But as it turns out, WardsAuto’s figure for U.S. sales during the quarter is wrong. Furthermore, WardsAuto’s suggestion that a decline in sales is a reflection of a decline in demand is even more wrong (though it didn’t take a tweet from Musk to understand this).
“When it launches in the second half of 2015, it will represent a significant leap forward in technology, design and overall refinement,” GM CEO Mary Barra said in announcing the new Volt at the Detroit Economic Club. “It will store more energy in its battery pack with fewer cells, yet go further on a charge.”
Despite lackluster sales and numerous questions about the public’s appetite for electric vehicles, the company is not backing down from its commitment to the Chevy Volt. In fact, America’s largest automaker plans to build the electric drive unit for the second generation of the range-extended electric car at the company’s transmission plant in Warren, Michigan.
Making matter’s worse, the Journal’s Mike Ramsey added more negative tone to the matter by highlighting a WardsAuto quote in large letters that suggested that a decline in Tesla sales in the U.S. is related to demand, not a simple temporary reshuffling of deliveries of Tesla’s limited supply.
While Tesla CEO Elon Musk has already debunked this quarter’s report in a tweet, the fiasco is still worth a closer look given the wild volatility created in Tesla’s stock price from all this ruckus.
Where the feds come in is the DOE ATVM loan program supports the production of fuel-efficient, advanced technology vehicles and components in the United States. The program has invested billions of dollars in projects by major automakers such as Ford and Nissan as well as startups like Tesla Motors.