NYT Op-Ed: The Chevrolet Volt is a Government Funded Lemon

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Washington Examiner:


NYT op-ed: The Chevrolet Volt is a government funded electric lemon
By: CHARLIE SPIERING
Online Community Manager
07/30/10 12:55 PM EDT

The 2011 Chevrolet Volt
Today, President Obama will likely tout the Chevrolet Volt, as he takes a victory lap around Detroit celebrating the 'saved' jobs thanks to the government bailouts afforded to the auto industry.

Edward Niedermeyer, the editor of 'The Truth About Cars' roundly trashes the Chevrolet Volt in a New York Times op-ed, arguing that it is a taxpayer funded mistake.

Quantifying just how much taxpayer money will have been wasted on the hastily developed Volt is no easy feat. Start with the $50 billion bailout (without which none of this would have been necessary), add $240 million in Energy Department grants doled out to G.M. last summer, $150 million in federal money to the Volt’s Korean battery supplier, up to $1.5 billion in tax breaks for purchasers and other consumer incentives, and some significant portion of the $14 billion loan G.M. got in 2008 for “retooling” its plants, and you’ve got some idea of how much taxpayer cash is built into every Volt.

In the end, making the bailout work — whatever the cost — is the only good reason for buying a Volt.

Read the entire piece here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/opinion/30neidermeyer.html?_r=1