Akerson, who met with about 30 Volt owners, said his company’s decision to stop production of the Volt for five weeks was a temporary one, and that GM briefly stopped production of other models such as the Chevrolet Cruze to trim inventory, according to the website. Akerson said the shut-down was preferable to attempting to move Volt sales through heavy discounts and incentives.
Last week, GM decided to shut down Volt production for five weeks because of sluggish sales, as there’s reportedly a five-month supply of the models at Chevy dealerships throughout the U.S. That shut down is slated to start March 19 and end April 23.
Last year, GM missed its goal to sell 10,000 Volts during its first full year on the market, selling only 7,671 units. But last month, GM sold 1,023 Volts, up from 603 in January. Additionally, the car, along with its sister model Opel Ampera, also recently was awarded the 2012 European Car of the Year. Last year, the Volt won North American Car of the Year as well as car-of-the-year awards from Motor Trend and Automobile.
