Now even the Washington Post is turning on the Chevy Volt.
According to this article even though GM can hardly sell of the things it is still losing tens of thousands of dollars on every unit it sells.
For me, one question here relates to the efficacy of the auto bailouts and the government’s ownership of GM–if the taxpayers’ stake were instead owned by private individuals, would GM be making the same decisions about the Volt? Although that is possible, given the numbers we are talking about here it seems unlikely. And if the government is going to use tax money to own a business, shouldn’t the government run the thing like a business?
As the Wa Po concludes:
No matter how you slice it, the American taxpayer has gotten precious little for the administration’s investment in battery-powered vehicles, in terms of permanent jobs or lower carbon dioxide emissions. There is no market, or not much of one, for vehicles that are less convenient and cost thousands of dollars more than similar-sized gas-powered alternatives — but do not save enough fuel to compensate. The basic theory of the Obama push for electric vehicles — if you build them, customers will come — was a myth. And an expensive one, at that.