Chevy Volt Halted. Who did not see this coming?

[Diamondpilot]

Sorry, but that's not very true. Just google "GM bailout jobs" and read what you find. Estimates ranges from hundreds of thousands to over a million jobs directly saved.

This is a very different market than others... no one has the capacity to simply step in and take over your piece of the pie. You have to run at tight margins with an extreme investment to make cars. Same with the suppliers - many of us ( I work for one) were about to go under simply because eliminating just one of Chrysler or GM would put us under. No one could afford to operate with 30% less business. A devastating chain reaction of financial collapse was ready to hit, and the bailout did effectively prevent that.

I fully understand that. My father was VP of Stant Manufacturing in Connersville Indiana until he retired last May. He worked in the industry for 46 years with Stant, Gates, Ideal, ect. Stant supplies to 85 OEM's everything from radiator components to gas caps and sells to the aftermarket. He said it would have been tough for a few months but things would have been back to normal while others geared up and tooled up.

You can believe what you want. There is the liberal left UAW side and then the republican pro profit and growth right side. I have my beliefs also. By the way, my company took a killing from GM also as did my dads.

The real issue with the Volt was the price. $43,000 is stupid for that car. $23,000 it would have sold well.

Chris

 

[EddieWalker]

Why are we so against reducing emissions, because the "Volt" is costing the American "Tax Payer" dollars? We have been subsidizing the petroleum industry for decades so where is all the outrage!

Are you intentionaly being misleading?

Nobody has said they are for higher emissions. Fabricating that assumption is dishonest and insulting.

What subsidies to the oil industry are you against? Can you name any of them? Obama says there are 4 billion dollars in subsidies that they are getting, but not what they are. Just a talking point to get his based fired up, but not something that he is ever going to do anything about. Why? Because those subsidies are incentives used to make cleaner fuels, better drilling technology and pet government programs. Remove them and the oil industry will just focus on getting oil. No more green programs, no more high tech drilling engineering and no more support for the Democrat party. Guess who the biggest doners are to Obama? LOL

What happens when we pay more for gas? Why do you want this? Do you have kids? and do you want them to have a better life then you did or to pay higher taxes, more for energy and have to live with less?

Oil is still our future. There is no shortage of it, and there is no reason for it to be so expensive other then what the government does to make it harder to get, more expensive to process and artificially limiting it's supply.

Eddie

 

[Pixguy]

I work in the auto industry, so I know and understand the hard data on the Volt.


They turn on the TV or the radio to their favorite channels, and it tells them to doubt the vehicle. (most) People are lemmings and simply learn what they are told, without questioning. However most people that would post on a technical forum like this one probably do not fall into this category, thankfully.

You work for the auto industry? Of course you do, clear from the start.


And don't you know, most on the right are just too stupid to understand and those dastardly conservative talk shows are dumbing us down even more......I guess we should watch MSNBC?

 

[MasseyWV]

People are lemmings and simply learn what they are told, without questioning.

Sadly, this is usually true.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRtQa9EE0xI]Lemmings - YouTube[/ame]

 

[powerpace]

Are you intentionaly being misleading?

Nobody has said they are for higher emissions. Fabricating that assumption is dishonest and insulting.

What subsidies to the oil industry are you against? Can you name any of them? Obama says there are 4 billion dollars in subsidies that they are getting, but not what they are. Just a talking point to get his based fired up, but not something that he is ever going to do anything about. Why? Because those subsidies are incentives used to make cleaner fuels, better drilling technology and pet government programs. Remove them and the oil industry will just focus on getting oil. No more green programs, no more high tech drilling engineering and no more support for the Democrat party. Guess who the biggest doners are to Obama? LOL

What happens when we pay more for gas? Why do you want this? Do you have kids? and do you want them to have a better life then you did or to pay higher taxes, more for energy and have to live with less?

Oil is still our future. There is no shortage of it, and there is no reason for it to be so expensive other then what the government does to make it harder to get, more expensive to process and artificially limiting it's supply.

