Re: Should Volt have been like this?
God bless Bob Lutz, but he made an error right at the beginning of the Volt program because GM was too focused on the Toyota Prius. And because of that, they chose to base Volt on the Delta platform; that was the error.
I disagree, I believe he was more focused on the fact that Toyota had an amazing fuel efficient car that was a hit all over the world, the Volt is not a Prius, by far, it's a much better car with a completely different and more efficient powertrain that actually has the potential to wean us off oil much more than the Prius over could. Perhaps he wanted the Volt to be the ''green image'' car the Prius is to Toyota, without looking dorky. About the Delta platform, what do you suggest they would built the Volt on? The Delta platform was new, most of the engineering was done and only needed slight modification to fit the battery in there, I think it was more of a cost saving move then a let's copy the Prius move.
History tells us that expensive new technology moves into the automotive market by first appearing in expensive desirable vehicles and then trickling down to the mass market.
Bold move from GM to break the mold no? Yes it's on the higher price end of a similar sized car, but look at what's under the hood!
To my eyes the Fisker Karma is a very attractive vehicle, and I would go further and say that my Chevy Voltage chop is even hotter, because it uses to good effect the styling that GM Design has available to it. Had Bob decided not to go against history and went the Fisker Karma route, then the Volt on sale today could easily look like the Chevrolet Voltage. And at $70,000 I bet they would be selling way more than the current Volt is; and dealers would be clamouring to get one on their forecourt. Sex sells. Even if you like the look of the Volt, it is not sexy.
I see it the other way around, other companies can't figure out how to make an extended range electric vehicle without throwing $30,000 of ''luxury'' at it to make a buck. The chop is hot, no doubt.
It is also a lot harder to make a value proposition case for a $20K car having $10K of Voltec technology and a $10K battery pack added, thus selling for $40K, than to add that same $20K to a $50K car and selling it for $70K.
Payments on a well equipped Chevy Cruze Eco + $200 of gas a month = the payments on a Volt and 30bucks of electricity to run it, maybe a bit more, but totally worth it, as the price of gas goes up, the difference becomes the same.
GM should have taken the aluminum frame of the Corvette Z06, stretched it to a 4-door, plonked in the Turbo Ecotec mated to the 2-Mode transmission, clothed it in a body like my Chevy Voltage made of carbon fibre, and stuffed it full of batteries. That would have gotten them 90% there to having a Fisker Karma competitor that people would genuinely desire and clamour for.
yeeeaaaaa, but the Karma concept was introduced a full year after the Volt concept, so the production Volt was well into development. I'm sure down the road GM will have some sort of sexy electric sedan other than the Volt.
To deal with Toyota’s Prius they should have simply offered the Chevy Cruze with a range of eAssist hybrids and a plug-in version.
But isn't that what the Volt is? It's a Delta with slippery skin and a plug.
So what do others feel? Is the Chevy Volt package the best way to sell America on electrification of the automobile, or has Fisker with it's sexy and stylish Karma and new Atlantic found the better way to sell the idea to America? And then let the technology get cheaper with time until it's eventually within everyone's price range?
Bold to say it's the best way, because it is the first ''usable'' EV from GM. Fact is the Fisker is thousands of dollars more, yet the Volt is to expensive? Also it's not all about the initial purchase price, the cost of ownership is something you seriously must consider, for example I'm at 77% oil life after 7800miles. The cost of operating my Volt as an electric car is about 1/4 of what it costs to run it in gas mode, and it gets a respectable 37-45mpg.
The Opel Ampera already had the lower panels white, but here I've deleted the black paint as well...
I'm getting my lower plastic pieces painted to match the color, it will make a huge difference, my Volt is black so the black roof and the lower window trim work well. I agree that on other colored Volts the lower plastic looks kinda odd.
The biggest problem with the Volt now is its price, making it more expensive would make it that much harder to sell. As people get a chance to spend some time behind the wheel of a Volt they will realize what it is that makes it the highest rated car in customer satisfaction and that isn't the body, but its the superb Voltec drivetrain.
Spending time behind the wheel is key, once you drive one, your sold. I think the Volt looks sharp.
Only if GM wanted to price it way more out of range than it already is.
But then I couldn't have been able to afford one!
GM are not going to sell lots of Volts, and they will lose money on every one they sell. So they should have made a more expensive vehicle that they don't need to sell lots of, and lose less on each sale - or maybe break even on...
That would make sense if you would make a profit, it would not if your still loosing, a loss is a loss. The ''more expensive'' vehicle is coming, the ELR, and the economy of scale will help too.
Ed Welburn says that the design team that did not win the Camaro design contest were used to design the Volt ... so the losing team got stuck designing this car and it shows.
You might want to check up on your sources, this is news to me. Besides, I don't think they would have felt ''stuck'' designing the most important vehicle for GM at the time, with that attitude they would have not lasted very long in the program.
You can share more for a better looking car, and that is one of the problems with Volt. It doesn't look like an expensive car, and it's a Chevrolet, and it's cramped and small. This combines to suggest that it isn't an expensive car. But the price says expensive or moderately expensive. Think what other vehicles you can buy for $40,000, and are they more desirable than Volt? Yes. A Cadillac version of Volt would have partially answered the attractiveness issue and could more easily justify the price, but as is, the Volt is an expensive car that doesn't look expensive
Have you ever seen, sat in or driven a Volt? At over 6 feet tall I'm very comfortable in the Volt and my passengers don't feel cramped. If you think other 40K cars are more desirable than a Volt, it's because their advertizing have conditioned you to believe so, if you haven't driven one yet, i suggest you go try it out for fun. (ok I know the car may be small for some folks it depends what you like or use to).
the Prius is the most successful alternate powertrain car and the technology started out at the Toyota, not Lexus, level. Also, it is impossible to measure the showroom traffic the Volt has brought into the showroom and led to the success of the Cruze, Malibu, etc. I would argue that might have had a bigger impact than if it were a Cadillac.
I agree
There is some unrealistic views in this thread as far as what the Volt is, and some realistic views as to what could be done to the Volt.
I suggest that people who want to know more about the Volt go to their locale library or book store and buy ''Charging into the future, Chevrolet Volt'' book, it's a great read.