REPORT: Chevy Volt will be built, sold in China
Chevrolet Volt Integration prototype - click above for high res image gallery
The Chevy Volt is, as has been repeatedly said, the car that could save GM. With the auto market in China poised for expansion (at some point), it's no surprise that The General is thinking of making and selling the extended-range electric vehicle (ER-EV) there. The Detroit Free Press is reporting that GM will indeed build the Chevy Volt in China, but that all the Volts built in China will remain in China. Think of it as the Vegas of car sales. After initial production begins at GM's Hamtramck plant and export demand exceeds production there, GM will likely build Volts around the world for local markets. In the meantime, engineering and pre-production work on the Volt is taking place ahead of schedule.
Gallery: 2011 Chevy Volt
[Source: Detroit Free Press]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bip-D-Bo 1:12PM (6/25/2009)
Good news for the environment, but maybe bad news for US workers. I would like to see a guarantee that all components manufactured in China will stay in China. I doubt that I will see such a statement. It seems to me that this is an open door for GM to use cheap Chinese labor to produce components and just assemble the cars stateside.
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downtoearth 2:16PM (6/25/2009)
You have to build vehicles sold in China in China in order to avoid some nasty tariffs, so far as I know.
Part of the reason hybrids do poorly in China is that they are not built domestically and have to be imported from Japan.
BTW, Asia = future. Europe + USA = past. You have to do business there if you want to survive in the XXI Century.
Nick P. 2:56PM (6/25/2009)
Agreed. Plus, hopefully, the Chinese will learn a lot about building EV vehicles and do their own version of the Volt soon after.
This is what the Japanese did: they improved upon the classic Ford assembly chain and are now doing their own innovations.
Bip-D-Bo 3:40PM (6/25/2009)
downtoearth, Your attitude is dangerous in that it threatens to be self fulfilling. The USA is the greatest country on earth and the last, best hope for us all. Sure we've got our faults and have grown too glutanous, but if you believe that Chinese communism is the way of the future, move there, or just wait a while and support our current direction. It looks like we're headed in that direction anyway.
randomdude 5:10PM (6/25/2009)
Bip-D-Bo,
there's no communism in China. It's a socialist dictatorship.
Furthermore, I don't think there's any country that can beat China when it comes to capitalism.
Max 4:44AM (6/26/2009)
@Bip D Bo
"The USA is the greatest country on earth and the last, best hope for us all. Sure we've got our faults and have grown too glutanous, but if you believe that Chinese communism is the way of the future,"
Your comment is hilarious, as it shows how little you know of the world. American businesses are largely owned by foreign firms, our products are built elsewhere, industry diappeared. Oh and the 'best hope for us all", try this: America has topples more democratically elected Presidents than any other nation, it has in fact worked against, toppled and assassinated democratically elected people and supported dictators. It has bombed countless innocent nations and killed millions of innocent people in the process, but that's not something that schoolbooks mention.
Whether we like China or not, they're doing something right: Their government has the highest surplus and financial cushion of any country on earth; and look at us, losing hundreds of billions a year.
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hans 6:57AM (6/26/2009)
and most of that is because of their not floating their currency and subsidizing industries like steel production just to keep people employed so they wont riot in the street.
china is in more trouble than people think. that place is ready to exlode if the recession gets any worse, and they run out of stimulus money.
seguin 8:26PM (6/26/2009)
Just after I think I've read the most moronic, addle-brained, near-criminally stupid comment on the Internet, here you come and raise the bar. Kudos, Max, kudos to you.
Joe Steel 1:52PM (6/26/2009)
Random Dude wrote, "there's no communism in China. It's a socialist dictatorship."
Haaa haaa haaa. That's hysterical. Doh!
And in Hitler's Germany, there was no Nazism, just National Socialism. Right?
You're such an idiot.
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randomdude 10:37AM (6/27/2009)
Matter of fact. There never was a communist country. There were communist parties with communists and os on and so forth, but they never got past socialism.
Talking about being an idiot:
"National Socialism, political movement, Germany
German Nationalsozialismus, also called Nazism or Naziism" (c) Encyclopedia Britannica
Nazism is the abbreviation for National Socialism.
Congratulations! You made yourself look like a retard. You might want to visit a school.
Matrix Architect 10:52PM (6/26/2009)
Wait, didn't Obama count "jobs saved" at Chrystler as part of the stimulus effect? What a crock!
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robert108 6:04PM (6/29/2009)
They will have to import a lot of our coal to produce the electricity to keep those little rollerskates charged up. Not smart.
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Ed Wallis 2:06AM (6/30/2009)
"There never was a Communist country." - randomdude
Nice try...but that is a quote straight out of the
Communist Party USA
Thanks for your participation. Better luck next time, useful idiot.
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