The amout of money lost by GM on the volt is misleading.  All new cars are money losers because of how the R&D costs of the car is depreciated.

As far as the volt being bought by the military - and?  They have to buy something.  And imagine how much the AR-15 would cost had it not been for the military basically paying for the start up and R&D costs.  If the military can do 1/2 for the Volt for what it did to the AR-15, then I'm all for it.

GM sold 23,461 Volts in 2012 compared with just 7,671 in 2011. While it's an impressive jump, the Volt is still one of Chevy's lowest-selling cars. However, the Volt greatly outdid the Corvette, for instance, of which only 14,000 were sold last year.

Its 2012 sales also put the Volt well ahead of its nearest competitor, the Nissan Leaf. Nissan sold about 9,800 Leafs in 2012, an increase of just 1.5% over 2011. Still, Nissan pointed out, it was a record year for Leaf sales.

In response to UserName99's comment:

American made?  The most important and key component of the Volt is the BATTERY.  You know the battery  made by the BANKRUPT U.S company, A123?  You know the BANKRUPT company A123 that receievd Obama-money, failed miserably, and just sold out to the Chinese!

 "Although A123 received approval for a $249 million federal grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, it received only about half of the money before filing for bankruptcy protection last year. The funds were intended to create thousands of American jobs, but a review by The Washington Times of government job-tracking data shows that only about 400 positions were created before the company joined a growing list of federally backed energy businesses that ended in bankruptcy."

 

Another fine investment of the American taxpayer`s dollars by the incompetent.  Right up there with Solyndra.

 

Another example of missing the forest for the trees...

 

The relevance here is not the car itself, but the technology, which GM will expand to other models and will undoubtably pay for itself many times over.

Myopia reigns in the world of the anti-environment, pro-fossil fuel, anti-worker conservative house of mirrors.  They say they care about the next generations, but they don't really mean it when it affects their own wallets.

In 50 years, electric and hybrid cars will outnumber conventional ones by a wide margin.

 

"In 50 years, electric and hybrid cars will outnumber conventional ones by a wide margin."

 

Let`s hope so.  If we had done what we said we should have 50 years ago, we may not be in the situation we are now. For some reason Washington always finds a way back to their "misstress", almighty oil. That ain`t going to change. The problem is, until we get to "50 years from now", we need oil today.  We walk out the door tomorrow morning and we need gas in the car.  We need to heat our homes tonight.  The drag on the economy caused by 3.30/gallon gas is devastating.  If affects everything.  

Contrary to what you think conservatives are not "anti-enviroment" and "anti-climate change".  We simply are sick of the Left blaming the enviroment and climate change on us.  The accusation of being "anti-climate change" because my wife drives an SUV is disgusting and wrong. 

I hope you`re correct about "50 years"..........but, I doubt it.

 

In response to AlleyCatBruin's comment:

Is there ANYONE hereat BDC that DOESN`T have alley rat on ignore?   I only check her posts for entertainment purposes.............anyone?

Is there ANYONE hereat BDC that DOESN`T have alley rat on ignore?

The amout of money lost by GM on the volt is misleading.  All new cars are money losers because of how the R&D costs of the car is depreciated.

As far as the volt being bought by the military - and?  They have to buy something.  And imagine how much the AR-15 would cost had it not been for the military basically paying for the start up and R&D costs.  If the military can do 1/2 for the Volt for what it did to the AR-15, then I'm all for it.

In response to MattyScornD's comment:

50 years? LOL...Incompetent government top-down planners can't predict 5 days ahead, never mind 50 years.

The wallets at issue are Obama crony capitalists being fattened up by billions in our tax money, to fail again and again. 

The sudden and unexpected fracking revolution put a lie to the leftist delusion that oil and gas is running out. Ironically, the boom in natural gas is resulting in less carbon pollution, not the failed subsidized 'wind power " and electric cars...

Who knows what technological breakthroughs by the innovative private sector lie ahead, if not squelched by the Government?

 

The efficient and innovative private sector , if it is allowed to exist, will determine what technology will be more efficient 50 years from now.  

 

 

In response to WhatDoYouWantNow's comment:

No.  And honestly, I would never put anyone on ignore (not even alleyrat).  It`s good entertainment.

In response to DirtyWaterLover's comment:

Military pays $285 for a $23 wrench. Ford Fusion hybrid is beating volt, Volt loses $7500 on each sale.

GM has spent hundreds of millions of dollars marketing President Obama's favorite car only to sell less than 30,000 Volts in two years. Toyota sells about that many Camrys in just one month!