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No kidding. No surprise. I don't need someone else to tell me what I already know. I'm sure some do though.
Gee, what a surprise...
Consumer Reports: GM's Volt 'doesn't really make a lot of sense'
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Washington — Consumer Reports offered a harsh initial review of the Chevrolet Volt, questioning whether General Motors Co.'s flagship vehicle makes economic "sense."The extended-range plug-in electric vehicle is on the cover of the April issue — the influential magazine's annual survey of vehicles — but the GM vehicle comes in for criticism.
"When you are looking at purely dollars and cents, it doesn't really make a lot of sense. The Volt isn't particularly efficient as an electric vehicle and it's not particularly good as a gas vehicle either in terms of fuel economy," said David Champion, the senior director of Consumer Reports auto testing center at a meeting with reporters here. "This is going to be a tough sell to the average consumer."
read more...
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110228/...#ixzz1FMNJhCh7
No kidding. No surprise. I don't need someone else to tell me what I already know. I'm sure some do though.
High pump prices rattle drivers and businesses
NEW YORK – High fuel prices are putting the squeeze on drivers' wallets just as they are starting to feel better about the economy. They're also forcing tough choices on small-business owners who are loathe to charge more for fear of losing cost-conscious customers.
Gasoline prices rose 4 percent last week to a national average of $3.29 per gallon. That's the highest level ever for this time of year, when prices are typically low. And with unrest in the Middle East and North Africa lifting the price of oil to the $100-a-barrel range, analysts say pump prices are likely headed higher.
Bryon Gongaware, an owner of The Floral Trunk and Gifts in White Bear Lake, Minn., didn't raise his $7 flower delivery charge when gas prices ed in 2008, and he doesn't plan to do so this time, either.
"I don't think the economy is solid enough that you can be careless about raising prices," he said, standing among the flower clippings on the floor of the shop he has run for 21 years.
That means the extra costs that come from driving the store's delivery van 70,000 miles a year come from only one place: "right out of the bottom line," he said.
For drivers such as Robert Wagner, 51, a high school teacher from Thornton, Colo., the higher fuel costs mean cutting back on movies and dinners out for him, his wife and their two children. "We're very, very frugal right now," he said as he trickled enough $3.09-per-gallon gasoline into his Chevrolet Suburban to get him to his next pay day.
Analysts and economists worry that by lowering profits for businesses and reducing disposable income for drivers, high gasoline prices could slow the recovering economy.
Over a year, analysts estimate, oil at $100 a barrel would reduce U.S. economic growth by 0.2 or 0.3 of a percentage point. Rather than grow an estimated 3.7 percent this year, the economy would expand 3.4 percent or 3.5 percent. That would likely mean less hiring and higher unemployment.
Americans are less prepared to absorb the e in gasoline prices than they were the last time prices rose this high, in 2008, because unemployment is higher and real estate values are lower, says David Portalatin, an analyst for the market research firm NPD Group.
It has been four months since gasoline rose beyond $3 per gallon. During that time, drivers have spent $14 billion more on gasoline than they did a year ago, Portalatin says.
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So?
In the end, what's better? Cheaper to buy and maintain?
A $20k car that gets 25 MPG
A $40k car that gets 100 MPG
How long does it take to recoup $20k in gas?
I have little doubt that the Volt really doesn't make a whole lot of sense now.
The Consumer Report article was pretty clear on the drawbacks of the vehicle.
Tactically, it is a bit of a mistake.
Strategically, it gives GM a lot of engineering and organizational experience with electric cars.
There are some interesting technologies in the offing that will vastly improve battery life/performance/wieght in the near future.
I think that GM's progressing along the learning curve for such cars is probably a good thing in the long run.
In the short run, if you get any protests in Saudi Arabia, even the Volt will start looking good.
I wonder what has the supply to demand ratio off kilter the most. The problems in the Middle East, or the drilling moratoriums?In the short run, if you get any protests in Saudi Arabia, even the Volt will start looking good.
do you really 'wonder'?
Jeez, WC, don't intentionally act stupid. The drilling moratorium is just a pimple on the ass of the bigger problem of unrest in North Africa and the Middle East.
Yet prices have been slowly increasing for months. I don't think that the Middle East issues have changed the pricing yet. I think the moratoriums have had a little effect, therefore I think it has the most between the two. I am far from certain of that though. Regardless, I see the biggest problem the value of our currency, losing ground to others and gold rising. Our price to purchase nearly all foreign good is increasing. Look at imported foods also.
