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Chevy Volt a Failure - GM to Layoff 1,300

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Evil Bastard (aka Chris_L), Mar 2, 2012.

Page 114 of 244
  1. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Glad we gave Chevy billions of our tax money then.

    As long as you're happy it was worth every penny...
     
    Armchair_QB, Feb 13, 2013
    #1357
  2. Justin_Rice

    Justin_Rice Well-Known Member

    I am too. ... but not because it somehow created the Volt - the Volt was in development long before the auto bailout.

    Saving General Motors was a worthy expenditure. I know you disagree. And that's OK.
     
    Justin_Rice, Feb 13, 2013
    #1358
  3. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    It's a failure for GM, not you. Selling it to you for what you paid cost the company a significant amount of money.
     
    da man, Feb 13, 2013
    #1359
  4. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    How's that Hostess bankruptcy coming?
     
    Azrael, Feb 13, 2013
    #1360
  5. Justin_Rice

    Justin_Rice Well-Known Member

    Are we taking the total development cost and dividing it by the number of vehicles sold to figure that?
     
    Justin_Rice, Feb 13, 2013
    #1361
  6. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    You don't have to do that. You don't even have to include the subsidies as a loss. Chevy sells the car for less than the labor and parts it takes to build one.

    Now if you want to get into development costs and plant investment, and factor it in, Chevy isn't just losing money on each car, they are selling them at massive losses. When that gets pointed out, there is always someone there to argue back that that is OK, because you have to look at the total number of cars to be produced over the lifetime of the vehicle.

    The problem there is that you can't trust any number that GM throws out, because they haven't sold anywhere near the number of Volts they were promising they'd be able to in years one and two. At 1,100 vehicles a month (how many they sold last month), forget the fact that each of those sales was at a negative gross margin. Even if they did sell the car for more than the parts and labor, at that sales rate, it would take them into the next century to make back the investment and government subsidies (which Chevy doesn't pay for, but our country as a whole does) that went into developing the car.

    It's a moot point anyhow, because even if you want to pretend that those development costs don't exist, they still are taking a loss on each vehicle they sell -- particularly when they were leasing them for two years at only $5,000 out of pocket and calling them "sales."
     
    The Big Ragu, Feb 13, 2013
    #1362
  7. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    How much do you spend on coal?
     
    old_tony, Feb 13, 2013
    #1363
  8. Justin_Rice

    Justin_Rice Well-Known Member

    A ton less than I spend on gas (discounting, of course, that my power comes from a nuclear plant).

    Never the less - I hate this argument.

    As I understand it, you think - among other reasons - electric cars aren't any better than gas cars, because they're still charged by coal power plants.

    But to accept that, you have to believe that having (for instance) a thousand small internal combustion engines of varying efficiency, cleanliness and maintenance is somehow better than having one power plant - maintained by professionals and mandated to meet certain pollution standards.

    It's not an argument that makes sense to me ... but I'd love to be convinced otherwise.
     
    Justin_Rice, Feb 13, 2013
    #1364
  9. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Your spending 0 for gas but you started $10,000 in the hole from comparable gas car.
     
    Boom_70, Feb 13, 2013
    #1365
  10. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    How much do you think people spend on gas in seven years?
     
    93Devil, Feb 13, 2013
    #1366
  11. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    We've already done all that math 40 pages ago.
     
    Boom_70, Feb 13, 2013
    #1367
  12. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    That and the car won't last seven years.
     
    Armchair_QB, Feb 13, 2013
    #1368
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