Poor oversight in the futures market provided us with the pricing problem most recently. The futures market is a steam engine. If the price hints at going up and there is money sitting in investment funds, they get put into the market driving the price up like crazy. The price then crashes as people become more reluctant to invest in that market and hold out for months to buy.

Also note that it is a Futures market. Which means prices for today were set 3+ months ago. So when the market begins to fall, little is purchased from the high point until it is really needed. I think you need to remove the middle man who buys a future just to resell it at a higher profit to the refineries. Keep out the guys looking for a quick buck.

Ok, off the oil-market soap box with my somewhat ill-informed view. Back to the Volt. Let us all remember that the Edsel was less in demand. And it was a line of cars. The volt has a religulous following here, as the prius has had for the past half-decade. Bring on the electrics!

If only as much focus was made on Cd as it is on what is under the hood we’d ALL have cars with better mileage. 10 to 20% increase in gas mileage if you simply add a boattail to the back, or hulls around the wheels, and a solid undertray. I wonder how much attention is paid to these details on the Volt?

Sure are and ironically websites like WSJ don’t let you post an opinion of someone else’s opinion. Guess your say only counts if you are being paid for it…..

Couple points. GM came up with the idea of the Volt long before bail outs and economic depression. That is a fact otherwise this website would be in its infancy (oldest article dates back to Jan 2007).

Also, the Edsel was a failure AFTER it hit showroom floors. Give the Volt a chance people, it’s a step in the right direction.

The world has already gone to electric cars. It just doesn’t know it yet.

I blame poor marketing.

It’s what’s inside that counts.