University dorm story more important in Flint than hometown Chevy Volt story
The Chevy Volt is very likely the car we've written about the most here on AutoblogGreen (with the Tesla Roadster up there as well). Turns out, in what might still be the Volt's engine's future hometown - Flint, Michigan - the local love isn't quite with GM's halo car. According to a year-end ranking of the Flint Journal's top stories, the Volt engine deal and subsequent delay and then possible revival came in at number five. The Volt news was beaten to the number four spot by a story on a University of Michigan-Flint residence hall. Other things that Flint residents clicked on more than the Volt story were Obama's victory, GM's overall troubles and development in downtown Flint. Guess not everyone is watching the Volt's progress as closely as we are.
[Source: Flint Journal]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
wincros 3:45PM (12/30/2008)
Flint is after all a car town. Maybe there is an instinct there that is smart.
What is the Volt anyway? It certainly seems to be a tentative and timid effort by the great car corporation. What it comes down to is a different version of hybrid car for the price of a midlevel Lexus for 2010. Or 2011? When? How many of those are they going to sell? How busy is that engine plant going to be? That is assuming GM is even around by then.
Chrysler resurrected and remade itself with a cheap K car. The Volt just looks to be just another expensive GM PR project that will not affect the bad direction of the company. The Cruze which shares styling cues with the Volt looks cheap even in the pictures. Same old plan. Don't compete with Hondas and Toyotas, lure them in with the cheap price and try to get them to spend more money on a more expensive model.
My reaction to Volt stories is "yeah, right" and I don't even have the advantage of the experience of those Flint folks.
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tankd0g 12:56PM (12/30/2008)
The Volts up and down future is no longer news. People in Michigan know better than to hang their hopes on GMs empty promises. Anything that creates real jobs, right now, that's news worthy.
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why not the LS2LS7? 1:14PM (12/30/2008)
ABG: Why do Flint clickrates matter to those of us who live outside Flint? Or even those who live in Flint!
(I was born in Flint and my father still lives near there. Also, half of my graduating class went to U of M Flint).
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jpm 4:27PM (12/30/2008)
The Volt has a snowballs chance in hell. ABG needs to stop creaming their pants over this car. Let's face it, GM missed the goddam boat. They had their chance with the EV1 but chose to produce Hummers instead. If you're wondering why I'm so pissed; my taxes (aka 30% of my paycheck) go to financing this deadbeat company. Well, actually 90% of that went to Iraq.
GM is officially doomed when the plug in Prius not only comes out earlier, but is a better and cheaper car.
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jpm100 12:16PM (12/31/2008)
As nice as any jobs are to have, the number of jobs involved were a drop in the bucket compared to the jobs at risk from GM's fate which was the number 2 story after the #1 story of Obama's victory in the heavily African American town of Flint.
But, hey, context kind of wrecks the chance for a cheap shot.
jpm100 12:19PM (12/31/2008)
Sorry that was suppose to be at the general level and not a reply.
My mistake because I was going to say this guy gives jpm's a bad name. Being a Prius "fanboy" as they used to say isn't necessarily bad, but when creates comments full of unsubstantiated malarky it is.
jpm 1:39PM (12/31/2008)
I don't drive a prius nor intend to buy one. I am unbiased about the green car situation. I want anybody to put out a green car. GM already has proved without a doubt they are incompetent.
Get your head out of the sand and look at the big picture.
Larry Miller 3:16PM (12/31/2008)
Don't read too much into those click figures. It's the small local paper; it's likely the only paper posting a story about the new dorm. To read about the Volt and its factory, many people (even in flint, I'd guess) are more likely to check web sites of the Detroit papers because they have more in-depth coverage of the GM, the Volt program and the auto industry.
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Chris 1:29PM (12/31/2008)
I'm from the Flint area. GM has a far smaller grip on the region now than they used to -- most people are fed up after tens of thousands of jobs were shipped out of town. The auto industry is still perhaps the most important industry, but it is faltering.
People in Flint are not going to be the ones who are able to afford to buy the Volt -- they are focusing on trying to rebuild a town that is in ruins in many places, and battening down the hatches to prepare for an even worsening economy.
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