Even in the face of high gasoline prices, Volt sales dropped from 608 cars in March to 493 in April. The year-to-date sales of the Volt are 1703. General Motors announced that they would produce in 2011 and 2012 a total of 100,000 Volts.
In January of this year, President Obama named Jeffery Immelt, CEO General Electric, to replace Paul Volcker as the Chairman of the Council on Jobs and Competiveness. Following the announcement, Immelt promised to buy 50,000 Volts over the next two years. A little math says that if GE does buy half the production run of 100,000, then GM only has to find 48,297 customers for the other half in the next 20 months. That is a 566% monthly sales increase over the current monthly sales average.
But what signals are we getting from Immelt? According to Junk Science Immelt has signaled that jobs are going to be more important to him than a “comprehensive energy strategy”.
At an event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Tuesday, Immelt said,
“If I had one thing to do over again I would not have talked so much about green… Even though I believe in global warming and I believe in the science … it just took on a connotation that was too elitist; it was too precious and it let opponents think that if you had a green initiative, you didn’t care about jobs. I’m a businessman. That’s all I care about, is jobs… I’m kind of over the stage of arguing for a comprehensive energy policy. I’m back to keeping my head down and working. [Emphasis added]
If he means what he appears to be saying, then one might infer that he will renege on his pledge or perhaps more realistically buy many less that 50,000 Volts.
That would be re-Volt-ing development. For GM!!
cbdakota
Climate Change Sanity 