The Chevy Volt Isn't Selling

This is The Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place at 9:00 AM. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parse it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?

1st Gear: Chevy Has Way Too Many Volts

When automakers talk about inventory, 70 days is typically a pretty high number to have in stock. Chevy has a bit of a problem with the Volt.

They have 140 days of inventory sitting on dealer lots.

In order to get the Volt moving, GM is putting more incentives on the plug-in to sell remaining 2012 and 2013 cars that are on lots so they can be good when the 2014s start to come out. A 2012 Volt is now a steal, with a $39,995 base price supplemented by up to $7,500 tax credit and a new $5,000 incentive.

Volt sales are up 1.4 percent compared to 2012, but that still isn't enough as it competes on price with some true, total electric vehicles. Why the Volt doesn't sell more kind of baffles me; It's rather nice and is actually a lot of fun to drive. Hopefully people start to realize that soon.

2nd Gear: Spyker Loses To GM

Spyker and GM have one thing in common: They are both previous owners of Saab. Remember Saab?

Spyker filed suit against GM because they say that GM stood in the way of a deal with a Chinese company that could have saved Saab from its untimely death. In the contract for the sale, GM required Spyker to get their approval if restructuring or additional finance was required. GM didn't approve of the deal with the Chinese company.

It was ruled that GM was acting in the spirit of the contract, not with malice towards Saab.

3rd Gear: We Are Going To Build A Ton Of Cars This Year

2002 was the peak for car production in North America. We built 16.5 million cars and haven't built that many since. 2013 is going to come close.

Current projections put North American production at 16 million for 2013. Plants are running at 90 percent capacity and everything seems to be chugging along. Good stuff.

4th Gear: Honda Odyssey And Pontiac G6 Under Investigation

The NHTSA has received reports of issues with Honda's popular Odyssey minivan and Pontiac's unpopular G6 sedan.

Sounds like the NHTSA has received six complaints about airbags deploying in the Odyssey without any reason, and 41 complaints of airbag warning lights.

GM has sent the NHTSA 1,100 (!) complaints of faulty taillights in the G6. There is no official recall for either vehicle, but now that they're under investigation, it could be coming quite soon.

5th Gear: India's Car Sales Are The Opposite Of Booming

India's monthly car sales have dropped for a seventh straight month. In what is supposed to be one of the next big markets for car sales, this is a rather large setback.

Economic difficulties mean that people aren't confident that they'll be employed for month to month, making a car purchase, even the incredibly inexpensive Tata Nano, a risky venture.

Reverse

The hit John Hughes-directed teen comedy "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," released on this day in 1986, stars a young Matthew Broderick as a popular high school student in suburban Illinois who fakes an illness in order to score a day off from school, then leads his best friend and his girlfriend on a whirlwind day through Chicago. The movie's cast also included Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jeffrey Jones and Jennifer Grey. However, the most memorable performer may have been an automobile: the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California, a custom-built car revered by auto collectors.

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So what does Chevy have to do to sell the Volt in the numbers it wants? Or does it just need to cut back production and keep it a niche car for now?