Posted on Tuesday 8 April 2008
GM is determined to keep its promise of delivering the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid car by the end of the decade but if you were hoping to be one of the first in the world to own a Volt you had better hope you live in one of the trend-setting markets officials plan to launch the car in. Nothing is set in concrete but officials are considering initially launching the Volt in politically important and trend-setting markets on the U.S. coasts - namely California and New York.
Vice Chairman Bob Lutz revealed to the Detroit Free Press that current plans will see distribution of the Volt begin with California, followed by Washington D.C., Florida, New York and elsewhere on the East Coast. “Of course, that’s only current thinking, and the plans could change” Lutz said.
Some have doubted either GM’s willingness or ability to bring the Volt to market in a timely fashion, and at times it looked like the skeptics could be right. However, engineers have finalized the design of the car, which you can catch a sneak preview of by clicking here, and are now ready to start real-world testing of the car’s new drivetrain.
Still, the Volt is still more than two years away and as Lutz points out a lot of things could change in that time.
California makes sense, but the east coast is a real test of a car’s abilities in demanding weather and driving conditions…
just the fact that they’re about to start road testing the actual car is amazing to me. the platform has been in the works for almost a decade now, and the E-Flex system is new but based on hybrid tech that GM is already using. this car is already designed, the platform is already here, and the technology is nearly the same as what is already in use in other GMs. the LiON is new, and the thing will use a smaller engine than any other GM hybrid, but besides that, this car is ready to go.
I just PRAY that they give it a REALLY nice interior, and give it good panel gaps and things like that. make it LOOK good… don’t just make an american prius killer. make this thing so nice that anyone would consider it a step above the already nice malibu. make it a semi-luxury car. if people will pay 40k for a buick, then give them a 40k chevy that looks as nice as a buick, but has the guts of the USS Enterprise.
I agree.
But they did one thing absolutely correct, they made it look DIFFERENT.
Many, many many of the buyers of the Prius only do so because it makes them look green. The worst mistake Honda ever made was simply building the normal Civic as a hybrid. They should have desgned an ultra-modern looking car (based on the Civic platform maybe) that looked totally unique. They would have spanked a lot of the Prius sales…
gus; i agree 100%. the new age hippies will hop all over a plug in hybrid green machine, that is a moving advertisement of how green you are, and at the same time (i predict this is going to be the new ‘hip thing’) will advertise that you support american industry (the kind that is actually technologically advanced of course) to prove your charity to country and planet alike.
just make sure the interior is plush and good looking. it hurts to sit on thick wallets.
basically what i’m saying is this thing should damned well near be a model for BMW to use when they finally get their butts in gear with this green crap.
who knows? maybe the volt will be the thing to take us out of this recession… (that’s a stretch) but its only possible if they can really market this thing and make it accessible to everyone willing to pay for it
I saw this car in hte New York auto show last year. It doesn’t impress me at all the windows look like their impossible to lower since the bend in it. i don’t like it.
im intresting for the car
i just like enything bmw product as at now am using 318 series thas why i so like the car please can i know what nest