The U.S. federal government announced today that the much-hyped Chevy Volt will not be enough to save General Motors. While this may seem obvious to some, the fact is that the Volt has been touted as GM’s last chance at economic viability.

GM has recently cut the development budget of all its vehicles except for the Volt. And now the feds are telling them that they have already spent too much developing its long range EV technology and that they should’ve been working on more saleable cars.

Meanwhile, most of Congress is saying that GM shouldn’t get a dime more unless they focus on building environmentally friendly cars like the Chevy Volt. Oy vey!

GM has already stated that the Volt is expected to lose money at the start anyway so this declaration of its short-term ROI problems isn’t too surprising for them. But the Volt does reflect a good long-term strategy for GM. If they survive the short and even medium term effects of the recession the Volt could still play a big part in making GM viable once again.

GM is currently in the process of trying to put together a restructuring plan for itself that will convince the federal government that it can survive if it gets another $16.6 billion on top of the $13.4 billion that has already been approved for it.