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http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg “No one is going to pay a $15,000 premium for a car that competes with a Corolla. So there are not enough idiots who will buy it.” - President of Audi USA (http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/chevy-volt-chevy-volt-toyota-honda/4/1/2010/id/27590)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/Chevrolet_Volt_Assembly_Validation.jpgJustin Rohrlich - MINYANVILLE (http://www.minyanville.com) - Apr 1, 2010

It does look like Nissan's Leaf could benefit. --Ed.

While full production won’t get underway until November, GM’s first Chevy Volt will roll off the line at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant today.

The New York Times said that, if the electrically powered Volt succeeds, it “could put the troubled company on a whole new path after 10 decades tethered to the internal-combustion engine.”

On the other hand, if it doesn’t, it “could drag GM, and perhaps the entire struggling American auto industry, even further behind Asian competitors,” like Toyota (TM), and Honda (HMC). ... http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/chevy-volt-chevy-volt-toyota-honda/4/1/2010/id/27590

I'm conflicted reading this OP/ED.

The Volt will be a bit pricey, esp. in competition with the Leaf.

On the other hand, I see the same payback drivel that's been printed the past decade on hybrids.

GM has to have a project like this in it's eleventh hour.

Question is: was this the best project for them to break into green vehicles?

The Volt was too drawn-out and balyhooed to ever make it. In the same pregnancy time that the Volt took (from conception to near-final-term birthing), several other faster competitors were not only conceived, but foisted off on the market for low-volume tests. The Volt is yesterday's news, last year's news ... possibly even last-generation's news.

Now it's all over but the obit

I voted "flop" because something feels very fake about GM putting out an efficient vehicle... I don't think I'll ever be able to think about GM and think efficient, reliable cars... This is the way stigma works. They're a tarnished automaker and I don't really see them around (with current name) in 50 years. I call it "Carwinism".

Matt

The Volt was too drawn-out and balyhooed to ever make it. In the same pregnancy time that the Volt took (from conception to near-final-term birthing), several other faster competitors were not only conceived, but foisted off on the market for low-volume tests. ...

QFT

The Volt will be about a year late to market. We'll have to wait and see if it is a good car, but it doesn't seem like it will be leapfrogging the competition the way it would have if it had come out last fall.

I voted "flop" because something feels very fake about GM putting out an efficient vehicle... I don't think I'll ever be able to think about GM and think efficient, reliable cars... This is the way stigma works. They're a tarnished automaker and I don't really see them around (with current name) in 50 years. I call it "Carwinism".

Matt

I can understand the anti-GM prejudice but the Volt and Cruze are coming together and they will help repair the image of GM as a backward SUV manufacturer.

I vote option 2.

It's not going to sell like the Leaf. Neither the EV range nor the HEV performance are good enough. Increase either and they'd sell more. It also has the disadvantage compared to the Leaf of the generator requiring maintenance, although the fact that it's just a generator gives it a maintenance advantage over parallel hybrids.

I think the Volt is coming too early truly to flop. I think Toyota are stalling ("trials") on deciding the battery capacity for the Prius PHEV partly because of the Volt.

On its release the Volt will be in a niche of its own: suburban sprawl commuter who wants an EV but needs the range. It will also be an American car (albeit with Korean cells), built in America. With the right schmoozing it could become a car for the Hollywood liberals.

I think what makes the Volt important for GM's future is that is a BEVWAOBG so now they have the complete production chain in place to make a plain BEV. (And maybe even efficient OBGTs that you can tow easily). Even if they are wrong about the need for a 300 mile range in 2011 it won't affect the long-term future.

It will help their image but at a financial cost. It will be a niche car that will have a following of environmental wannabes. It is coming in too expensive for the market they need to attract.

For absolutely no reason except personal opinion - - it's a flop.

It will help their image but at a financial cost. It will be a niche car that will have a following of environmental wannabes. It is coming in too expensive for the market they need to attract.
I too think it will be a niche car, but for those with 'buy american' blinders on.
That said, Ford looks like the winner out of the big 3. Wow, that phrase sure is dated.

