Cadillac Says ELR Hybrid is Nothing Like the Tesla Model S, Won’t Share Upgrades with Volt

After testing the waters in 2009 with the Converj concept, Cadillac went on and revealed a hybrid luxury coupe, named the ELR, which will enter production at the end of this year and hit the market in early 2014.

Although the striking design remains faithful to the concept, the underpinnings were more humble as they were borrowed from the Chevrolet Volt. It’s a move that makes perfect sense, though it begs the question why the Volt was rolled out before the ELR since the Cadillac could easily justify a premium price – something the extended-range hybrid Chevy has struggled with.

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Is it a ReVolt? Some Chevy Dealers Stop Selling GM’s Hybrid Over New Tool Costs

Last month General Motors informed its Chevrolet dealers of the requirements they should fulfill if they want to keep selling and servicing the Volt from January of 2013.

Among the prerequisites for Chevy dealers is an additional US$5,100 they had to pay for specialized tools needed to service the extended-range hybrid, the bulk of which, US$4,735, accounts for a battery de-powering tool. This is needed to drain the battery and remove sections of it, rather than the whole pack, and send them back to GM for repair.

It may not seem important but it was big enough of a deal for some dealers to stop carrying the Volt.

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Volt Owners Pass the 100 Million Mile Mark in EV Mode, Save Two Supertankers of Gas

Two years ago this month, GM launched its Chevrolet Volt extended range plug-in hybrid. During this period, it faced some issues but now it is happy to announce that Volt owners have collectively surpassed 100 million all-electric miles (160 million km). Read more »

Chevrolet Volt November Sales Plunge by 50 Percent Due to Low Inventory

In September, Chevrolet delivered 2,961 units of its Volt plug-in extended-range hybrid. It was an all-time high, and it followed up from the 2,851 vehicles sold in October.

Then came November: one way to look at it is that Volt sales rose by 33 percent compared to the same month in 2011. That’s small consolation, though, for GM when total sales were just 1,519 cars – that’s nearly half the number of the preceding months.

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GM Says it will have 500,000 Vehicles with Some Form of Electrification on Roads by 2017

There is a greener future lying ahead for General Motors, which plans to have up to 500,000 vehicles on the road with some form of electrification by 2017, according to product chief Mary Barra.

On Wednesday, the company’s top product development executive said GM will focus on electric vehicles, and plug-in and mild hybrids instead of conventional hybrids.

“The plug-in offers a unique opportunity to change the way people commute,” Barra told the reporters attending the GM Electrification Experience in San Francisco. “Plug-based solutions will play a significant role in our technology portfolio going forward.”

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GM to Upgrade Software on 4,000 Chevrolet Volts to Fix Stalling Electric Motor Problem

When Chevrolet Volt owner and gm-volt.com forum member "1RiverMan1" came home on October 19, he heard a phone message from his Volt advisor (sic) informing him about a potential problem with some of GM’s 2013 MY extended-range hybrids.

The issue was that on some cars, the electric motor for no apparent reason at all, stopped working while on the move. The advisor said that the steering and brakes of the Volt still worked, but added that if it were to occur, the driver must coast to a stop, power the car off, wait for 2-5 minutes and then power it up again.

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New GM App Shows Chevy Volt Owners the Real Cost of Charging Their Hybrid at Home

Plug-in hybrid vehicles claim to be much more fuel efficient, and thus cheaper to run, than regular models powered only by international combustion engines.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, though; in the case of plug-in hybrids, you have to factor in the energy consumed to charge the battery at your home, which adds to the electricity bill.

General Motors’ OnStar service is currently testing an application that will inform Chevrolet Volt owners about the cost of charging their extended-range plug-in hybrid.

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August a Record Month for Chevy Volt Sales Thanks to Big Discounts; But is it Really Good News?

All-electric and hybrid car sales so far account for just 3.5 percent of total vehicle sales in the U.S. this year. Not exactly what their makers expected when they launched these models.

At a first glance, the situation is improving for General Motors, as its Volt extended-range hybrid sold a record 2,800 units last month. Year-to-date Volt sales have so far reached 13,000 units, which certainly compares very well to the 7,700 cars that were sold in 2011.

For example, before the discounts, Bunnin Chevrolet in Culver City, California was selling three to five Volts per month. Last month it shifted 36 cars, mostly leases, and sales manager Chad Kelman told The Detroit News that the dealership is having a hard time keeping enough units in stock.

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Toyota Says Prius Plug-in Hybrid U.S. Sales Top 6,000 Units, Beats Volt and Leaf...or Did it?

A Toyota press release bragging about the achievements of the Prius Plug-in Hybrid variant since it went arrived in U.S. showrooms at the end of February states that the EPA-rated 95 MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) Japanese hatchback has delivered 6,061 units in its first six months (March through August) on sale.

However, that's not what caught our attention; this is what did and we quote Toyota's press statement:

"This sales figure represents sales momentum that has propelled the Prius Plug-in to a stronger first full six-months sales pace (6,061 units) than Chevrolet Volt Plug-in (2,745 units) and the all-electric Nissan Leaf (3,875 units)."

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GM Refutes Reuters’ Claim That Each Volt Costs $89,000 to Build, Though it’s Still Losing Money

Despite a rather high US$39,995 sticker price for the base edition of the Volt, Chevrolet’s range-extended hybrid has sold a record 2,831 units in August. So all is well for GM?

In the case of the Volt, the answer is a bit complicated since it’s not your run-of-the-mill gasoline- or diesel-powered car. It’s a problem shared by every hybrid and all-electric vehicle manufacturer: the development costs, the tooling, the battery packs and the powertrain, when added up, simply make for a very high price.

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Software Glitch Causes Delays in Deliveries of Certain 2012-2013 GM Models Including Cadillac ATS

General Motors may have increased its US sales in August by 10 percent compared to the same month in 2011, but last Wednesday it notified its dealers to stop deliveries of some of its most popular models.

The reason is a software glitch on the OnStar communication system that affects the 2013 Chevrolet Cruze, Equinox and Volt, the Cadillac ATS, SRX and XTS, the Buick Verano plus the GMC Terrain.

GM spokesman Alan Adler said that the issue has been identified as the system failing to alert the OnStar call center in an accident that the vehicle’s airbags are not deployed, like a rear-end collision.

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Former Chevy Volt Boss Tony Posawatz in as Fisker CEO, LaSorda Out

Effective immediately, Tom LaSorda will be stepping down from his role as the CEO of Fisker to be replaced by former vehicle line director for the Chevy Volt, Tony Posawatz.

In a time when Fisker is facing battery issues and the lack of money flow, the company believes a veteran in the field will bring his wealth of knowledge to help the ailing brand.

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GM Wants Increase Hybrid and EV Sales in China Despite Abysmal Volt Sales

It’s true that sales of the Volt haven't quite taken off in the way Chevrolet intended. Even in the US, where it is subsidized by the federal government as well as by some states like California, it hasn't been able to come close to GM's goal of 45,000 units in 2012 - though at 10,666 deliveries from January to July, it sold more than triple the numbers of the Nissan Leaf at 3,543 units in the same period.

It makes perfect sense then that it is almost non-existent in China, where its US$40K price is nearly doubled due to taxation imposed by the government on imported cars.

This is a fact that GM representatives readily acknowledge. Ray Bierzynski, the company’s head of electric vehicle strategy in China, won’t disclose any sales figure, but told Automotive News that the Volt is “a very low-volume” car.

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