Desperate to amp up sales of its Chevy Volt, General Motors is lowering prices and planning to offer a cheaper model that doesn’t go as far on a single charge as the existing model.
Featuring a smaller, cheaper battery system, the new model Chevy Volt is going into production in Detroit in 2015.
The Volt has sold a mere 58,158 units since it first went on sale just over three years ago. Despite price cuts, cash-back deals, and heavy promotion from President Obama and environmentalists, sales have been anemic. In comparison, the Ford F-series pickup truck, sold more than 70,000 units last month. Ford sold 763,402 F-series vehicles in 2013 alone.
As Reuters reported, “Volt sales last year were flat, at 23,094. In the first three months this year, Volt sales dropped 15 percent to 3,606.”
GM has shut down production of the Volt many times because sales have not justified keeping the manufacturing lines open.
Volt sales have been so bad that its government-supported battery manufacturer struggled to stay afloat despite $151 million in Obama stimulus funding. It was later discovered that the battery manufacturer wasted millions in those tax dollar stimulus finds.
Worse for the Volt, a long list of vehicle fires plagued its early production models.
In 2010, President Obama toured the Holland, Michigan Volt plant in an effort to push the unpopular car on the country, claiming he would put “one million” electric cars on American roads by 2015.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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