GM battery issues slow hybrid sales
6 Jun, 2008
19 Comments 
Although General Motors is yet to bring any full or mild hybrid vehicles to Australia, in the United States, the company currently sells its share of hybrid cars. Not that there is anything wrong with that, given the rising cost of petrol and the success Toyota has had with the Prius.
But GM has a problem. A rather big problem. General Motors’ mild hybrid vehicles have suffered a reputation and sales blow with repeated battery-pack failures.
In case you don’t know, a mild hybrid differs from a full hybrid as it does not power the vehicle on electric power alone. The idea is more a stop-start system which also provides additional power when the vehicle is accelerating.
GM was forced to issue a recall and replace 9,000 leaking batteries. The new batteries were all destined for new hybrid vehicles, which have now been delayed.
The old General was hoping to sell roughly 27,000 mild hybrid vehicles this year, a goal which is looking very unlikely. The problematic batteries have an internal leak which causes the hybrid system to shut down, effectively making the vehicles a standard petrol-powered car.
The other issue is that GM’s contract and design process means it has to stay with the current battery supplier until it brings out the next generation of mild hybrids in 2010.
“I don’t know how many hybrids we could have sold, but we would have had at least 9,000 more batteries for the pipeline,” GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said. “It’s not an insignificant number, but it’s also part of what happens with a brand-new technology.”
The biggest blow to GM, however, is the damage to its reputation. Buyers are now left wondering if Toyota and Honda are the only two manufacturers capable of producing reliable hybrid cars.
With GM Holden having recently announced that diesel and hybrid commodores are only two years away, we are thankful that the American market has become the guinea pig for GM’s hybrid operations.
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June 6th, 2008 at 6:12 am
even though that car looks like our captiva maxx, they decided the interior needed to be americanised, it is a rally ugly interior now. Also with the volt in 2010 this isnt helping ther inmage
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June 6th, 2008 at 6:57 am
Correct me if im wrong but doesn’t ford produce a hybrid too?
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June 6th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Another heap from GM…
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June 6th, 2008 at 8:34 am
what else is new…..they r always unreliable
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June 6th, 2008 at 9:19 am
I just read on….well onther site that Hyundai has developed an LPG hybrid. Based on the Elantra that for 15,000km a year will cost you $10 a week in fuel. They really should have based it on the i30, but that car will sell like crazy. Plus it will be great for the environment.
GM and their leaky batteries will have no chance if people do their homework and consider the Hyundai on merit not just name.
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June 6th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Let’s get this in perspective.
GM’ battery supplier makes crap batteries, GM replaces all faulty batteries under warranty without quibble, customer is dealt with as they should be.
GM sues battery supplier for damages, gets a better supplier, everyone is happy except the supplier who made the crap, get on with life.
But the school kids are definately at home this morning - long, long weekend for them.
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June 6th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Reckless1, perspective; offcourse GM will replace the batteries under warranty as all reputable companies will. However the hard truth is that it will damage their reputation and they will lose sales.
Why would you buy a possibly unreliable GM when you can get a reliable Honda or Toyota. Sure it wont cost you, but you are still inconvenienced. I don’t know about you but I would not consider a GM hybrid under these circumstances. Would you?
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June 6th, 2008 at 10:31 am
what is it with gm and batteries?
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June 6th, 2008 at 10:50 am
The Prius however has earned itself a reputation for being a quality and reliable hybrid motor vehicle.
Infact, the Prius is known to travel upto 300 000km’s with little or no attention other then regular / scheduled maintenace. If you don’t believe me, research the information for yourself !!
About 2-3 weeks ago, the Prius infact ranked No.1 in the 2008 JD Powers UK Quality / Customer Satisfaction Survey fending of more then 100 other models when it scored an impressive 901 / 1000 pts.
The article went on to state that customers were particularly pleased with the quality and reliability of the Prius.
What i find amusing about this topic is that people of late have been passing comment that GM is as good as Toyota and Honda in developing hybrid technology : yeah - sure, what ever … go back to bed !!
