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Archive for the 'Financial' Category

McCain Praises Development of the Chevy Volt

June 27th, 2008 | Posted in: Financial, Politics with 95 Comments

Today Republican Presidential candidate John McCain toured the GM auto plant that makes Chevrolet Cobalts in Lordstown Ohio. He told workers there among other things that he supports government investment in producing future electric cars.
He also is reported to have praised the development of the Chevy Volt.
He told the workers, “we can lead [...]

Popularity: 5%

Posted by: Lyle with 95 Comments

GM CEO Rick Wagoner Tells Obama About the Chevy Volt and Gives Financial Assurances

June 26th, 2008 | Posted in: Financial, Politics with 140 Comments

GM CEO Rick Wagoner attended a forum with Barack Obama and other automotive executives and academics today at Carnegie Mellon University.
Obama asked automakers how the next President could help them through the current crisis.
Wagoner asked for help with research funding to develop advanced batteries and vehicles.
Per the article:
Wagoner sounded a note of optimism, noting GM’s [...]

Popularity: 5%

Posted by: Lyle with 140 Comments

GM Requests $7000 Tax Credit to Chevy Volt buyers, McCain Offers GM $5000

June 23rd, 2008 | Posted in: Battery, Financial, Politics with 155 Comments

GM VP of global program management Jon Lauckner met with a congressional caucus last week and indicated his hopes for government help in getting people to adopt the Volt.
He said:
“What we favor is actually a sliding scale depending on how much battery you have on board. When I talk about $6,000 to $7,000, we’re [...]

Popularity: 6%

Posted by: Lyle with 155 Comments

Plug-in Cars May Substitute Dependence on Foreign Oil With Dependance on Foreign Batteries

June 22nd, 2008 | Posted in: Battery, Financial, Politics with 122 Comments

One of the most compelling and important advantages of switching our fleet to plug-in electric cars like the Chevy Volt is being able to break this countries dependence on foreign oil.  As oil supplies become tighter and demand increases the detrimental effects on economy and quality of life become clear, as the current oil price [...]

Popularity: 5%

Posted by: Lyle with 122 Comments

GM Pauses on Future Truck Development as it Faces Unprecedented Economic Challenges

June 21st, 2008 | Posted in: Financial, General with 154 Comments

In following the Volt enthusiastically, one cannot help being struck by the significance of GM’s current financial challenges.
The company had been in the midst of a turnaround effort when VOLT was first introduced. Since then many significant economic hurdles have been presented.  Not the least of which is the rapidly slumping sale of trucks and [...]

Popularity: 5%

Posted by: Lyle with 154 Comments

Lutz: GM to Build 10,000 Volts in First Year and 60,000 in Second Year

June 19th, 2008 | Posted in: Financial, Production with 214 Comments

Besides price, another question that we often debate is how many Chevy Volts does GM actually plan to build.
Since the concept was first announced in January 2007, three numbers that come up in the press most often are 10,000, 60,000, and 100,000.
Two of them have come up again.
In discussions I have had with Mr. Lutz [...]

Popularity: 6%

Posted by: Lyle with 214 Comments

Lutz: $40,000 is Breakeven Price for the Chevy Volt and First Generation Will Not Make Money For GM

June 18th, 2008 | Posted in: Financial with 357 Comments

A new interview with Bob Lutz taking place yesterday has been published in the Seattle Times. The article outlines GMs plans for the Chevy Volt as well as electric cars in general and contains some interesting comments from GMs vice-chairman and product czar.
Lutz indicated his enthusiasm for electric cars saying “we believe profoundly in [...]

Popularity: 7%

Posted by: Lyle with 357 Comments

GM May Offer a 20-Mile Range Version of the Chevy Volt

June 13th, 2008 | Posted in: Battery, Financial with 229 Comments

One of the best things about the Volt is being able to drive without gas for most of one’s daily driving needs. It is clear though, the 40-mile range lithium-ion batteries are going to be expensive, limiting how low GM will be able to sell the Volt for.
In a new interview, Volt vehicle line director [...]

Popularity: 7%

Posted by: Lyle with 229 Comments

GM May Acquire Hybrid Battery Supplier Cobasys

June 6th, 2008 | Posted in: Battery, Financial, Hybrid with 74 Comments

GM has had to recall 9000 NiMh battery packs, made by Cobasys, which are being used in the mild hybrid versions of the VUE, Aura, and Malibu.
This represents one third of the entire fleet. The reports of battery failures apparently began surfacing in December, when drivers became aware of them via dashboard indicators displaying [...]

Popularity: 6%

Posted by: Lyle with 74 Comments

GM Buys Out 19,000 Workers, Time to Get Lean and Green

May 30th, 2008 | Posted in: Financial with 74 Comments

About one quarter of GM’s blue-collar workforce of 76,000 accepted buyouts to leave their positions, the automaker announced today. These workers who were earning an average $28 per hour could be replaced by new workers starting at half that much. These generally older workers will vacate by July 1st.
The fact that lower wage and [...]

Popularity: 8%

Posted by: Lyle with 74 Comments

GM CEO Misquoted About Chevy Volt Price and Timing, Want it For Less?, Get Tax Credits Passed

May 26th, 2008 | Posted in: Financial, Politics with 153 Comments

Last week we experienced quite a bit of buzz about a German publication’s interview with GM CEO Rick Wagoner and his supposed comments that the Volt would come out by 2010 and for less than $30,000.
I remained skeptical about this quote becasue it did not fit well with the information we have been getting from [...]

Popularity: 11%

Posted by: Lyle with 153 Comments

No Mad Rush Yet to Buy GM’s Large Hybrid SUVs

May 24th, 2008 | Posted in: Financial, Hybrid with 75 Comments

In following GMs development of the Volt, one cant help but notice the automaker has been developing other higher-fuel economy vehicles.
One effort thats hard to miss is the production of 2-mode hybrid versions of the large SUV Chevy Tahoes and GMC Yukons. These massive trucks have remarkably advanced 2-mode hybrid systems that allow electric-only [...]

Popularity: 7%

Posted by: Lyle with 75 Comments

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