Volt Revealed!

[rhvfd10]

Hooray! Hopefully we will be seeing these things on the road sooner rather than later.

[PA Dweller]

Originally Posted by Koasterking

In my personal opinion, even if the Volt's price might be out of reach for a lot off people, let's hope this car will bring people into Chevy dealerships. If the Volt's price is too high, there's other cars to consider such as the Aveo, Cruz, Malibu, Chevy's hybrid SUV and trucks.

It might really help the Cruz. Not that it needs help, but according to GM it will have fuel economy in the low 40's. It also cost much less than a Volt.

[TechnoAura]

I like the design. It may not be as sporty as the concept I saw in Chicago back in 2007, but this design may very well attract buyers with a small family who can afford $40k to put down on cool new technology.

To those who don't like the Volt's design and think it won't sell based on this design, need only to look at the Toyota Prius. It is not the best looking car in North America (IMHO) and Toyota has sold over 1 million of these cars to date. Worldwide, of course. In summary, it's a very popular car in the U.S. It's even a hatchback! I think this vehicle will perform well with regards to sales numbers.

The main reason I wouldn't purchase this car at this time, other than it will cost $40k or more, is that the technology is too new. I would be concerned about reliability.

[BlueBowtie69]

You know, when the first pictures came out with the management people in them, I was a trifle disappointed. The Volt looked bland, almost enough to put me off of it. But now, I am just so relieved that the car looks this good. It truly is an innovation in automotive technology. Hopefully it sells as good as it looks! Well done, GM. You may have a winner on your hands here. Now, if we could only work on the price...

[saubouin]

Personal attacks & Flames, I guess my Post upset some of you? Too bad! Before I continue let me clarify a few things to all the HATER responses. No I'm not a teenager, I turn 40 next week (but I still do act like a kid, always will!!) Yes I do own all the vehicles listed plus I have owned various motorcycles over the years my latest one a Gixxer 1K, I also have a little Honda scooter that I put a stroker kit on (goes 55mph now!) and finally I own a 25 foot Baja Powerboat with a Fuel Injected Chevy Big Block that hits 62mph on GPS. I regularly post on the Corvetteforum, ls1tech and offshoreonly forums and all sorts of ther car forums depending on the car I was owned and was working on. I’m a car nut thru & thru.
Now back to the crux of my original post. This car bares absolutely no resemblance to the concept car. None, which is what really upsets me. GM has been parading this car around in all of its advertisements and tv commercials. Even during last weeks NFL games we could see the concept VOLT being used in two different commercials. GM never even tried to make the concept car a reality. They must have known the concept car would never pass mustard in the wind tunnel. Starting with the Dodge Viper the Big 3 have usually not strayed too far from their concept cars. Usually the wheels and tires are smaller and other body panels are tweaked to meet real world driving conditions, all understandable. I have not seen a prototype and final production car vary this much since some of the crazy prototypes of the 50’s & 60’s. But this VOLT fiasco was such a blatant “bait & switch”. I was prepared to spend $40k on the concept car, or something very close to it for the simple fact that my car would actually have not look like another Honda or Toyota Hybrid going down I-66 on the way to work in the morning. This production car is going to just blend and melt right in with every other car on the road. Sure it might be the latest cool mid-sized compact on the road this week but it will quickly lose it’s luster in 8-16 months. What they gave us is a car with completely different dimensions. It’s not as wide, does not have the long hood, and it does not look like a RWD vehicle. The concept car looked like a futuristic Pony car that was a little more stretched out to accommodate 4 adults comfortably. It was such a great looking car from a style and design stand point that for me that it reminded me of GM of old. Back when Harley Earl and GM had the guts to design something like a 57 Bel Air, 59 Eldorado, 69 Camaro a 65 Vette. I knew the killer tires and wheels would not make the final cut as well as some other interior layouts, but the overall angular body and shape is what I fell in love with. The concept car not only was going to be a technological break thru but a leader in Design. Japanese auto manufacturers have ZERO originality when it comes to molding cars. Toyota Camrys and Honda Accords steal bumbers and hoods designs from last year’s BMW’s, Mercedes and Volvos and graft them onto their current years release. In the past GM and other American car makers lead the world in both innovation and design. Now we are just copying Toyota, what a crying shame.
The car that GM is going to sell you has none of these dimensions and probably fits within inches of the Prius footprint. There are no body curves on this production version that have much originality. They look like bits and pieces taken from other Japanese vehicles already in production. My point is that in 20 years you will never see this production VOLT at a Barrett Jackson auction. It does not have a design style that will stand the test of time.
For those of you that are simply going to buy this car because of the technology I sincerely congratulate you. I personally would not want to spend $40k on a car that looks like a Prius. Toyota and Honda are probably relieved to see that GM could not build the car we all fell in love with at the Auto Show.

