They just need to do a better job of advertising it. It's not advertised AT ALL. The only people who know about it know about it from word of mouth and research.
"GM is expected to announce it will cut the Chevrolet Volt, Impala and Cruze, the Cadillac CT6 and XTS, and the Buick LaCrosse"
More info at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gm-restructuring/gm-to-cu...
"The company also plans to stop building several models now assembled at those plants, including the Chevrolet Cruze, the Cadillac CT6 and the Buick LaCrosse."
And yes, it's not like they're moving back toward the steam engine, but in the short run it might make sense to kill the Volt and do something else. But the optics of it will look bad. Think Reuters got tripped up by the "increase investment in electric and autonomous vehicles and connected vehicle technology" line because it's broad and potentially conflicting.
Here's a selection of top "Chevy Volt" headlines for the past few years:
2015: "Yes the 2016 Chevy Volt Will be Profitable."
2016: "GM Will Lose Money on the Chevy Bolt to Make Money On Other Models"
2017: "GM trims battery costs, aims to make profitable EVs"
2018: "GM races to build a formula for profitable electric cars."
In the larger sense, GM's leadership has been sending some weird messages talking about a future they don't fully understand. Spouting things like blockchain, autonomous, ride sharing, and future profitability being tied to selling customer information. You know, all the apparently popular contemporary trends.
They're a car company.
When I see that word mentioned in any business I get skeptical, especially one where there's a classical product involved, like bananas. Or cars. In this case I strongly believed it was used for adding feathers to their plume and so I used it in a mocking tone. Radio Bloomberg (broadcasts) mentioned the blockchain line with some skepticism for awhile and so it stuck in my head.
None of these parroting futurisms make sense for GM. Their largest customers are fleets like Enterprise Rent a Car, who buy massive numbers of new models before consumers can get to them, assuring delivery numbers. If they compete with them for rentals or ride-sharing, what if ERAC orders a bunch of Fords next year? They'd be crazy to endanger this relationship. GM should stick to making cars and messaging to that effect.
Anyhow, I stand firmly by how I interpreted this announcement. My overall opinion on GM, however, is probably very ignorant and naive.
"A GM spokesperson told Jalopnik over the phone: “We are ending production of the Volt March 1, 2019.”"
"The company also plans to stop building several models now assembled at those plants, including the Chevrolet Cruze, the Cadillac CT6 and the Buick LaCrosse.
GM said it will shift more investment to electric and autonomous vehicles."
That reads like they're investing in the Volt.
Obviously, they say they are focusing on electric. Maybe they are killing off the hybrid to focus on the purely electric. Maybe some new product will be released to replace it. It is far from clear at the moment.
[1] https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/26/18112536/gm-layoffs-fact... [2] https://jalopnik.com/general-motors-may-kill-the-chevrolet-v...
> Update (Nov. 26, 2018 10:50 A.M. ET): It is official. A GM spokesperson told Jalopnik over the phone: “We are ending production of the Volt March 1, 2019.”
It's never powered by a gas engine, it just has an onboard generator that produces electricity to power the electric engines or charge the battery when the battery gets drained.
The engine in the Gen2 is connected to the transmission and does provide mechanical force to turn the wheels.
https://gm-volt.com/2015/02/20/gen-2-volt-transmission-opera...
At first GM claimed that it happens only above 70 mph, or when the battery was dead. But then GM goes consistently more vague, and them eliminated this completely in the generation 2 revision.
So the current volt is a bog standard parallel hybrid.