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The Volt electric car is showing signs of faltering. General Motors will halt the manufacture of Volts from March 19 until April 23 after sales goals were not met.

Sales of the Volt have grown steadily, but never to the level GM wanted. Last year 7,671 Volts were sold, short of the corporation’s 10,000 target. Sales in January and February are lower than needed to meet the 2012 target of 45,000 and the company is building an unsold inventory. After a federal rebate, the Volt sells for $33,500.

The GM announcement of the temporary halt to manufacture of the car came just three days after President Obama told a United Auto Workers conference, “And five years from now, when I’m not president any more, I’ll buy one and drive it myself.” The audience cheered wildly, and it’s uncertain whether the cheers were for Obama’s support for their car or for the implication that he will be in office for another term.

Washington Post editorial writer Charles Lane wrote of the GM announcement that “progressives’ fascination with electric cars and other alternative-energy schemes reflects their own refusal to face the practical limitations of alternative energy—limitations that themselves reflect stubborn scientific facts.”