Big 3? I wondered by the Dodge dealer, and actually looked at at Challenger R/T... who'd ever pay that kind of money to buy one?!

I just don't see the volt as being any good since GM could not even make a decent regular hybrid.


Pre heat oven to 230F.

In a bowl add 1 part crushed EV1, 1 part diced 2 mode hybrid 1/2 cup of H2, 50 billion bailout dollars

Mix until it forms a nice ball

Put mixture into a pan

Place pan in oven

Wait 5 years

Ask for more bailout money

I honestly think GM never wanted to sell the Volt. It was milking gov't funding and was forced to come up with a product after Nissan's announcement of the Leaf. GM had the EV-1, and could have dusted off its blueprints or pulled its production dies out of storage. The Volt is neither fish nor fowl, and I predict it will die a quick marketplace death.

voted FLOP. The car will launch in a recession, facing competition with near the same gas mileage, but for WAY LESS money. Why couldn't they just make a good HEV, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. They wasted a ton on R&D that they will never get back.

When the Leaf comes out there will be news stories about it running out of power and requiring a tow or a quick charge (can tow trucks do that?). The Volt will not have that problem.

When the Leaf comes out there will be news stories about it running out of power and requiring a tow or a quick charge (can tow trucks do that?). The Volt will not have that problem.

Actually the volt will have that problem.

People run out of gas every day in regular gas cars.

You just have to know how far your energy storage device will take you. Give a person a 1000 gallon tank of gas and they would still get stranded on the highway in the middle of no where.

The only real difference between running out of gas and running out of electricity is that a gallon of gas can get you off the highway and to a gas station. You cant get a gallon of electrons quickly and be on your way to charging station. You will have to get a tow truck.

The simple solution is to know the limits of your car ANY car and make sure your never stranded.

I have never run out of gas. NEVER! I have come close before but only because I knew what I was doing.

When the Leaf comes out there will be news stories about it running out of power and requiring a tow or a quick charge (can tow trucks do that?). The Volt will not have that problem.

I agree with that. But I dont think to many people will run out of gas in the volt.

I like the idea that the volt brings to the table, but with that said, I do agree that it is pricey. I think it will sell ok just on image alone, probably to single people or maybe couples that have the money to pay for one and like the imgae it will give them. But as a family car, I dont think to many families will buy it. I know I wouldnt, especially at that price!

For no specific reason, I think the car will rock.

I voted flop. GM has a long history of killing electrification. GM killed:

1. electric street cars in many North American cities
2. EV1
3. Malibu hybrid (true...it sucked but you have to start some where)

GM clearly has a history of pandering (and/or making money from) the oil industry. I think that GM will kill the Volt before taking the plunge into a full BEV.

Rick

GM will morph the Volt to a BEV. As batteries become cheaper GM will increase the range to 300 miles on electric alone and remove then remove generator and update the software. Zero development cost for the BEV. Not sure what name they will give the new car.

Actually the volt will have that problem.

People run out of gas every day in regular gas cars.

You just have to know how far your energy storage device will take you. Give a person a 1000 gallon tank of gas and they would still get stranded on the highway in the middle of no where.

The only real difference between running out of gas and running out of electricity is that a gallon of gas can get you off the highway and to a gas station. You cant get a gallon of electrons quickly and be on your way to charging station. You will have to get a tow truck.

The simple solution is to know the limits of your car ANY car and make sure your never stranded.

I have never run out of gas. NEVER! I have come close before but only because I knew what I was doing.
Just wait until some scientist figures out how to make cars recharge from existing radio waves. Might still get a few cars stuck in the middle of nowhere or in a tunnel, but I bet it would be very uncommon.

Maybe put in some bicycle pedals as a backup. But then we'll have the problem of couch potatoes too weak to pedal... Then we can make fun of them!

I'll go with #2, but hope that its only a first gen for them which quickly advances to Volt 2.0. I agree that its starting to look like too little too late. At this point, I'm more interested in plug in prius. It looks to only be a year behind the Volt and its technologies seem much more proven to me.