Volt's Future Questioned as Bailout Talks Continue
GM wants to have the eagerly awaited Chevy Volt, a real-life electric car, buzzing around your neighborhood by 2012. The bad news? GM, along with Ford and Chrysler, are currently begging for a massive $25 billion company-saving bailout from the U.S. government. With the future of GM looking shaky, there is some real concern that the Volt will be lower on GM's to-do list, especially when staying alive is the number one concern.
While some critics see the potential collapse of the American auto industry as a green-car killer, the optimistic crowd sees the bailout as a chance for the government to force U.S. automakers to speed up and increase green car development.
GM still plans to launch the Volt by 2010 and they've put a lot on the line for a greener shade of vehicle. While they have stated they will protect their investment in the rechargeable car, GM faces huge challenges. For starters, a 25 year low for U.S. auto sales while attempting to cut $15 billion in costs is not going to be easy. Then there's the slightly longer term woe of eager Indian and Chinese competitors eying the American market.
Even though the future of the Volt and other American-made green cars could be in peril, I'm trying hard to have a battery-is-half-full outlook.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-19-2008 @ 9:05AM
Jason said...
The UAW needs a little tough love. It derailed the Cerberus deal at Delphi. Today GM suffers a loss of about $2,000 per vehicle sold. On the other hand Toyota whose employees are not part of the UAW earns a profit of about $1,200 per vehicle sold. If GM was able to operate with labor prices near Toyota’s it would have pocketed an additional $29,715,200,000.
GM bailout nonsense
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