Chevy Volt a major money-loser? GM calls Reuters report 'grossly wrong'

[Dave]

Hmmmm.... not making money on a car that cost over $40k to buy with a suggestion that GM is losing up to $49k on every Volt. I'm no PhD but I think to stay in business... without a Gov't bail out of course... that you need to make money. Granted that down the road the tech will be better and the batteries cheaper but who knows how long that might be. I'm thinking maybe they should of waited a few more years and did more R&D before putting it out for sale.

General Motors called a media report describing the Chevrolet Volt as a major money loser “grossly wrong.”

Reuters estimated that GM is losing as much as $49,000 on every Volt, but the automaker said the wire service’s calculations ignored that development costs are typically spread out among all vehicles sold over the course of the model’s lifetime.

GM has acknowledged it’s losing money on the Volt, but won’t say how much. But GM argued that its investment will pay off over time as Volt sales accelerate and the cost of the extended-range electric/generator powertrain comes down and is offered in other models over time.

The car, which can travel up to 38 miles on a battery charge before a gasoline-powered generator kicks in, has missed GM’s original sales targets for 2012. Yet sales are picking up after some dealers started offering a cheap lease, California certified that single drivers can drive the Volt in carpool lanes. Chevrolet sold 2,831 Volts last month, its strongest month since its launch.

Reuters wrote that “the loss per vehicle will shrink as more are built and sold.”

“Every investment in technology that GM makes is designed to have a payoff for our customers, to meet future regulatory requirements and add to the bottom line,” GM said in a statement. "The Volt is no different, even if it takes longer to become profitable.”

It’s the latest in a series of publicity challenges for the Volt, which conservatives have criticized as the Obama-mobile, despite the fact that it was in the works years before Barack Obama considered running for the White House. The car was first introduced as a concept vehicle in January 2007, two years before Obama took office, and was first sold in fall 2010.

Sales of gasoline-electric hybrids that don’t need to be recharged have risen 65% this year through August to 278,680, led by Toyota’s family of Prius models, which accounted for 57% of that market segment.

Contact: Nathan Bomey at 313-223-4743 or [e-mail]

[Lisa O'Brien]

I think what GM is saying they aren't losing money on the hardware aspect of the volt - just that they haven't broken even or made money on the R&D portion of it yet.

[Dave]

That may be... that said though, the Volt still hasn't exactly sold the way they were expecting... will it turn a profit in the future, maybe, only time will tell.

[Willy]

Good find Dave. If anyone is unable to see where these hybrid experiments are taking us there's still stock available for the Brooklyn Bridge.

[Dave]

It would be one thing if GM was actually making money but regardless of what the president and his buddies want to tell us, GM is still in the hole to the citizens of the USA and will most likely never get out of that hole as to do so the GM stock would have to average about $55 I believe... the stock currently sits at about $22.98