Last year, there were almost 8 million new cars sold in America.

About 7,700 of them were Chevy Volts.

Even that number was below expectations. GM expected to sell 10,000 units last year and 45,000 this year. Alas, the company failed to hit that target last year and have already nixed the 45,000 target for this year.

Detroit News:

General Motors extended-range electric Chevrolet Volt had its worst sales month since August, as negative publicity over fire risks hurt vehicles sales in January.

GM sold just 603 Volts - above its sales in January 2011, but far below GM's best-ever sales month in December, when GM sold 1,529 Volts.

Last week, GM North America President Mark Reuss said sales of the Volt have been hurt by bad publicity.

Reuss said bad publicity from the government's investigation into fire risks of post-crash Volts is "definitely a component" of the decline in sales.

GM sold about 7,700 in 2011, below GM's target of 10,000. GM abandoned its sales target of 45,000 for 2012 last month, saying it would match "supply to demand."

GM was outsold by Nissan Motor Co.'s all-electric Leaf in 2011, as the Japanese automaker sold nearly 9,700 last year. Nissan said it sold 676 Leafs in January, down from 954 in December.

Nissan hopes to double Leaf sales this year.

Reuss said that when GM restarts production in February at its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant, it will build Volts in a "very reasonable" volume. He said there is some pent-up export demand.

An Edsel is an Edsel no matter how you wrap it. And a POS car is a POS car not matter how you try and spin it.

I'm gald GM is doing much better overall. They can afford to take a hit on the Volt. But if going green means buying one of these turkeys, put me down as a supporter of polluting, gas guzzling cars till the day I die.