Thursday, August 8, 2013

Wow, Was I Wrong! This Is Really Bad; I Apologize For Being So Wrong

A couple days ago I suggested that GM was losing $5,000/Chevy Volt so what did it matter if they lost another $5,000/Chevy Volt (announcement that GM lowered the price of the Volt).

Wow, I did not know I was so wrong. I was off by $45,000.

Via CarpeDiem, Investor's Business Daily is reporting:
Nearly a year ago General Motors was losing almost $50,000 for each Chevrolet Volt it built. Now GM's business model, driven by trendy environmentalism, calls for it to cut the price and lose even more money.
The article does not say what GM will lose on each Volt sold when it lowers the price on the 2014 model. The article did note, however [my comments in brackets]:
Sales of the Volt, the most popular electric vehicle, were only a little more than half of the 45,000 that GM expected last year. Ford built 1,627 Focus Electrics in 2012 and sold only 685 of them. [wow]
Foreign makers fared no better. Mitsubishi could sell only 600 of its i-MiEVs while Nissan sold fewer than 800 of its Leafs last year. Sales in 2013 remained stagnant until Nissan cut the price by $6,400 early in the year.
Yes, Tesla seems to be doing well. But remember: It makes a luxury car that appeals to the wealthy who buy them as toys. It's an outlier. [I talked about this the other day.]
The article did not mention "chariots on fire."

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