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Sneak peek planned for automaker's September centennial as car nears production version. (http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080730/AUTO01/807300346/1148)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Volt_pre-production_prototype_in_the_wind_tunnel.jpgDavid Shepardson - Detroit News - July 30, 2008

2011 Volt pre-production prototype in the wind tunnel.

Volt with a 1.4L and the upcoming non-hybrid Cruze at 45 mpg. Interesting news here :) -- Ed.

WASHINGTON -- General Motors Corp. plans to show employees a near-production version of the Chevrolet Volt during the automaker's 100th anniversary celebration in September.

GM, which will mark its centennial on Sept. 16, will let employees take a peek at the extended range electric vehicle but not allow them to use any cameras because of concerns about the competition. GM has been working feverishly on the Volt to begin production in late 2010, with assembly set for its Hamtramck plant.

No final decision has been made on when and where the Volt will be revealed to employees -- and eventually the public, but spokeswoman Karla Coleman said, "It's going to be soon."

The Detroit automaker confirmed Tuesday that it had filed the necessary paperwork to construct a $326 million, 530,000-square-foot plant in Flint to build 1.4-liter turbo engines for the Volt as well as its new compact car, the Chevrolet Cruze. Construction of the plant is pending negotiations with state and local officials on tax incentives… http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080730/AUTO01/807300346/1148

GM Workers, here is the product on which your future employment depends...

Drum roll please!

I would like a 45mpg car (by EPA's estimate). That would mean most of us could get over 55mpg easy.

A 10 mile plug in Vue would be a decent seller.It would allow you to have a high mpg vehicle for city use -maybe 100 mpg equivalent- with a good trip vehicle- best of both worlds.

A 7 mile plug in Prius bodes well for GM. It won't be much of a threat to a 40 mile Volt-as long as the actual out of pocket on the Volt is $33000 or so-

Charlie

A A 7 mile plug in Prius bodes well for GM. It won't be much of a threat to a 40 mile Volt-as long as the actual out of pocket on the Volt is $33000 or so-

Charlie

I'm not so sure, there's a big difference in consumer's minds (mine anyway) between 23,000 and 33,000 (assuming all the discounts and the like get passed).

I fear volume is too low. By the time they are being produced in decent numbers, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi and others will have options that are much better value. It's also interesting that they are using the same engine in the Cruze and Volt. I would tend to think that an engine optimized to serve as a generator wouldn't function well in a standard configuration and vice versa...

When the GM representive spoke at HF08, she stated the Volt was "not a hybrid".

I can understand "a different kind of hybrid" or "serial hybrid", but why the resistance to the H-word?

Such sematics is a side show - the Volt needs to work.

I'm not so sure, there's a big difference in consumer's minds (mine anyway) between 23,000 and 33,000 (assuming all the discounts and the like get passed).

All the chatter at gm-volt.com is pointing toward a car that will cost around $40,000.00. That's the price Bob Lutz says the the GM Volt would have to be just to break even. So here's the dilemna. If you sell the Volt below cost you hemorrage money you don't have. If you sell above your cost to manufacture the Volt you will not have enough buyers to save the company.

Hi Radio Tec:

___I have to give my std. line wrt Volt pricing here. The Volt is going to be built on the next Gen Cobalt Platform. You can pick up a Cobalt for ~ $13K today. 16kWh of A123 Systems Li-Ion batteries are going to cost GM ~ $5K. An electric transaxle, larger inverter/transverter and large MGSet, another $3,000 - $3,500. The math does not add up to $40K.

___With a $350 Million investment in a new production facility + maybe $300 Million in design and R&D, sure a Volt will need to cost $40K to cover the amortization at $20K profit over 30,000 + vehicles but nobody covers their up front costs in the first 30K vehicles other than maybe Ferrari and Porsche. I may be a bit naïve as well as missing some numbers in the above but I don’t see giving anyone a $20K profit for a compact platform no matter how good the vehicle is.


