Or, really, the stupid reality of how government and unions run a business
(Reuters) General Motors Co sold a record number of Chevrolet Volt sedans in August —but that probably isn’t a good thing for the automaker’s bottom line.
Nearly two years after the introduction of the path-breaking plug-in hybrid, GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds, according to estimates provided to Reuters by industry analysts and manufacturing experts.
Cheap Volt lease offers meant to drive more customers to Chevy showrooms this summer may have pushed that loss even higher. There are some Americans paying just $5,050 to drive around for two years in a vehicle that cost as much as $89,000 to produce.
Fortunately GM also makes vehicles that do sell and make money, like pickups and big SUVs, but the pure idiocy of selling a vehicle which loses as much as $49k per sale is staggering. And, let’s not forget that majority are sold to government.
sedans?
SEDANS??!!?!??!
Really? We are calling compact cars sedans now? I understand calling a car a sedan based on price, like a BMW or Lexus, and that the Volt is priced at $40,000…. but, I’m sorry. I just don’t see it.
That’s like calling the Smart Car a compact car. And before you whipper-snappers say it is.. no, it is a super-compact car. Even smaller than a sub-compact. The Geo Metro or the Fiat would be a sub-compact.
Hey Teach. It’s not the price to our mounting debt that matters, its the fact that someone showed that they cared about the environment. It matters not that it is actually more harmful, costs more, is more toxic, doesn’t do what it says it will do,.. it’s the thought that counts.
WE LOVE OBAMA FOR GIVING US THE VOLT.
And, yes people it was Obama. While Chevy started it during the Bush years, and was doing so because of the deadly CAFE standards, GM was going to throw this money-loser out the window when they declared bankruptcy. Obama as part of the nationalization of GM, demanded that they continue its production and roll it out despite the cost to the company or the taxpayer.
And the fact that no one has taken anyone to court over this gov’t nationalizing a private company is beyond imagination. Getting out of GM better be the 2nd thing Romney does when he gets in to office or its cyonara for the so-called Repub party.
Bingo. In Liberal World, it’s intentions that matter, not outcomes.
Hey Teach, its worse than we thought.
In other words, it isn’t costing American taxpayers $49,000… it is costing us the full price of the car.. $100,000 per vehicle!!!
Hey Republicans… anyone paying attention up there? Please tell me how this and the biodiesel is meant to save our Armed Forces money?
I was happier when we were spending $250 per hammer.
Yeah, it’s not like we have a $16 trillion hole or anything. Just one of the reasons we desperately need term limits.