GM likes to boast that the Volt leapfrogs the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight because those vehicles rely in large part on gasoline to drive the wheels. The Volt uses only electricity for propulsion; the engine serves only to recharge the lithium-ion battery. But the task force says GM bet too heavily on the Volt when it should be building better, more efficient small cars.
"GM is at least one generation behind Toyota on advanced 'green' powertrain development," the panel wrote. "In an attempt to leapfrog Toyota, GM has devoted significant resources on the Chevy Volt."
NVDL: They should have taken a leaf out of Gerhard Swart's book, an electrical engineer working on the JOULE (see interview a few posts below).
General Motors has all but bet its future on the Chevrolet Volt, but the government says the range-extended electric vehicle won't save the beleaguered automaker.
"While the Volt holds promise, it likely will be too expensive to be commercially successful in the short term," President Obama's auto task force said in its assessment of GM's restructuring plan.
The panel soundly criticized the restructuring plan GM submitted as part of its request for a federal bailout, saying it relies on unrealistic and overly optimistic projections. The task force believes GM can become a competitive automaker, but only by shaking up its management — which is why Obama essentially fired CEO Rick Wagoner — and accelerating its restructuring.
"A great deal of progress needs to be made," the panel said in its five-page summary (.pdf) assessing GM's proposal, "and GM's plan contemplates initiatives that will take many years to complete."
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