Even better, not long back GM passed a very public comment that they were going to rub egg in Toyota’s face were hybrid development was concerned - HAAA …. so who exactly has got egg on thier face ??
Seriuosly … what a bunch of clowns !!
While GM / Holden have been making an art of beating thier chests lately, Toyota however is just been getting on with the job and providing results that matter.
Beating ‘ya chest and mouthing off as GM and all thier pathetic fans do is the easy task … actually coming up with results is a whole different league as they have all to often been discovering the hard way in recent years, months, weeks and days … SUCKED IN !!
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June 6th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Yeah easier said than done GM!
To everyone who keeps bashing Toyota for their Hybrids - for whatever reasons - now what do u say?
Never heard of a “mild” hybrid, sounds more like a “useless” hybrid!
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June 6th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
To all those clowns lately who have been yarping on about Holden is gonna expand it’s facilities to possibly make way for the Torana … then explain why DRIVE.com under ‘news’ has just released an article that details Holden will be closing part of it’s operations at Elizabeth which co-incidently will retrench another 500 workers… gee wiz !!
The news just keeps better and better.
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June 6th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Yes, from what I can recall, Toyota gives a 5 year warranty on the batteries.
Reckless1 - everyone is happy? no, as customer i would be unhappy because this shouldnt have happened in the first place, and customers having a bad experience once from a company usually never goes back. so this will affect both GM and their customers.
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June 6th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
It’s actually part of the Holden Engine Company Facility in Melbourne - where they build a range of V6 and 4 cylinder engines that they are going to [temporarily] close not the Vehicle Assembly Line in Elizabeth
BTW Commodore was the best selling car in Oz for May
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June 6th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
If as a customer I hav bad exp with a company, not unless they are an ultra unique company why would i consider going back to them?!
As some of you would know the name of a company is worth more than the products they sell… hell the products sometimes only sell/not sell due to the brand of the manufacturer.
I.e. Euro sourced Barina’s sold well, Korean Sourced Barina - not so well.
Even though Corolla is nothing fantastic, but it represents “build quality, resale value, and realiability” .. and people will keep buying them until something majorly goes wrong…
Companies need to be very careful, today’s consumer is provided with an endless amount of choice … gone are the days of the “big three” … more like “big 300″ !
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June 6th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
GM’s BAS mild hybrid system is pathetic anyway. While it’s less of a premium than Hybrid Synergy Drive, the gains in efficiency and power are low. For example, the Toyota Camry Hybrid is more powerful and more fuel efficient than the Saturn Aura Green Line.
GM’s two mode hybrid on the Chevrolet Tahoe is much better, but on the wrong vehicle if you ask me.
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June 6th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
who makes GM’s batteries anyway?
and if they are getting duds from their supplier, wouldnt that give GM grounds to end the supply contract?
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June 6th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
What do you expect when the batteries are probably made in china. $2 for a pack of 10, GM cars are so ugly they should be sold with big paper bags..
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June 6th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Ford GT 40 - Good one!
I used to think that a car cover should come standard with all GM cars to hide the ugliness when it’s parked outside your house….
A bit of plastic here and a bit there and well apparently a re-badged daewoo…
Overseas GM is selling a car called “Chevrolet Matiz”! well when i think of Chevrolet it reminds me of a corvette i am not quite sure how a Matiz carries any of the Chevy characteristics …
Actually, can anyone tell me what are the supposed characteristics of a General Motor car? for e.g. when I think of Mazda I get the whole zoom-zoom and rotaries in my head; honda for its street cred, mitsubishi for its evo, subaru for its all wheel drive, toyota for sales and reliability… chrysler for sub-standard cars….
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July 10th, 2008 at 8:17 am
The way I see it, we owe a debt of gratitude to GM Ford and Chrysler for the P51 Mustang (GM-North American) the Sherman Tank (Ford Motor Co.) and the M1A1 Tank (Designed by Chrysler Defense). All of you (GM) corporate bashers should kneel in obeisance then you may insult.
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