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General Motors (GM) wants to save nearly $ 6 billion. For this, the company cancels about 15,000 jobs and six models. Of these, one represents the company's unparalleled future, but also its implementation without conviction: the Chevrolet Volt electric car.
Especially for an American company was the first car presented in 2007, a small revolution. Battery drive instead of the usual eight-cylinder, packaged in a fairly compact package, motto: Everyone can change.
This change was urgent in Detroit at the time. GM has faced enormous problems, with losses of more than $ 30 billion and rising oil prices. At the 2007 Detroit auto show, GM then introduced the Volt as a real surprise. Such a sophisticated concept for a four-door electric car was unprecedented.
The Volt was a quick answer to Tesla. Californians were just one year old to show the Roadster, considered the origin of a new generation of electric cars. The expectations of the Volt were great from the beginning. 45,000 pieces wanted to sell Chevrolet a year.
However, the enthusiasm lasted only briefly and soon, GM was no longer pressed by the Volt. Although the final version is already completed in 2008, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the GM Group. It should take some time before customers can buy the car. The group has meanwhile filed for bankruptcy. Rising gasoline prices and the financial crisis have resulted in the collapse of sales figures. This messed up the plans with the Volt.
Finally, the state saved the company and therefore the Chevrolet Volt. The car arrived in 2010, but still on the market, still with a significant lead over many competitors: the electronic versions of the Golf, Smart or BMW i3 were still futuristic. The dusty GM group has therefore suddenly relied on the vanguard of the automobile.
With the compact Nissan Leaf, there was only one true competitor in the electric segment. Mitsubishi's i-Miev was too small and the Tesla Roadster too expensive to be considered a direct competitor. In addition, these three vehicles were designed as pure electric cars – unlike the Volt with its unique technology.
The Chevrolet initially used two 150 and 75 hp electric motors, a 17.1 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery, and a 1.4-liter, 86-hp gasoline engine. In retrospect, as a clbadic plug-in hybrid, 2010 was an icon of technological advances in the automotive industry. A vehicle that covers the daily road to get to work or to shop only electrically, but when needed by connecting the combustion engine has a range of about 500 kilometers.
Good agitators have climbed the Volt
At the time, GM was even using the Volt as an extended range electric vehicle, which could travel 56 kilometers electrically, as many commuters in the United States did. At the push of a button, the driver was able to decide when the electric motor and when the combustion engine would provide propulsion. In "standby" mode, the gasoline engine has been resumed. You can save battery power for your subsequent trips, for example in the city or in environmental areas.
The left liberal America has welcomed the Volt as a late attempt to finally do something against climate change. GM specifically targeted progressive advertising – for example, in a screen in which the Volt was an electric "electrician" – like a homobadual.
On the other hand, the agitators on the right felt provoked by the Volt. "It will lead to a lot of divorce," predicted host Neil Cavuto. After all, couples were arguing over who had forgotten to load the car at night.
GM has created more problems himself: in 2011, a car caught fire after a crash test. All this detracted from the popularity of the Volt. In the United States, it has sold only 157,081 times in nine years and two generations, averaging about 17,500 per year, far from its original target of 45,000.
Like Opel Ampera the car has completely flopped
The fire accident also had consequences for the introduction of the car in Europe. Opel had to delay the delivery of the identical Ampera model in Germany.
In Rüsselsheim, the car was also originally a hope for the great car crisis. Sales managers hoped that around 12,000 environmentally conscious customers would opt for an Ampera each year. "But we could also sell more," said the boss of the time, Karl-Friedrich Stracke.
In fact, it was much worse than in the United States. In the first year of full registration in 2012, Rüsselsheim sold 828 Amperas, which represents a steady decline. GM's vice president, Steve Girsky, had already suggested in 2013 at the edge of the Geneva Motor Show: "All European governments have always said:" We want electric cars, we want electric cars ! "Now we have built one, and nobody buys it!"
GM has been too agitated
Another reason for the failure was probably the high price. The first generation of the Volt cost $ 39,700 at the launch, the Opel Ampera 43,000 euros. At this price, you also get frugal diesel cars, bigger and more luxurious, or even a pure electric car. For example, the Nissan Leaf cost a few thousand euros less.
In addition, the Ampera was competed by its own group: the parent company GM decided to offer the original model, the Chevrolet Volt, to the German market.
Even in this case, Elektropionier did not leave the niche, because GM was again shy. The Volt was initially available only at ten of the 350 Chevrolet dealerships in Germany. The problem was that they had to pay for their own investments in the charging stations and in the training of electrical service personnel.
That leaves the Chevrolet Volt with the memory of an innovative vehicle concept, with which General Motors could have become a pioneer of the electric car – if the Group had not marketed the vehicle so indifferently. For fans of electric cars, the comfort remains that GM wants to invest the six billion dollars saved in part in the development of new electric cars. Maybe GM uses this opportunity.
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