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http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg The Chevy Volt is a car that only appeals to preening schmoes and will fall flat on its face (http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/siliconalley/green-tech/audi_president_calls_the_volt_a_car_for_idiots_2009_9.html)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2011_Chevrolet_Volt_Front1.jpgJay Yarow - CNN (http://money.cnn.com) - September 4, 2009

Is this a shot across the bow? --Ed.

The Chevy Volt is a car that only appeals to preening schmoes and will fall flat on its face.

Or so says Audi of America president, Johan de Nysschen, who went off on the Chevy Volt and electric cars in general, with Lawrence Ulrich of MSN's Exhaust Notes.

Nysschen tells Ulrich, “No one is going to pay a $15,000 premium for a car that competes with a (Toyota) Corolla...They’re for the intellectual elite who want to show what enlightened souls they are...so there are not enough idiots who will buy it."

He thinks the Volt will fall flat, and then the government will rush to its aid with generous subsidies so as to not look like a bunch of fools.

Nysschen would rather the government supported more diesels since they produce fewer emissions than an electric car that's charged by coal. And they're ready today at a competitve price. He says the government is tricking the public into thinking electrics are clean. Unless the power grid gets cleaner, our electric cars will remain dirty.... http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/siliconalley/green-tech/audi_president_calls_the_volt_a_car_for_idiots_2009_9.html

Dirty though it may be, I'd rather power my car with coal electricity that's mined here in my county than with oil produced in the middle east of somewhere else.

You could also say Audi A6 was the car for preening shmoes. People pay a $20,000 premium for a car that competes with a Taurus. It's what my former boss whose paychecks to me bounced drove and she was the embodied the preening shmoe.


The Volt would be more popular at a lower price point, but it appears to offer a combination of attributes much different from the Corolla whose popularity will be determined by the market. This kind of remark puts me in mind of what people said about the Prius when it came out.

This is pretty transparent: "Volt sucks: subsidize diesel Audis instead": is this good PR?

This from the company that makes fun of the Prius' silent driving.

Doesn't VW have a reputation problem with electrical systems in their cars? Maybe it's just electric-envy...

JP

The whole issuye with Volt is it's a Chevy and over priced. GM screwed up with there loco and marine divisions. They could have done Volt 20 years ago! All that is missing over all between the loco and marine power plants is the battery.

So every time you see a modern locomotive pulling cars down the rails. Know that's a Volt.....

We can laugh at and even stick iron into him over his insane vision of FSP. But show me a car that can run 190 mph and still get a good EPA rating for hwy mpg. While it may pain many of our membership. I bet Wayne could get 40 mpg out of a stripper Vette. And as a car how ever you figure it, the Vette, Volt, Vette, Volt,,, Hum which one wont need a tax credit to be in your drive. See the mess GM is in.

Pne might ask why? For gods sake! To each there own. :) My 40k will buy a Vette any day over Volt.....

This from the company that makes fun of the Prius' silent driving.

Doesn't VW have a reputation problem with electrical systems in their cars? Maybe it's just electric-envy...

JPClarification: the US Audi Pres made the swipe, but it was a VW ad that made fun of the silent Prius.....we did a parody of that ad internally. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/v/5QteiMaIcBc&hl=en&fs=1&

Clarification: the US Audi Pres made the swipe, but it was a VW ad that made fun of the silent Prius.....we did a parody of that ad internally. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/v/5QteiMaIcBc&hl=en&fs=1&

As a HCHII driver. It's more boring than a barrel of monkey's on oxi/syn morphine or the real plant. A real Insight is much more encouraging and handles better to boot! The HCHII is like clean and a downer. The PIII is not any better! A old Ford Festiva of CRX is a much more entertaining drivers car. Be it FE or the curves!

The parody ad was about FE, but if Wayne could choose and pick any car, I'd bet he would have taken the Civic iCDT.

Wayne could have beaten the VW FE in a Prius. ;)

Can't wait for Bob Lutz to respond. :D

He'll probably say audi is right, scrap the volt and throw an 8.0L supercharged V10 as an option to make fun of the R8.

The Volt is a car for idiots. For a long-rang 300-mile drive, my Scion beats the Volt for fuel economy at less than half the price.

You could also say Audi A6 was the car for preening shmoes. People pay a $20,000 premium for a car that competes with a Taurus. It's what my former boss whose paychecks to me bounced drove and she was the embodied the preening shmoe.


The Volt would be more popular at a lower price point, but it appears to offer a combination of attributes much different from the Corolla whose popularity will be determined by the market. This kind of remark puts me in mind of what people said about the Prius when it came out.

Right on the money Ilaveo! This guy has balls calling someone elses car "a car for idiots", while hawking overpriced unreliable German penile substitutes.
I have a good friend who owns a German car repair shop. He specializes in VW's. and they are his first love(i met him back when i joined the local VW club in 1989. The 58 beetle he restored is something to see). He has 3 sons, and he told me once that "i love Audi. I will put all 3 of my sons through college fixing Audis. I never have a shortage of work with them."