[Uzzy]

^^^ The concept car looked like it was a penned as a side project that was accidently built. I have no idea why they would put out a vehicle that they knew was going to be so greatly changed before production, since it was production intended (one can assume) from the start. Obviously there would be some backlash, I think it was dumb. Also I think the concept was fugly, and I have no idea why you like it, but that's irrelevant, you had to know it would be greatly changed since it had all the "aerodynamicness" of my Silverado and it's supposed to be a Hybrid. The Saturn/Opel version that debuted last year (the name escapes me now) had an aerodynamic shape and likely will come out looking a lot like it's car show counter part. I happen to like the production version of the Volt, eventhough it's not a breakthrough in design in any way. Are any of the top selling cars by Toyota and Honda stylistic breakthroughs? No, they're just decent looking, even kinda ugly in some cases. The Japanese (and then Koreans) came in, copies us, one-upped us in just about every way and have been "eating our lunch" for years. Well it's clear that at least GM right now is mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. The mid-size and small cars it is producing and has in it's pipeline are doing to the Japanese and Koreans what they starting doing to us in the late '80s and early '90s. I for one and glad and It'll be nice to see GM doing well again. It's going to take a while, but it will happen. The other 3/2 of the big 2 1/2 are well, I don't know. Ford can stand a chance if they amalgamate their NA and Euro lines and can still make a profit doing it. Chrysler? I'm pretty sure it'll be sold off in chunks over the next 4-6 years or so. You'll be back...they always come back.

[FenwickHockey65]

And the Volt concept needed to be edgy and eye-catching so that people would take note of it. The point wasn't so much the exterior, but the technology inside.

[LeSabre]

Originally Posted by chinamonty

The centre stack is OK. It reminds me of Star Wars robots.

Which ones?? The only ones that I can recall that the center stack looking like are the analyzing ones(Episode II, deleted scenes) & the medical ones(Episode III).

There are no Robots in Star Wars, only Droids!

[PA Dweller]

Originally Posted by LeSabre

Which ones?? The only ones that I can recall that the center stack looking like are the analyzing ones(Episode II, deleted scenes) & the medical ones(Episode III).

There are no Robots in Star Wars, only Droids!

I think he means the Stormtroops, which aren't robots. It's not a big deal since GM will offer other colors on the center stack.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by PA Dweller

I think he means the Stormtroops, which aren't robots. It's not a big deal since GM will offer other colors on the center stack.

So far just black according to an article in another thread. That's ok, I'll take my Volt in double black, thank you very much.

[Eric77TA]

Originally Posted by Uzzy

So far just black according to an article in another thread. That's ok, I'll take my Volt in double black, thank you very much.

"The center stack draws a lot of attention for its shape, unique touch interface and bright white surfacing. Volt buyers will be able to choose from several colors for the center stack, however, including white, metallic black, and even green."

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/16/v...volt-interior/

[PA Dweller]

Originally Posted by Uzzy

So far just black according to an article in another thread. That's ok, I'll take my Volt in double black, thank you very much.

That will look good.

[96_impala_ss]

well executed. beats the prius by a long shot.
all thats left are to get the official mpg/mpc(miles per charge), etc and get these on american roads.

[AmericanRevolution]

Well so far, I've shown this to a few people and all have been impressed.

[JimsZR2]

I just read through all 19 pages of this thread and I can also agree with all of you that this car is impressive!

The Volt totally blows the design of the prius away in its tracks!

Put me on the list for one please!