The Chevrolet Volt is done in Europe. As David Shepardson of the Detroit News reports:
General Motors’ money-losing European unit Opel will halt sales of the Detroit-built plug-in hybrid Opel Ampera [the European version of the Volt] because of disappointing results.
Grand claims and projections were made for the car by both GM and its Washington patrons. They have proven to be about as well-founded as just about everything else coming from those two sources. The car is overpriced, over-engineered, and over-hyped. President Obama once visited a plant where the car is manufactured. He sat behind the wheel of one and gave it his blessing.
The Volt is perfect, however, for the elitist who wishes to make a statement. Just the thing for that short trip down to Whole Foods.
GM, which is busy managing some of the largest recalls in automobile history, is hanging on with the Volt in the U.S. For now. But:
Volt sales fell 34 percent in June in the United States to 1,777 and are down 12.6 percent this year to 8,615. GM cut prices of its plug-in hybrid Volt last year. It’s also offering hefty incentives for its slow-selling plug-in Cadillac ELR, which has sold just 390 vehicles in the first half of the year.
