Did he really say this?
The General Motors Co. Chevrolet Volt, the first mass-market electric vehicle sold by a U.S. automaker, has become a “political punching bag,” GM Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson said.Did he?
Akerson, testifying before a U.S. House panel today, said the Volt, which the company is fixing after fires following crash tests, is engineered for safety.
“Unfortunately, there is one thing we did not engineer,” Akerson told a House subcommittee led by Representative Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican. “Although we loaded the Volt with state-of-the-art safety features, we did not engineer the Volt to be a political punching bag. And that, sadly, is what the Volt has become.”
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The GM CEO is still a salesman.
When Apple was struggling years ago and when Dell was saying that Apple should simple liquidate and close shop, Steve Jobs kept pressing on. One needs to keep selling the product no matter what. One does not say his/her product has become the laughing stock of the industry.
This would be the same as if I walked into a Chevy dealer to look at the Volt, and to be told by the salesman, "Yes, it's a beautiful car isn't it? Unfortunately it's become the laughing stock of the automobile industry." That would certainly turn me off.
I didn't pay much attention to the rest of the article but it certainly makes me think the CEO used this as a trial balloon to prepare the public / the government for the news that GM will throw in the towel with regard to the Volt.
GM can't afford to keep losing money on the Volt. Dealers don't want it (earlier story). People are no longer coming into showrooms to see it. And the bean counters in the back rooms of GM headquarters are showing the front office how much they are losing with the Volt program. It can't go on much longer.
The Volt was simply an experiment that failed. Badly.
