The ongoing hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives over the Obama Administration's fuel economy standards of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 brought Republican Congressman Mike Kelly to testify before the committee last week.
Kelly represents Pennsylvania's 3rd congressional district but he's also a car dealer. After college, Kelly moved to Butler, PA to work at Kelly Chevrolet- Cadillac, a company founded by his father in the early 1950s. Kelly took ownership of the dealership in 1995, expanding its operations to include Hyundai and Kia.
At the hearing, Kelly reportedly ripped apart General Motors' green halo vehicle, the Chevy Volt. The words below come directly from a quote posted on The Truth About Cars. We're guessing TTAC got hold of transcripts from the hearing, but that's not been verified. Quoting Kelly:
I'm a Chevrolet dealer... we have a Chevy Volt on the lot, it's been there now for four weeks. We've had one person come in to look at it, just to see what it actually looks like... Here's a car that costs $45,763. I can stock that car for probably a year and then have to sell it at some ridiculous price. ...
When you look at this, it makes absolutely no sense. I can stock a Chevy Cruze, which is about a $17,500 car and turns every 30 to 40 days out of inventory... or I can have a Volt, which never turns and creates nothing for me on the lot except interest costs...There is no market for this car.
Kelly said he didn't want a Volt in the first place, apparently asking his employee who ordered the car: "Under no circumstances were you to order a Volt. So, why did you order it?" To which the employee replied, "Because General Motors told me." This employee then reportedly lost his job. Head over to TTAC for more.
