GM Confirms, Yes, We're Losing Money on Every Volt We Build

[Rosco T.]

http://www.greencarreports.com/blog/1052107_gm-confirms-yes-were-losing-money-on-every-volt-we-build

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.

This should hardly be a surprise. It's called R&D, folks

(snippage)

So it is with the Volt. 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.

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.

(more at link)

[Drale]

1. For now they might be

but they will make it up, sony lost money on every PS3 they made until they came out with the slim, but now they are more then making it up and I'm pretty sure that the PS3 is now making profit.

[Rosco T.]

2. Sony was still losing money on every PS3 in Feb of this year...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10448137-17.html

but apparently they hit 'break even' in July...

http://www.megagames.com/news/sony-not-losing-money-playstation-3-hardware-any-more

[krispos42]

11. I thought they made their dough on game and merch licensing? n/t

[PBS Poll-435]

12. HP makes their money on ink/toner.

:shrug:

[krispos42]

13. Isn't ink like a billion dollar a gallon or something like that?

I know that the ink cartridge also includes all the nozzles and pizo-electric controls and stuff, too, though.

[PBS Poll-435]

15. Pretty crazy how much the margin is on a HP ink cartridge.

Like 80% profit.

And like 60% on a laser toner cartridge.



Hence all of the 3rd party "refill" solutions out there...

[PBS Poll-435]

3. If it were Toyota, folks would accuse them of "dumping".

Oh well.

[RB TexLa]

4. Don't worry there will be a few along wanting bans for speaking bad about "Thy GM"

[Union Scribe]

17. There's already so much to justifiably accuse Toyota of.

Fake union/union busting.
Ties to human trafficking and dictators.
Working people to death.
Arrogance and apathy toward safety problems.

Hey, you brought it up.

[PBS Poll-435]

19. Lol. Good luck with that

:rofl:

[Union Scribe]

21. I'm glad you find worker abuse so hilarious.

At least you're up front about it, instead of the passive apathy one so often finds. It makes me wonder what liberal virtues you could possibly hold if so basic a one escapes you, but whatever.

[Skink]

5. How about the Government offer a subsidy.

every college graduate gets 50 percent off a new Volt if they can make the payments.

[Canuckistanian]

6. To be expected with a small run in a totally new technology

The supply lines aren't quite stable and they're still paying for the NRE (Non Recurring Engineering).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-recurring_engineering

With later "proven" versions, bigger production runs and stable, predictable material costs, the price will go down.

[sharesunited]

7. We lose money on every sale, but we make it up on the volume.

Old mercantile joke.

[Bonobo]

8. Isn't this what used to be called "dumping"? Why not illegal?

This is what the Japanese were accused of doing back in the late 80's/early 90's.

We called it "dumping" back then...

[flvegan]

9. VW did the same with the Phaeton and still does with the Bugatti Veyron.

And at the rate they're going, they'll be the world's largest automaker in the next 10 years.

So...doing something right, maybe? Yeah. R&D, I agree.

I hope the Volt does well. It's a good jumping off point.

[krispos42]

16. Even if nothing comes from it, you generally learn a lot from trying.

Whatever GM learned from designing the Volt they will (hopefully) continue to build on. And that knowledge will be internal and proprietary, an asset to the company.

The next model that has a hybrid drivetrain will profit from all the previous research.

[bluedigger]

10. Meh.

They were losing 100% on the product before it reached market - just like every other product they invest in that never makes it. Their losses are dropping rapidly with every sale. The product life cycle is not yet mature, to say nothing of being complete.

[GSLevel9]

14. who's the moron who came up with this project?

fire his ass and build a 60mpg sub-compact European style clean diesel that sells for $12,000

[Brickbat]

18. Pff -- what do they think subsidized the Prius for many years? It was the gas-guzzling, ass-ugly

Toyota Tundra.

[SidDithers]

20. Haven't they been losing money on every vehicle they build for years now?...nt

Sid

[bullwinkle428]

22. The Prius lost money for the first few years as well.