Saturday, March 3, 2012

Oh, just let the Volt die already


General Motors suspended production for five weeks of its dream green machine, the Chevrolet Volt, and let go 1,300 workers in Detroit. Why? The dream is shattering, it appears.

“Even with sales up in February over January, we are still seeking to align our production with demand,” said one GM spokesman. That’s code for: We would go out of business except for a huge government push to succeed.

This, from a March 2 UPI story: “The company reported it has sold 1,626 Volts this year -- 1,023 in February. GM sold 7,671 Volts in 2011, short of its stated goal of 10,000, the newspaper said. Plans previously had called for production of 60,000 Volts this year, 45,000 of them set aside for the U.S. market.”

In the face of even more failure, the company has now set its sights on the West -- the Golden State of taxpayer subsidies, the safe haven for all-things green.

“The company is gearing up production for California, where the car qualifies for a $1,500 state rebate and has been granted access to the carpool lanes on state highways even with just one occupant in the car,” UPI reported.

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