GM losing up to $49,000 per Volt

That's incredible. Did I read that right. 90k to build and sell for 40k? I'm not much of a business man but I detect disaster there.

no duh

who the hell can afford a $50,000 plug in car with a 200 mile range?

many people have trouble qualifying for car loans, let alone alt-energy car loans, which are only provided by certain financing companies and are even harder to qualify for

but even if they could qualify for a plug-in car, who the hell wants one?

jmho

dumbest govenment mandate ever was plug in cars

I have no idea who told the greenies that plug in cars were green...have you ever read about the toxic waste byproducts of creating those batteries? They don't even help US industry much, as the batteries are nearly all made in China

furthermore, if you think electric prices are high now, wait until every one in your neighborhood is recharging their cars overnight

The US is swimming in cheap natural gas - we should be building nat gas hybrids

Westport Cummins makes an extremely clean, fuel efficient nat gas engine which can even power heavy trucks and machinery

In addition, there is around a $1000 nat gas conversion kit for cars already on the road, but the EPA is making it very difficult to sell.

who knew, right, lol

/ rant

Oh yeah, re nat gas cars

if the EPA allowed conversion kits to be sold, you could convert your SUV or truck to nat gas for between $750 and $1500, and expect to cut your fuel bills in half

Current nat gas prices would be the equivalent of oil at $22/barrel I've been told

Instead of throwing hundreds of millions at plug in $50,000 money losing cars, the US should be encouraging the construction of nat gas refueling stations across the country

This is the way the government works. They should not purchase, run or own a business. What a total disaster!

the obama admin purchased a lot of volts to inflate sales numbers and make gm and the bailout seem a success. after the election the government will pull its support and gm will fail under the weight of the union.

TRUE

It doesn't matter, the tax-payers are stuck footing the bill at both ends of the spectrum.. there are no rules, checks or balances once debt becomes profit.

If they ever bring the cost of an electric car down to Earth I'll probably buy one, but only because I can charge it with my solar power...and it's obviously an in town car only...

Last Edited by BRIEF on 09/10/2012 10:28 AM

Why would GM care if it was losing money? The taxpayer will be there to bail them out again.

Then they can write another book on how to run a profitable business (keep the Government paying your bills and profit margins and you will never lose).

Banks do it too, and on and on...

Corporate welfare is the key.

The volt only has an electric range of 38 miles and then the regular gasoline motor takes over.

"STOP WHINING , BUY ONE
STOP WHINING , BUY ONE
STOP WHINING , BUY ONE
STOP WHINING , BUY ONE
STOP WHINING , BUY ONE
STOP WHINING , BUY ONE
STOP WHINING , BUY ONE
STOP WHINING , BUY ONE "

Damn Detroit is beyond incompetent. Tesla is turning out full long range electric sports cars at less per car than that! Detroit is so cheap that property is free, meanwhile Tesla is producing cars in the bay area, wages likely double those in Detroit. Its time for the big three to die, if they can't even manage a plugin hybrid for less than $90K per car in Detroit where factories are free and wages low.

Look at Tesla. Or if your doing contracting look at VIA electric trucks. Plugin hybrids that can be used to power your job site. No gennie or power company hook up costs, truck turns on when its batteries need a recharge, otherwise all your tools are running off its batteries.

Yeah. because gasolins doesn't burn. Pfffft

Tesla cars are still too expensive...because the batteries are expensive and will have to be replaced every few years I wouldn't pay over 15K for an electric car...

Our tax money going down the drain....

Never reward failure.....

Brief who did you go through to get your House set up for life with solar power?

Me

I built the first one as a wind and solar hybrid, and the second as solar only...wind generators need maintenance and anything with moving parts will wear out...I use only BP solar panels...

Noone here remembers the very first cars. I am told the were crap and a big joke. With that being said we know that the goverment is subsidizing the price difference. We can agree that sucks, but, noone really puts up much of a bitch about oil company subsidies.
Some people seem to be comfortable taking a fuckin from the oil companies till the day there is not another drop of the stuff.
The tech is there. I will bet the day oil runs out BP will be selling these amazing new automotive batteries with thier "new" discovery.
Bend over, your gonna feel a slight pressure

The AVERAGE VOLT buyer makes $171,000 per year.

WHY ARE THE TAXPAYERS SUBSIDIZING CARS FOR RICH DEMOCRATS???

Yep, Government Motors -- probably headed down the road towards bankruptcy -- again...

Your math has a problem. You don't add 90K to 40K. It says it cost a total of 90K to build the car, but they are selling it for 40K, and the tax payer pays the difference of 50K. So 40K + 50K = 90K, NOT 130K.

I look forward to seeing what these VOLTS bring in the government surplus Auctions in just a few years. It should be a REAL HOOT.

Like the Natural Gas vehicle craze of the early 90's, when the only surplus buyers for those cars were SCRAP DEALERS.

As an Example, I watched Government Taurus's at the Illinois State Surplus Auctions in the early 2000's with over 100K miles bring $5-$6K, while SEVERAL YEARS NEWER NatGas cars with 20K sold for $1,500 bucks to the scrap dealers.

You fools !!

Green has been a scam since it started in the early 70's.
Green is designed to fail because the American Dollar breaths on oil through Petrodollar demand and use. Oil prices are supported by war mongering and planned supply disruptions all while demand around the world plummets, intern supporting the dying dollar through Petrodollar demand.

As the poster states above "we should be using our vast NG reserves" ..................not gonna happen............

First: All the markets for investment in natural gas need to be nutralized to deflect the attention to oil use and it's continued demand. "Check"

Second: All means of domestic production must be curtailed so that we must import foriegn reserves to utilize the Petrodollar system (to support the dollar) while printing the dollar into toilet paper. At the same time these imports of everything under the sun enables the money printers to distribute inflation to the rest of the world, through those import purchases otherwise it would stay here "Check"

Third: Jawbone the support of green energy so that the sheep think that the Gobermant is trying to get them off of foriegn oil dependence...........at the same time make sure that the public see's that green energy fails (helping hands) time after time so that they will always go back to oil. "Check"

Fourth: Export all jobs and production overseas to protect the domestic economy from inflation that employment/Production brings "here" protecting the dollar abroad for use as the Petrodollar/reserve currency, that controls all the worlds financial systems. "Check"

"CHECKMATE"

Them bankers sure are some shady, schemeing individuals.
Control the money and bought up all the oil companies and they have us by the short and curlies?