Chevy Volt production to halt for 4 weeks: slow sales cited

Things aren't looking so good for General Motors' gas-electric hybrid, with the company revealing that Chevrolet Volt production will be suspended for four weeks this summer. The reason revolves around slow sales numbers, and is also to shift focus toward preparing for the upcoming 2016 Chevy Volt model, which will have certain different production requirements. The plant that makes the Volt will likely be staying open during the suspended production, however; that plant is under construction as GM preps to start building the new Volts and the Cadillac CT6.

The suspended production will last for four weeks, and will take place in June and July. GM recently took the wraps off its hotly anticipated Cadillac CT6, the first of many planned models that the auto maker hopes will help it make a big turn around.

It doesn't appear to be guaranteed the plant that will make it — and the 2016 Volt — will stay open, but regardless construction to prepare for those production runs is underway.

General Motors saw its Volt sales plummet in March. The year-on-year sales numbers were down 48-percent for the month, with only 1,874 Chevy Volts being sold. It has been a rough market for hybrid and electric vehicles in general this year, something that is largely attributed to the decrease in gas prices.

SOURCE: New York Times