GM Faces Greater Failure of Chevy Volt

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) plans to invest a great deal more than it has in the past to drive sales of its failed Chevy Volt. GM has for years tried to jump-start one of the earliest hybrid cars. However, Volt sales have been smothered by competition.

GM CEO Mary Barra said as she announced the creation of new manufacturing facilities and commented that the manufacturer will add $300 million in capital investments:

“We must provide the breakthrough technology that our customers want,” said Barra. “Our investments in the Chevy Volt and Michigan signify our commitment to lead the industry in technology and innovation.”

GM’s public relations arm also commented about Volt financial commitments:

Since 2009, GM has announced more than $11 billion in investments in the United States, with almost half of that investment committed to Michigan.

In 2008, GM announced it would build the Volt. Since then, it has faced a growing array of competition. Also, problems with its production have hurt its image. In 2012, alleged engine fires originating from the Volt battery caused GM more bad PR, although the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found the danger was negligible.

The major competitors of the Volt are made by other industry giants. These include cars from every major manufacturer. Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) has also triggered a slew of all-electric vehicles to keep it from dominating the market.

Volt sales have been lackluster. In September sales dropped 21% to 1,394. For the first nine months, sales dropped 13% to 14,450.

ALSO READ: The 7 Most Heavily Shorted NYSE Stocks

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618