GM Hybrid Sales Hurt by Recall of 9,000 Faulty Batteries

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by cwerdna, Jun 2, 2008.

Page 2 of 2
  1. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2005
    4,089
    468
    0
    Location:
    Bahstahn
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Y'know, this is starting to remind me a lot of when Microsoft
    decided the internet was real after all, after poo-poohing the
    whole thing and thinking that MSN would rule the world. They took
    the worst possible TCP/IP stack they could find, and spent the
    next several years trying to turn the Titanic and screwing it
    up right and left... while muscling out all the third-party
    companies that already had better stuff and derailing thousands,
    maybe millions of otherwise worthwhile IT careers in the process
    as system developers and maintainers had to continually wrestle
    with their lame, bug-ridden crap and warmed-over proprietary
    "standards" invented in a vacuum that played well with nothing.
    .
    At least the public at large knows they've got better alternatives
    already in the transportation sector, as opposed to the OS one,
    and may be less likely to get trapped into bad choices. Hopefully
    fuel economy and hybrids now are less of a "cult thing" than, say,
    Linux and other open-source was at that time. But marketing can
    be a powerful thing, and we are ALL at risk of being duped into
    investing in inferior product.
    .
    _H*
     
    #21 hobbit, Jun 3, 2008
  2. Stev0

    Stev0 Honorary Hong Kong Cavalier

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2006
    7,201
    1,073
    0
    Location:
    Northampton, MA
    Vehicle:
    2022 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    There's really no need to bash GM. They do a pretty good job bashing themselves without the extra help.
     
    #22 Stev0, Jun 3, 2008
  3. dogfriend

    dogfriend Human - Animal Hybrid

    Joined:
    Feb 26, 2007
    7,512
    1,188
    0
    Location:
    Carmichael, CA
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Uh.....no.

    That would be an interesting requirement. Would you just flip the whole car?

    There is no maintenance scheduled for the battery for the lifetime of the car.
     
    #23 dogfriend, Jun 3, 2008
  4. abq sfr

    abq sfr New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2007
    690
    3
    0
    Location:
    Albuquerque, NM
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    The cracks in the batteries occur more frequently in the heat. I suppose this means GM didn't test their mild hybrid technology at their Arizona proving ground. Or they did it in the winter. Or they only tested 1 and not 3 since a third of them are affected. I've never owned a GM car, and don't think I ever will.

    Regarding the thread-unrelated battery flipping... you piqued my curiosity :nerd:
     
    #24 abq sfr, Jun 3, 2008
  5. hiremichaelreid

    hiremichaelreid New Member

    Joined:
    May 8, 2008
    451
    6
    0
    Location:
    Ottawa/Aylmer, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    I
    Or they rushed them out the door like they are planning with the Volt. Yeah, 10 years of engineering can be crammed into 2-3 years if we think positive thoughts about how great we are ! :)
     
    #25 hiremichaelreid, Jun 3, 2008
  6. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 4, 2005
    12,544
    2,123
    1
    Location:
    SF Bay Area, CA
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    GM: Battery glitch cuts hybrid sales - AutoWeek Magazine has more on this. They've also got some sales numbers at the end.

    "Sales of the 2008 Vue Green Line suffered because of the battery shortage, Saturn spokesman Steve Janisse said.

    Through April, retail sales of the Vue Green Line were just 326 units, compared with 2,683 retail sales during the same period a year ago, he said. Part of the difference is that GM had put incentives on the 2007 hybrids, which were at the end of the previous generation. Now, Saturn's interim goal while ramping back up is about 250 retail Vue Green Line sales a month, Janisse said. Through May 27, he said, it had sold 222 units retail in May.

    "We're feeling we're closer to where we want to be," Janisse said.

    Saturn sold only 69 retail units of the 2008 Aura Green Line through April because of the battery problem, Janisse said. Saturn launched the Aura Green Line in March 2007 and sold 48 units at retail through April 2007.

    The battery problems also likely hurt sales of the 2008 Malibu Hybrid, Chevrolet spokeswoman Nancy Libby said.

    In April, GM sold 17,050 Malibus. GM says it sold 260 Malibu Hybrids in April--well below GM's 10 percent target.."

    Are we going to here someone singing the praises of the BAS hybrids again? ;)
     
    #26 cwerdna, Jun 4, 2008
  7. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2004
    45,178
    16,406
    41
    Location:
    Canada
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    48 units at launch.. jeez. And this is America, the land of car buying.
     
    #27 Tideland Prius, Jun 4, 2008
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)
Page 2 of 2