 In September 2012 , Reuters published an opinion / editorial article where it claimed that General Motors , nearly two years after the introduction of the car , was losing US $ 49 @,@ 000 on each Volt it built . The article concluded that the Volt is " over @-@ engineered and over @-@ priced " and that its technological complexity has put off many prospective buyers , due to fears the car may be unreliable . GM executives replied that Reuters ' estimates were significantly flawed as they also allocated the vehicle 's research and development program costs only against the number of Volts sold in the United States ( as of August 2012 ) , instead of spreading the total costs over the entire lifetime of the model , as well as including those units sold in Europe and other countries . GM explained that the investments will pay off once the innovative technologies of the Volt are applied across multiple current and future products . 
