The Chevrolet Volt may not be selling well, but it's one of the most lauded cars in history. Today the plug-in hybrid was named the 2012 European Car of the Year, an award it will share with its European fraternal twin, the Opel Ampera.
The Volt won North American Car of the Year in 2011, while also picking up car of the year accolades from Motor Trend, Automobile, and nabbing Green Car of the Year from Green Car Journal. Britain's What Car?awarded the Vauxhall Ampera – as the Opel model is called in the U.K. – its Green Car of the Year award, as well.
But the Volt has been at the center of one controversy after another, since even before it was launched. ANational Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation into a battery fire showed the car was not defective, but it led to the Ampera being delayed. Recent negative publicity among right-leaning political pundits has contributed to making the Volt something of an enigma for General Motors, which just announced it was suspending production of the slow-selling car.
While Europe was never envisioned as the prime market for the Volt/Ampera, GM says it already has 7,000 orders for the Ampera and that the company expects to hit its target of 10,000 sales this year. Certainly, winning this award, presented at the Geneva Motor Show for the first time this year, should help.
The Volt/Ampera finished significantly ahead of the Volkswagen Up! and Ford Focus in the European Car of the Year voting, which included a field of 35 vehicles.
“This encourages us further to continue our leadership role in the area of e-mobility,” said Karl-Friedrich Stracke, CEO of Opel/Vauxhall.
The Volt is a fine car, one that neatly and impressively bridges internal combustion and electric mobility. If the car has a drawback, it is price — the model we tested cost $44,680 before the $7,500 federal tax credit.
That, of course, makes it a favorite target of critics who like to attack General Motors and the Volt as failed experiment subsidized by federal tax dollars. Such was the case Friday, when GM announced it will suspend Volt production at its factory in Hamtramck, Michigan for five weeks effective March 16. The closure is prompted by slow sales; GM dealers have some 3,600 Volts in inventory.
“Sales for the Volt in February were significantly better than January, and we anticipate that to continue,” said GM spokesman Chris Lee. “We see good things in the future, but right now we had to make this adjustment.”
GM sold 1,063 Volts last month, up from 603 in January, making it unlikely the company will meet its goal of selling 45,000 Volts in 2012.
This is the third time production has been stopped for a month or more since the Volt went on sale in December, 2010. The move will put 1,600 people out of work for the duration of the shutdown.