You guys constantly jump to conclusions that I just have to shake my head at. Geroges posting especially shows that. He assumes since I add something else to consider, that i am stuck on that. I am not. I don't have enough information on both to decide which is the stroner influence between the two.
Now Cosmic, I consider you far more intelligent than the likes of George. Why do you so readily jump to asinine conclusions?
This thread really makesbit hard not to insult anyone.
Translation:
"I would love to blame oil price es on Democrats/Obama"
(rolls eyes)
Sorry, it is rising demand coupled with instability in the Middle East.
10,000 new drivers every day in China that didn't own cars before, and all the other demands on oil energy that new demand from new wealth create.
The amount of demanded oil energy per capita rises VERY quickly as you improve your standard of living, so you can expect strong demand growth.
Only idiots would believe that.
Diesel works for me.
1)
Gas will get more expensive by the end of the summer. FWIW.Gasoline prices typically fall in the winter and rise in the spring as refiners switch to more expensive summer blends of gasoline. Since 2000, prices in May have been 52 cents per gallon on average higher than in February, according to the Energy Information Administration.
(edit)
1) A moratorium on new drilling doesn't really affect output much in the short term.
2) The US produces very little relative to the market overall to begin with.
3) The Middle east, on the other hand collectively produces a very large percentage of global export supply.
Not really a hard thing to wrap one's mind around, if one understand the underlying nature of the market.
No, see you also have that asinine assumption. I will go as far as saying it has some effect that I cannot quantify. Blame? No.
Yes, the demand is rising and rising. Primarily from new Asian economic growth. Instability? I see that as an almost zero influence. Like I said in my last post, I don't know if it is stronger or weaker than the moratoriums. both are small in the scheme of things. Now the Middle east issues can suddenly change and cause a sudden price change. But it's not the case for the present. Prices have slowly been rising, or do you not notice until someone tells you they have?
Duh...
You can find in my postings 2 or 3, maybe more years back I pointed out how Asia, primarily China will cause just this. I think it was 1996 that China surpassed our fossil fuel usage.
Why do you think you are telling me things I don't know?
All I did was say "I wonder" which of the two influences were the strongest. Now you bring in other factors... I don't see an argument against what I said. Instead, you use it as a way to insult me, unnecessarily.
The simple fact is that globally we have been using it faster than we have been finding it.
Generally, large easy to drill and find oil deposits are being used up, leaving smaller and medium size fields to exploit, and those are more expensive to extract because you need more wells moving around to produce the same amount of oil as before.
This is why global production is topping out.
As has been explained and explained to you.
Limited to flat supply coupled with increased demand.
Random...
Who cares, old news. We still aren't ready for something like the Volt. We should let natural engineering and development continue without subsidies. The same in the energy markets. The government should not be picking winners and losers when the free market does it better.
Don't cry crocodile tears here.
Your past vitriolic statements concerning the current administration make such an intepretation of your words on that is rather easy for one to make, having seen them.
You bring it on yourself.
No, you are simply one who believes that statistics make facts.
I'm saving $20 a week by switching from an older V8 jeep, to a newer V6 crossover... and the jeep used regular gas while the new car uses premium...
If you are making car payments, what would that $20/week be vs. a larger car payment for something like the Volt? That may be all that people see from going from an economy car to a super economy car.
Is it financially sound?
wy not incentivise the developement of these types of vehicles? I would assume you would agree that we need to stop depending on oil from the ME sooner rather than later. Right?
Why not simply have a smaller government and stop asking for it to take from others to give what you want.
What does the consumer want? That's what the engineers at Ford, GM, and Chrysler should be competing for. Not government handouts. When there is a large enough market for alternate designs, it will happen.
your whole life is a rant. did you read the question?
I didn't have a choice... the jeep died and I needed a car. That's probably not the cheapest deal I had, but the one that balanced out to a good deal.
The Volt makes sense as a technology development investment. I don't expect it to sell well at all, just cater to early adopters that don't mind paying a lot to have the newest tech. This is version 1 electric car for GM. The investment might finally pay off for version 10. You have to make the investment at some point though to remain compe ive with other companies like Toyota that made the investment a long time ago (Remember the all-electric RAV4?)
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