DETROIT — General Motors said on Friday that it planned to halt production of the Chevrolet Volt for five weeks beginning later this month because dealers had more than they needed.
The suspension, which will result in temporary layoffs for 1,300 workers at the Detroit plant that builds the Volt, is another troubling sign for the plug-in hybrid, whose sales fell short of G.M.’s targets in 2011.
G.M. officials had already backed away from projections that they could sell 45,000 Volts in the United States this year, instead saying that production would match demand.
Production is scheduled to stop March 16 and resume April 23, a G.M. spokesman, Chris Lee, said.
It will be the third time that Volt production has been stopped for at least a month since the car first went on sale in December 2010. G.M. tripled the plant’s production capacity during downtime last summer, and the plant was down for all of January in preparation for building a lower-emission version that is eligible for car pool lanes in California.
“Sales for the Volt in February were significantly better than January, and we anticipate that to continue,” Mr. Lee said. “We see good things in the future, but right now we had to make this adjustment.”
G.M. sold 1,023 Volts in February, up from 603 in January, on the heels of a federal investigation into the possibility that its battery pack could catch fire after a severe crash.
Regulators concluded that the car was no more dangerous than a traditional gasoline-powered vehicle, though G.M. agreed to strengthen the structure around the battery.
G.M. said it had about 3,600 Volts in inventory. Last year, officials repeatedly dismissed questions about low sales numbers by saying the company could not build enough of the cars to meet demand. It ended up selling 7,671 during the year, instead of the 10,000 it had anticipated.
The halt also affects the Opel Ampera, a newer twin of the Volt that is being exported to Europe. They are the only models now built at G.M.’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant, which is preparing to add the Chevrolet Malibu later this year and the Chevrolet Impala next year.
The Volt, which costs $41,000 before a $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles, has become a favorite target of conservative commentators and lawmakers, who say it is too expensive and is being artificially supported by taxpayer money.
“Even as gas prices continue to climb, President Obama’s attempt to manipulate the free market and force consumers into purchasing electric vehicles like the G.M. Volt has failed,” Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California, said in a statement. “Now some 1,300 workers will pay the price for this misguided experiment.”
nytimes.com
The suspension, which will result in temporary layoffs for 1,300 workers at the Detroit plant that builds the Volt, is another troubling sign for the plug-in hybrid, whose sales fell short of G.M.’s targets in 2011.
G.M. officials had already backed away from projections that they could sell 45,000 Volts in the United States this year, instead saying that production would match demand.
Production is scheduled to stop March 16 and resume April 23, a G.M. spokesman, Chris Lee, said.
It will be the third time that Volt production has been stopped for at least a month since the car first went on sale in December 2010. G.M. tripled the plant’s production capacity during downtime last summer, and the plant was down for all of January in preparation for building a lower-emission version that is eligible for car pool lanes in California.
“Sales for the Volt in February were significantly better than January, and we anticipate that to continue,” Mr. Lee said. “We see good things in the future, but right now we had to make this adjustment.”
G.M. sold 1,023 Volts in February, up from 603 in January, on the heels of a federal investigation into the possibility that its battery pack could catch fire after a severe crash.
Regulators concluded that the car was no more dangerous than a traditional gasoline-powered vehicle, though G.M. agreed to strengthen the structure around the battery.
G.M. said it had about 3,600 Volts in inventory. Last year, officials repeatedly dismissed questions about low sales numbers by saying the company could not build enough of the cars to meet demand. It ended up selling 7,671 during the year, instead of the 10,000 it had anticipated.
The halt also affects the Opel Ampera, a newer twin of the Volt that is being exported to Europe. They are the only models now built at G.M.’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant, which is preparing to add the Chevrolet Malibu later this year and the Chevrolet Impala next year.
The Volt, which costs $41,000 before a $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles, has become a favorite target of conservative commentators and lawmakers, who say it is too expensive and is being artificially supported by taxpayer money.
“Even as gas prices continue to climb, President Obama’s attempt to manipulate the free market and force consumers into purchasing electric vehicles like the G.M. Volt has failed,” Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California, said in a statement. “Now some 1,300 workers will pay the price for this misguided experiment.”
nytimes.com
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