GM announced today that the plant that makes the Chevy Volt will be shut down permanently. Yes. that’s right, and only 3 months from right now. I am literally reeling. This has caught me completely off guard. Everything I am hearing through the rumor mill is that the Volt will be discontinued, rather than production moved to a different plant, within a very few months from now.
My dealership has seventeen 2018 Volts, in stock, and I can still order 2019s. If you’ve been on the fence about the Volt, it’s time to jump! Today, my phone has been ringing off the wall. People are buying them up at an amazing pace. I have 3 already committed and am trying to get more from other Chevy dealers right now.
As you know, I recently got our 6th family Volt. I still believe it is a fantastic car, but more importantly, the right plug-in vehicle for today’s charging infrastructure. I am actually a little dizzy, as I write these words. It is my fervent hope that GM will be announcing a new vehicle to take its place in the plug-in hybrid world. GM still says it is committed to the electrification of vehicles, but no further word has been given.
The NY Times article gives me a little hope by saying, “Some of the plants could resume production, depending on the outcome of contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers union next year.”
The silver lining, around the cloud of today’s news, is that everything GM has learned from almost 7 years of Volt production is being leveraged to add new EVs to the lineup. Bolt EV production is still going strong!
***UPDATE***
Green Car Reports just posted this.
GM confirmed to us at InsideEVs that the Volt is ending production, not merely stalling it or moving production to another plant.
So the Volt is off the table for my wife to replace her 2013 Volt in the spring. Jumping to the Model 3.
Very poor decision by GM. They had better start announcing these new BEVs soon or the Bolt might end up being my last Chevy as well…
Are we sure GM is going “all in” on BEVs? Starting when?
That would be a move I didn’t think any legacy auto maker had the guts to do. GM will take a huge hit financially for maybe years as it writes down the book value of its ICE related property and sales slump until BEVs catch on.
Or is it going to concentrate on its best ICE sellers, like the pickup, for the next few years waiting for the transition to BEVs?
“The Volt . . . has struggled with slow sales . . . .”
Gee, slow sales for a car they never advertised. Shocking.
I thought this technology would migrate to all of GM’s models except for the pure electrics. It was revolutionary.
GM should replace the Volt with a plug-in SUV or CUV hybrid. (Hell, the Volt should have been an SUV or CUV but that’s water under the bridge.)
Maybe GM didn’t think the Volt could compete with the Honda Clarity, a roomy sedan with similar all electric range.
Maybe they can re-allocate all those battery cells that were destined for Volt production to the Bolt EV production line and increase the production rate a bit more.
Not as stunned as the 14,000 workers laid off from five plants just before Christmas.
Merry Christmas from GM.
Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs Making America Great Again!
I wondered how you would take it. Sorry for this news! I am PRAYING for a small SUV with Volt technology! And 100+ miles of EV. If Bolt can do 238, you can take 100 EV miles of battery out and put in the engine. Sigh…..
Fret not my friend.
I predict Voltec will be rebirthed, using a skateboard battery, in another vehicle… possibly CUV/SUV.
Long live Voltec!
I had heard the Chevy Volt was going to be phased out of production…But with GM’s huge announcement of plant closings and car model deletions it seems to be a final nail in its production. I am at a bit of a loss as to why this great car is being phased out. It has had virtually no other cars come close to it in the PHEV class since it’s production inception in 2011. And this holds true to today.
Have not heard any grand announcements for any PHEV replacements from GM. I would feel a lot better if GM was announcing other PHEV models to replace the Volt. A small truck or a small SUV with a Volt like PHEV drivetrain would be amazing. Always been a real head scratcher why GM has not developed a ½ ton PHEV truck (not some tiny hybrid battery) with a 20 kWh battery.
But really my biggest disappointment has always been how this car is marketed. The amount of money spent marketing this car has been slim to none. A lot of the blame for low Volt sales can be squarely laid on GM for their marketing. Most of the Dealers salesforce know nothing about the car. It is a great car but nobody knows about it. Doesn’t everybody love driving a car for $1.50 to $2.00 in electricity per 100 km and then have the ICE kick in if you need it. The cars sells itself once you drive it. I know that GM makes way more money selling a SUV or a Truck…In my experience people who want to look at buying an EV or a PHEV don’t go the dealer intending to buy a Truck or SUV. So marketing dollars wouldn’t swing buyers away from the SUV/Truck market. Maybe we will start seeing stand alone EV and PHEV dealerships so that there is better marketing and selling environment for these great vehicles. Can’t wait for new EV or PHEV models in the SUV or Truck category but I think the demise of the Volt is too soon. Without a viable replacement for the 2nd Gen Volt why get rid of it?
Here is a good article just sent to me… https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/gm-chevy-volt-climate-obama-trump_us_5bfd7977e4b0eb6d93146bee?fbclid=IwAR1F92vKvOkCY0kTBQxD11skOGRByf3fY04Py7ui060dBUnZLn2dKVyK5eQ
I hope GM won’t do what VW is doing: promising many EV models years hence (in VW’s case 50 EV models by 2025).
Consumers want to know what EVs will be available in the next year or two, not five or seven years from now.
“Yes, the Volt is history. Many of us realized this was coming as soon as battery prices dropped enough. PHEVs with their small battery pack would not benefit from battery cost drops enough to stay competitive.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d48b70fc0e6344fe589a6722a46447ce638f8a39127eaf668e45b764770928a5.png
“The Bolt hasn’t been more than a compliance car. But it (along with the EV1) gave GM the opportunity to develop EV technology. And now GM says they are preparing to move past the demonstration/compliance stage and on to full scale EV production.”
My wife and I really enjoyed learning about the Volt from you, Buzz. You almost convinced us to not wait for the Model 3. As much as we loved the Volt more than any cars we’ve previously had, we love the Model 3 in multiples more than that. It’s crazy to see what GM’s doing, but I really hope they truly dive all in and bring some more all electrics to the market quicker. Hopefully it’s a move that will make the step change in the right direction. It may be wishful thinking. We’ll see.
I just read something that made me laugh. The righties are now blaming “Government Motors’ ” electric vehicles for wrecking the company and causing the plant closures.
GM didn’t even try to meet worldwide demand for the Bolt. It would have sold like hotcakes in Europe. There was a problem meeting demand for it just here in the U.S., right?
I have sold out of them twice, in the last year. When they started exports to South Korea, it became VERY difficult to get one. That being said, the plant that makes the Bolt EV is NOT closing. Without a doubt, I am certain that if GM had advertised the Volt, they could have kept Hamtramck open and running at full speed, making the Volt exclusively.
I suspect that all of GM’s vehicles would be selling better if they were now all using the Voltec powertrain. For some reason (maybe wishful thinking), I thought that was the plan when the Volt was introduced.
What will the righties say when Tesla buys GM’s abandoned plants and cranks up its production?