Asia Bizz: American car manufacturing giant Chevrolet announced that it would halt the production of its Volt range extended electric car for five weeks from March 19 to April 23. The news first surfaced through the Detroit Free Press on March 2, 2012.
Reports said that 1,300 assembly line workers at the Detroit – Hamtramck plant were informed of the shut down on March 1, 2012. As the Volt is the only car that was built at the plant, the lines will be idle for the next few weeks.
The production of the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu will be added to the production at Hamtramck. The capacity of the plant is likely to be doubled. Chris Lee, the GM spokesperson said that the latest decision was made to maintain the right inventory levels and also to meet demands.
When the car went on sale in December 2010, GM predicted that the company would sell about 10,000 cars. But the company could sell just 7,671 units in the year 2011 and this year there has been a considerable rise in the sales and a 70 percent rise compared to the precious year. Despite going through turbulence, the company now wants to keep the supply of Volts at 60 days and not more.
