Recently, President Obama's task force determined:
"While the Volt holds promise, it is currently projected to be much more expensive than its gasoline-fueled peers and will likely need significant reductions in manufacturing costs in order to become commercially viable."
No kidding, huh?
Earth to the Presidential task force - that was never the intent.
The main purpose of the Volt is, was, will be to change consumer perception.
GM offers many hybrids, but if you ask most consumers, they equate GM with making big gas guzzlers - they equate foreign - especially Toyota and Honda with Hybrid fuel savers.
While GM has a much more extensive lineup of vehicles, it does have over 20 hybrid offerings - not that anyone really knows this.
The Volt was desigened and will be marketed to change this perception - and yes, GM will lose money on each unit sold - similar to Toyota losing money on it's Prius.
As economies of scale grow, manufacturing becomes more efficient and hopefully, there will be a time when they make money on the Volt - Toyota, if sales continue to grow, should start making a profit on the Prius this year however, considering the state of the auto industry, it may not happen.
Toyota is in much better financial shape than GM and can afford to take a loss on the sale of the Prius - GM does not have that luxuary - they can't afford the loss, yet they can't afford to not introduce the Volt.
GM will need to subsidize the Volt program internally but we should all remember what the intent of the Volt was. Unfortunately, some in Government don't get it. While I agree that GM must work on high efficiency gas and diesel offerings, we can't be short sighted on the Volt and it's tru intent.