Eddie

I agree with you.
Profit alone doesn't mean exploration and R&D. Incentives are usually locked in with some sort of new technology expansion.

 

[LastSTRAW]

Remember that the first cars were electric. It is easier to make money from oil and no oil executive is going to allow the government to provide money for the competition. They have millions if not billions of dollars to launch a counter attack to protect their profits. Remember the Tobacco companies and they campaign to prevent any effort to publicize the dangers of smoking. We now have companies telling us that Coal is Clean!

The fight for fossil fuels is going to much for our children to pay. If we can get renewable technology cheaper it dominate. Who wouldn't rather have access to free electricity from sun and wind than a power and oil bill every month.

Imagine how many corrupt and anti American regimes would be powerless without the massive amount of money they make selling oil to Americans.

Eventually the tide will turn to renewable energy. Sooner would be better but it will happen.

 

[MasseyWV]

It is easier to make money from oil and no oil executive is going to allow the government to provide money for the competition. They have millions if not billions of dollars to launch a counter attack to protect their profits.

It will be interesting to see the oil companies start to squirm when oil starts running out. For all any of us know, there may already be a viable solution to oil, but if it exists, it's probably being suppressed by those with a financial interest in oil.

We now have companies telling us that Coal is Clean!

Having lived in "coal country" for most of my life, I frequently see the "clean coal" ad's and can honestly say that I think they are a load of crap. Personally, I believe there is no such thing as "clean coal" but saying that around here is tantamount to heresy. My belief is that "clean coal" is nothing more than a way to ensure that mining profits aren't diminished by new environmental regulations.

 

[Monster5601]

If the Volt was as successful as some think, why are sales so low and why do they (WE) have subsidize each sale to the tune of $7500???

It is all hybrid electrics that get the tax breaks, not just the Volt.

"As it stands now, buyers of plug-in hybrids and electric cars benefit from a tax credit of $2,500 to $7,500, depending on the size of the battery in the car. On the low end of the spectrum, cars with 4 kWh battery packs will qualify for a $2,500 tax credit. The credit maxes out at $7,500 for cars with a 16 kWh battery pack, like the Chevy Volt"

Hybrid Car Tax Credits (United States): Incentives Fade into Memory | Hybrid Cars

 

[powerpace]

Prior to WWII the Germans were converting coal to oil. Toward the end of WWII they were using mainly synthetic fuels derived from coal.

Synthetic fuel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Indirect Fischer-Tropsch ("FT") technologies were brought to the US after World War 2, and a 7,000 barrels per day (1,100 m3/d) plant was designed by HRI, and built in Brownsville Texas. The plant represented the first commercial use of high-temperature Fischer Tropsch conversion. It operated from 1950 to 1955, when it was shut down when the price of oil dropped due to enhanced production and huge discoveries in the Middle East.[11]

After World War Two, in 1949 a demonstration plant for converting coal to gasoline was built and operated by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in Louisiana, Missouri.[22] Direct coal conversion plants were also developed in the US after WW2, including a 3 TPD plant in Lawrenceville, NJ, and a 250-600 TPD Plant in Catlettsburg, KY.[citation needed]

 

[2manyrocks]

This last melt down reminds me of 1973. The big 3 produced cars that depended on cheap gas. When gas went up, they had trouble selling big cars. Then they started making smaller and more efficient vehicles and in the process, lost a lot of market share to Japanese manufacturers.

Years went by, and they went back to building larger cars and SUVS that evidently worked until gas prices shot up again in about 2008. The results have been similar to the prior melt down--cars sat unsold on dealer's lots, dealer's folded, etc.

There was a lot of talk about reducing our dependence on foreign oil after 1973 and again in 2008, but honestly, what has really changed?

I would like to have a fuel efficient, affordable vehicle. I'd like it much better if the fuel, whatever it may be, was provided by US suppliers and the money stayed in the US instead of going to people who have agendas that differ from ours.

What I don't like is politicians throwing borrowed money down rat holes--whatever those rat holes may be. They are still rat holes and the citizens will have to pay in the end.