Chevy Volt Temporarily Halts Production

At the American Spectator, W. James Antle, III reports:

In the latest bit of evidence that the Obamacare is destined to become the Hoovermobile, General Motors is suspending production of the Chevy Volt for five weeks. During that time period, 1,300 employees will be laid off. The federal government was expected to spend at least $2.4 billion in taxpayer funds to promote the hybrid electric car.

The problem? Despite subsidies from Washington and the Michigan state government, not to mention GM’s TARP-funded bailout, the Volt isn’t selling well enough to be viable. Or, as a GM spokesman delicately put it, “we are still seeking to align our production with demand.” Not even a Clint Eastwood-narrated commercial can get people to buy it.

At Hot Air, Allahpundit reminds readers of the wildly over-inflated pre-production projections of the Volt’s sales:

The good news: Volt sales actually picked up between January and February this year. The bad news: The monthly numbers climbed from just 603 units to 1,023. To put that in perspective, GM had initially hoped to sell 45,000 Volts in the U.S. in 2012 before backing way, way off that target last month. According to the Detroit News, current stock exceeds 3,500 units, which at their usual sales rates should be enough to get them through through the spring without needing to build a single new unit. Hence the layoffs.

And apparently, this perfect storm of corporatism wasn’t enough to keep sales pumped up: “GE Orders All Employees To Drive Chevy Volts.”

I guess the Obama administration and its car maker want to do for electric car production what they’re doing for oil production, as William Tucker, adds, also at the Spectator:

After spending a year failing to pass cap-and-trade, the Administration has doubled down with the Environmental Protection Agency, turning it loose on the nation’s coal plants. The Sierra Club just celebrated the closing of the 100th coal boiler, with more to come. Just what this will mean for the reliability of the electric grid will be revealed this summer when electrical demand peaks. Last August, with temperatures at 110 degrees, Texas consumed a record 68,000 megawatts of electricity with only 76,000 MW of generating capacity on hand. Since then, the EPA has demanded the closure of 10,000 MW of Texas coal. The state has dodged the bullet only by going to court. Industrial states from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin are facing the same dilemma. If the region starts suffering power shortages this summer, will George Bush be there to take the blame?

At Ricochet, Troy Senik calls it a case of “Obama’s Forced Energy Scarcity,” noting that “Then there’s oil, on which this graphic from the House’s Republican Study Committee (click on the image to read the fine print) is instructive:”