Comments on: Did GM CEO Rick Wagoner Really Change Anything about the Volt’s Release Date?

By: mykallb

mykallb — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 04:33:16 +0000

# Guy Incognito Says:
January 7th, 2008 at 3:56 pm Quote

“GM can’t be bothered with the Volt right now, they’re to busy trying build cars that drive themselves.”

====================

Very good point Guy. Not only does it not make any sense, you should understand that the superlative of “to” is “too”.

You’re an IDIOT pure and simple. You do not need anyone’s help on this.

By: M1EK

M1EK — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:21:12 +0000

The key difference for me is that Toyota didn’t start hyping the Prius until it was ready to sell. Get it?

By: Eco

Eco — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:16:05 +0000

You don’t have to be brainwashed into disliking GM…they did plenty over the years to give valid reasons to be disliked. The question to the continued existance of GM is, can they overcome that?

That is why one little tiny restatement of already known news, is such a big deal. Fortune.com (posted today I think) profiled the “big turnaround” (my quotes, not theirs) of GM in their quest to regain the trust of customers. GM’s struggle is an ongoing story, and Bob Lutz has made the Volt a cornerstone of that story. So yes, anything that even looks like hedging is going to get attention.

What GM execs need to realize, perhaps, is that they already have the attention of the interested public. Just saying “we are still on track to meet our goal” is news, believe it or not, because the goal is so significant.

By: Mark H

Mark H — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:46:38 +0000

My first thought when I seen this new blog post was oh I hope Lyle does not feel guilty that it was his question that started a landslide of GM stock and he is doing what he can in damage control.In a few days just as many informed traders will take advantage of this happenstance and make money as the uninformed ones who bailed for no reason.
I would much rather that they take the time, test the battery in every conceivable manner and then are confidant enough to offer it for sale as well as lease in 2011.

Mark H (one of two here)

By: kent beuchert

kent beuchert — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:35:02 +0000

Rona Ansana of NBC was the only non-braindead voice I heard yesterday about this. He said there was no news here and was questioning the intelligence of the stock market, which sold off GM stock, aparently based on this non-news item. You have to remember that most media outlets know nothing about the VOLT and many green blogs are populated with those brainwashed into despising GM, and who aren’t too picky about what is true and what’s not. Some of the headlines I saw would lead their readers to believe that Wagoner had called a prss conference to announce that the VOLT was being delayed!!!
Lyle, a little advice : don’t present a
statement like that one as if it were a news item or those who know nothing about the VOLT will think it must be news, else why would it be released? At the very least, a phrase should have been appended, noting that Wagoner’s remarks represented no change to GM’s previous remarks. We’re dealing with an incompetent news media, and bunch of truly incompetent internet websites. We also don’t hand loaded guns to three year old children.

By: PaulR

PaulR — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:00:18 +0000

[quote comment="25074"]This is too funny. GM created a PR-storm around the Volt 3 years before a potential release date that depends on technology that has never been proven (and might not exist). [/quote]

This is not really an accurate statement.

A123’s battery systems do exist and are already a commercial success. They simply have not yet been applied to automobiles.

Every new car design goes through an R&D and manufacturing ramp-up process that usually takes longer than three years. Same with the Volt.

If I were GM, I would start hand-building Volts as soon as the design is finalized and the battery is proven … say 2009. Each car on the road would be a PR and marketing gold mine.

By: Guy Incognito

Guy Incognito — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:56:47 +0000

GM can’t be bothered with the Volt right now, they’re to busy trying build cars that drive themselves.

By: Jeff M

Jeff M — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 18:44:13 +0000

Lyle, I think you were being sarcastic when you said “Now the first thing that’s interesting is did anyone quote GM-Volt as the source of the news, being that I asked the question…Nope.”

But in case you weren’t… it was my understanding you asked the question during a press conference. This site was not the actual source of the news for the other media. And it is not media practice to cite who asked the question at such events, but to only quote the person being questioned by the media. President Bush and his press secretary are asked many questions all the time, and it would really bog down news reports if citations had to be given for each question asked.

By: GXT

GXT — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 18:38:50 +0000

This is too funny. GM created a PR-storm around the Volt 3 years before a potential release date that depends on technology that has never been proven (and might not exist). They have Lutz frequently shooting off with over-optimistic predictions. They even went so far as to run commercials!

As a result, neither the public nor the press has any clue what is going on. Neither got something as big and basic as the Iraq war right, so what chance do they have on something like the Volt? Even on this site (which likely contains the more well-informed members of the public on the Volt) there are incredible misconceptions about the true state of the project.

GM created this mess and now they have to ride it out.

By: ug

ug — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 18:23:37 +0000

Hey, it’s ok. What’s another buck or two per gallon in the price of gas between the projected Volt release date and the actual release date. We can all hold on, right? After all, we’ve got plenty of equity in our homes and our ARM mortgate is easy to handle each month.