President Obama and eco-mandarins around him made a very bad call when they calculated that a mix of appeals to greenies, lavish subsidies, and a marketing push from General Motors could convince the public to buy lithium-ion battery-powered electric cars in commercial quantities. The program has been an utter failure, with Volt sales falling 35% in March, on a year-to-year basis, to a paltry 1,478 units - roughly one Volt sale every other month per dealership. Mark Modica of the National Legal and Policy Center has assembled the grim data. GM's excuses for the poor performance seem to be drying up as quickly as the demand for the Volt. During GM's sales conference call, management claimed that sales are "stable" and that they are "feeling good about the trend." Such dishonesty brings into question GM's credibility. In the past, GM claimed that lack of supply was the reason for low Volt sales. In addition, GM indignantly blamed a Republican conspiracy to hurt Volt sales as a...(Read Full Post)