Posted on 07/30/2010 12:56:20 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Chevrolet Volt may be wearing out its welcome. General Motors has been hyping the gasoline-electric car ever since the company showed it off to the public 1,300 days ago. The company has let countless reporters into its battery labs and given interviews with its engineers, all in a very credible attempt to show that GM has smart people with good ideas. And it has worked. GM has picked up some technological credibility and fostered goodwill with the environmental crowd.
Now that GM is finally, after three and a half years, getting close to selling one, the commentariat is taking shots at the Volt. In an editorial in the New York Times today, Truth About Cars Editor Edward Niedermeyer panned the car as “GM’s Electric Lemon.” He criticized the car for, among other things, having bland styling and because it will likely lose GM money. Before that, “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno, a well-known car buff, also took a shot at the Volt’s styling, telling the Detroit news that, “if you didn’t know, you might think it’s a Cobalt or a Camry.”
What gives? It could be a case of Volt fatigue. Sure, documenting the tale of the car’s development gave GM a great story to tell. But in the past few months the company has amped up the noise on a car that has been hyped for years. I count 14 press releases on the Volt since June, including an announcement today that GM will boost 2012 production from 30,000 to 45,000. Some of those releases were absolutely necessary, like vital information on pricing, warranty and ordering options.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
FROM USA TODAY :
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/07/obama-takes-the-wheel-of-a-chevy-volt/1
Obama takes the wheel of a Chevy
President Obama did something unusual today for a man in his position: Driving.
“I’m telling you guys, pretty smooth,” Obama said after briefly taking the wheel of a brand new Chevy Volt, the electric car made at the General Motors plant near Detroit.
A very brief trip — maybe ten feet, reports Mark Knoller of CBS News, who also notes that the head of the president’s Secret Service detail gave a “reluctant nod” in favor of the jaunt.
“Does that have airbags?” cracked White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
Pooler Margaret Talev of McClatchy Newspapers reported that Obama “buckled himself in and haltingly drove perhaps 10 feet at a crawling speed.”
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The new Edsel Electric!
It could be it’s an overpriced POS
What a bunch of chuckleheads.
That guy looks like a pimp. LMAO!
Driven by an over paid and over rated POS.
You got that right!
Volt's discharge shows Chevy still ill
Between the DOE grant and the subsidy to the South Korean battery maker, the US Government is kicking in $39,000 toward the cost of building each of the 10,000 Volts GM intends to produce this year. And that’s not even getting into the billion dollar buyouts. This is just the grants.
Add the $7,500 the government wants to give as a rebate, and you are talking about the government kicking in $46,500 for each car, which will sell for $41,000.
It could be it’s an overpriced POS
Or an underpowered POS.
The Law of Unintended Consequences:
REAL Experts in the field of battery technology predict that there will be an environmental DISASTER, much worse than anything seen, including the myth of AGW, when these batteries are discarded at the end of their life (apx. 10 years at the most).
The toxins in these things are (and thus will be) worse than virtually all chemicals released into the environment to date.
It’s not fatigue, it’s reality setting in. The talk sounded great when it was all vapor, but now we know:
1. The Volt is no more advanced than the Prius. In many ways it is little more than a Prius clone.
2. The Volt will cost approx. $10,0000-$15,000 more than the Prius. Even with the govt. rebate, it will still cost more than the Prius.
Cost more, no better.
40 miles in one charge.
Of course if you decide to roll down the elec windows, use the a/c or heat, turn on the radio — all bets are off.
And by the way you'll spend $40K for the privilege.
Shove it Obama.
Affirmative Action for Autos
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