___For GM’s sake as well as our own, I hope to see a much more reasonable $30K price tag attached and they sell millions of them :)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

The Detroit automaker confirmed Tuesday that it had filed the necessary paperwork to construct a $326 million, 530,000-square-foot plant in Flint to build 1.4-liter turbo engines for the Volt as well as its new compact car, the Chevrolet Cruze.

The Cruze sounds like a good idea. The Volt sounds like a short-circuit to me, @ $40K.

The Prius sounds like a better idea, a 1.5 liter ICE with an electric motor (okay, two electric motors), which gives you lots of flexibility to run one at a time or both. If the Volt battery goes flat, it sounds like the Volt would be underpowered compared to a Prius with its two motors. $40 large for a dog? If it can't keep up with a Prius after 40 miles, look out! How much acceleration can you get out of a Volt with just the electric motor?

Too much fog surrounding the Volt, too much dependence on a car that may not work as hyped.

Harry

Harry, I don't think you'll need to worry about the performance using just the motor -- that's all it will use ever so state of charge isn't going to matter (I'm sure they have chosen the 1.4L powerplant to handle max draw for full performance).

The math does not add up to $40K. ___Wayne


Ah----but you must keep in mind all of the marketing costs for four years prior to the first actual sale. All of those spin doctors, press releases, elaborately-staged media events, auto-show appearances and overblown hype tends to cost a lot of money. Never have I seen so much media frenzy stirred up for a product that will likely be late to the party and inferior in both design and quality. For a company that already had a decent electric car ready for the market years ago (remember the EV1), and has a gigantic army of engineers at it's beckoning, this is all a ridiculous sideshow.

Deezle, I agree that this is a ridiculous show... but I tend to think that the past experience is reason to believe that the product will not be inferior in either design or quality.

My best guess at this point is that "we just have to finish testing the batteries" is just way too dry for the general public to stay interested. I'm also guessing that GM could simply be playing the "that blustery company that never turns out real stuff" card to keep the competition from taking them too seriously.

I could easily be wrong I suppose, but I just have a really hard time believing that they are having that much trouble constructing the darn thing after all the effort that went into the EV1!

I simply refuse to speculate anymore about the Volt. It's just exhausting.

Once it comes out, then I'll care.

So how come we are working 5 day's a week making V-8's in Canada? Someone must be still buying trucks, I still think it's mostly sticker shock on the price of gas, some drivers will go back to their old ways soon.

Proud GM worker ( Tool and Diemaker )

EV1 ready for market?? What market was that? Gasoline was 89 cents in 1999? Who in the heck was going to pay $20,000 for a small,slow , limited range car in the late 90's( I'm using $20,000 discounting GMs inflated figure) for an electric car when gas was so cheap??

The EV1 would have been DOA! Just look what happened to the Insight- Honda dumped it because they couldn't make any $$ selling it-despite gas being 2.5X what it was when the EV1 would have gone to market.

The original Prius didn't jump off the lots- in the USA- either until we had the 2002-2003 gas run up to $1.69 from about $1.20.

Charlie

My point was that for GM to develop a quality electric vehicle now, when they already had a decent electric vehicle 8 years ago, is not the sort of quantum leap that they are making it out to be (especially with their army of engineers). They've turned the whole project into a circus.

@deezle
I agree. But GM is that way about all of their products, the yukon|tahoe|escalade hybrid. The new malibu, the over hyped commercials for the cts. The skate board fuel cell design that still has gone no where while honda has the fcx leased out.

The drones in this country buy into that commercial marketing garbage. I have worked with plenty of these people. They always vote for the same party, they always buy american cars, and they show up to chuch every sunday. They believe every so called expert that babbles about anything on broadcast media. They question nothing as long as it doesn't conflict with the view point that they subscribe to.

That is GMs market, these are the people who will keep GM a float. As long as GM makes them think that it still has a future, they will continue to buy the current crap.

Hi Koreberg:

___You bring up a good point.
As long as GM makes them think that it still has a future, they will continue to buy the current crap.
___At some point, some may have to consider if their US vehicles manufacturer will be there to support it?

___Good Luck

___Wayne