduction of the Chevy Volt

a lot going for it. I'm sorry to see it go. I wonder why sales were neve r very high?

will help with the shortages of the larger surface mount passives.

The Bolt is a pretty decent, if small, car; a friend bought one and I've dr iven in it many times. Pure electric, not hybrid, but quite impressive rang e, and a bargain here when the provincial government was kicking in $14K CA D subsidy and more for the charging station- recently cancelled by the Prog ressive Conservative party gov't.

It's not really that much GM- the drive train and batteries are made by LG in Korea (which endears it to me, but maybe not your typical GM buyer).

Long run the pure electrics are probably going to take more and more of the market, and cheap gas, if it continues, will squeeze the hybrids. Though th ere is still the range anxiety issue - so better as a 2nd or 3rd car.

Speaking of the Bolt- my friend had to wait months for it.. it is almost as if they don't really want to sell them.

--Spehro Pefhany

Reply to
speff

e:

to

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I think the point is there is no lunch. Barely even a light snack... Othe rwise they wouldn't be canceling it. I am sure they didn't make the Volt a ll these years because of profits (which likely didn't exist anyway). If G M had been at all serious about selling hybrids they would have promoted th em more. It really is that simple.

GM needs something to show that they are "interested" in being in the race, but the emphasis has shifted to BEVs now and they only need to show they a re making the Bolt. Maybe in a decade when all the dust has settled GM wil l have serious contenders in the alternate fuel vehicle race.

Rick C.

Tesla referral code -+

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Reply to
gnuarm.deletethisbit

All-electric is _not_ the same market segment at all. Those cars are not suitable for anyone who has to occasionally use them long distance or lives in a place with a very harsh winter.

A hybrid can only be replaced by another hybrid or the customers will flock to the competition.

True, it has to sell on its merits. Aside from performance specs that is predominantly the price and even more so the reputation in terms of reliability. The latter is the reason why we bought two Japanese vehicles when we moved to the US. Well, the Toyota was actually manufacturered in the US so it has supported American jobs.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

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