Each Chevy Volt sold thus far may have as much as $250,000 in state and federal dollars in incentives behind it – a total of $3 billion altogether, according to an analysis by James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

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“It just goes to show there are certain folks that will spend anything to get their vision of what people should do,” said State Representative Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills. “It’s a glaring example of the failure of central planning trying to force citizens to purchase something they may not want. … They should let the free market make those decisions.”

“This might be the most government-supported car since the Trabant,” said Hohman, referring to the car produced by the former Communist state of East Germany.

According to GM CEO Dan Akerson, the average Volt owner makes $170,000 per year.

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DNFXDLI said:

I will refrain from comment as our resident pro-GM advocate will find some some way to defend or justify anything that wonderful company does.

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O'Rattlecan said:

I just wanted to put it down on the record. I actually saw a Volt on the road last week.

Ryan

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The hearing is titled "Volt Vehicle Fire: What did NHTSA know and when did they know it?"

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GM, which received a $49.5 billion government bailout, is still 26 percent owned by the Treasury Department.

Republicans have asked GM and the Obama administration to answer detailed questions about why they didn't disclose the fire in a crash-tested Volt for several months, and whether politics was behind any decision to delay the disclosure.

A spokesman for Issa, Ali Ahmad, said Friday the committee would demand that NHTSA turn over records.

"NHTSA has stalled on responding to the committee's inquiry for six weeks and inexplicably refused to provide any documents. The committee expects full compliance with its request and will consider compulsory methods if NHTSA does not immediately change its position," Ahmad said.

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Fellro said:

I am not totally against a little assistance to get something going that is a good direction to attempt, as the market will kill things sometimes that are new and different than the conventional thinking due to the research (think overhead before production) involved to get going. However, the trick is in determining what is a good direction, and how much help they should get. That is why many times the research is done by colleges and such, and not by private industry.

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DETROIT -- Some Chevrolet dealers are turning down Volts that General Motors wants to ship to them, a potential stumbling block as GM looks to accelerate sales of the plug-in hybrid.

For example, consider the New York City market. Last month, GM allocated 104 Volts to 14 dealerships in the area, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Dealers took just 31 of them, the lowest take rate for any Chevy model in that market last month. That group of dealers ordered more than 90 percent of the other vehicles they were eligible to take, the source said.

In Clovis, Calif., meanwhile, Brett Hedrick, dealer principal at Hedrick's Chevrolet, sold 10 Volts last year. But in December and January he turned down all six Volts allocated to him under GM's "turn-and-earn" system, which distributes vehicles based on past sales volumes and inventory levels.

GM's "thinking we need six more Volts is just crazy," Hedrick says. "We've never sold more than two in a month." Hedrick says he usually takes just about every vehicle that GM allocates to him.

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The Volt, Chevy’s entry into the government-subsidized electric vehicle market, came in as the third worst product flop of 2011, behind only Netflix’s disastrous Qwikster service, and a much-derided push-up bikini bra for preteen girls from Abercrombie & Fitch.

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The Fiat 500, Fiat’s small car that was a cornerstone of the 2009 deal to bail out the failed automaker, was named the sixth worst flop of 2011. Fiat’s ability to make small, super-fuel-efficient cars was a driving factor in the administration’s decision to circumvent the normal bankruptcy process and engineer a government-led bailout of the failed Chrysler corporation.

“This year, Fiat released its new 500 -- a three-door car that is under 12 ft. long. The car was expected to be a big seller, rivaling BMW’s Mini. Even before the car’s launch, however, detractors were predicting failure,” Yahoo reported.

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Blue Goose said:

Obama’s Chevy Volt, Fiat 500 Among Biggest Flops of 2011

Just for Duncan...

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GM sold just 603 Volts - above its sales in January 2011, but far below GM's best-ever sales month in December, when GM sold 1,529 Volts.

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GM sold about 7,700 in 2011, below GM's target of 10,000. GM abandoned its sales target of 45,000 for 2012 last month, saying it would match "supply to demand."

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Last week, GM North America President Mark Reuss said sales of the Volt have been hurt by bad publicity.

Reuss said bad publicity from the government's investigation into fire risks of post-crash Volts is "definitely a component" of the decline in sales.

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DNFXDLI said:

I didn't name names...howcome you posted the response....

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1970Custom said:

For the sake of the conversation, aside from the company itself what is wrong with their products? They've been proven reliable in the real world and they're competitively priced with their competition among other things...

Now I'm not defending or promoting GM, I only have one on my property and it falls into the age bracket where brand is blurred, I'm just curious as to what you find wrong with the product itself...

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