GM Loses Money On Every Volt Built

thecarchik writes "Doug Parks, vehicle line executive for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, GM's range-extended electric vehicle, confirmed Tuesday that the company loses money on every Volt it sells. The expensive 16-kilowatt-hour battery pack, which likely costs GM somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000, is clearly too expensive to let the company build hundreds of thousands of Volts right away. Just 10,000 Volts will be built in 2011, though GM is working to increase that number. GM plans to chip away incrementally to lower the costs of the specialized components in the Volt, especially the power electronics. The price of consumer lithium-ion cells has fallen 6 to 8 percent annually since their 1989 launch; the large-format cells in automotive packs seem likely to follow the same curve and as costs are lowered the Volt may stop being a loss for the company."

Comments

That's fine...

[Dr. Spork]

It won't be a problem. They can make it up in volume.

Re:That's fine...

[Anonymous Coward]

10,000 Volts???

That's just shocking.

Alternative, natural energy source solution.

[maxrate]

Electric eels.

Re:And computers used to cost millions of dollars

[longacre]

didn't the PS3 and Xbox 360 cost more to make at launch time than they were selling for?

GM should have built an augmented reality gaming system into the windshield so they could make up the loss by selling new software.

So the Volt business model LITERALLY is:

[CaptainPatent]

Step 1) Sell the car at a loss.
Step 2) ...
Step 3) Profit!!!

Wow...

They Make It Back on Software Sales & Support

[sanman2]

It's the razorblade model - you buy it, and they hold a razorblade to your b*lls

Re:Price vs gasoline.

[Black Gold Alchemist]

Wait for $20/gal gasoline and watch driving habits change.

By riding motorcycles with no emissions controls.

Re:Not Temporary, Microeconomics is stubborn

[guyminuslife]

No, it wouldn't be a conspiracy theory to not believe in a conspiracy. Unless that were the conspiracy. My question is, who is behind this conspiracy to make us believe that there's a conspiracy? Clearly they're doing it to draw attention away from the truth of their non-conspiracy. Perhaps this GM bailout could have absolutely nothing to do with the Illuminati and the Freemasons. Maybe the Volt isn't a coverup for the Kennedy assassination. Once you go down the rabbit hole...you'll probably find rabbits.

Re:They Make It Back on Software Sales & Suppo

[nschubach]

Screw your cows, why do my ducks have to be threatened?