BETTING THE HOUSE = ?

The car manufacturer, Chevrolet, is taking a big risk by putting a lot of investment money into producing the Chevy Volt. The Volt is a hybrid car driven by an electric as well as a gas powered motor.

When one bets the house on something, if they fail, they will lose it all. The sub-headline means if Volt fails to sell on the market, the failure could cause the company to go bankrupt. If the car doesn't sell then they will not have money left for anything else.

'Betting the house" means they are risking everything on this vehicle.

Got it!
Thank you both.

bet the farm/ranch/house means to risk one's most important personal investments but it doesn't necessarily entail that everything will be lost. In this case, Chevrolet's house is the company, so it likely means that everything is being gambled.