The state of General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt program has been in flux ever since the automaker gave the program the green light – with top-level executives often contradicting one another about the Volt’s launch date – but it looks as though the wavering is over and the Volt will hit the market in 2010.
GM vice chairman Bob Lutz proclaimed the Volt would make production as planned after an event in Detroit. “I would say there’s almost no reasonable doubt in our minds anymore that this is going to work,” he told Automotive News.
The Volt was originally designed to travel 40 miles on all-electric power and Lutz says GM engineers have “routinely had it to the high 30s, low 40s and they go up hills with it and everything.”
Several rivals have questions GM’s foray into the lithium-ion powered electric car segment by 2010, but it looks as though GM is determined to prove its naysayers wrong. The production version of the Volt is expected to bow later this year at the Paris Motor Show.


06/16, 6:59 PM
posted by:
A4
yes, no, yes, no, yes
06/16, 7:03 PM
posted by:
illwill
:3
06/16, 7:09 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Great news everybody! CarBob Lutz has discovered the world is not flat!
06/16, 7:59 PM
posted by:
Blakkarr
On time.
But will it be on or under budget? Will the price be right?
Will GM get off it’s kick of literally giving Chevrolet cars that are frankly a wrong fit for it?
Finally, will it sell strongly or will GM get weak and fold after only a few years?
06/16, 8:10 PM
posted by:
NoNameDenton1
They said under $40,000 Blakkarr
06/16, 8:24 PM
posted by:
brassmonkey
I can’t contain my enthusiasm. 30+ miles. Did I read that right? And it will go up hills and everything?
06/16, 8:38 PM
posted by:
RTT10
and u crash and it blows up
06/16, 9:03 PM
posted by:
shitalker
“and they go up hills with it and everything.” hmm… how old is lutz?? does he understand anything about technology? does he understand that an electric motor has it’s 100% torque from 0 rpm?? does he know that our current locomotives (which as been around pretty much since WWII) are all electric powered?? and the engine sound you hear is from it’s on board diesel generators..
OHHhhhhh.. you mean them trains that carry bunch of those heavy ass gas sucking 100 year old technology irons that are called trucks by the thousands that people just can’t afford to buy cuz of the gas price??
06/16, 9:04 PM
posted by:
shitalker
just a thought bobby boy.. it might be a good idea if you were to understand what you’re selling..
or better yet, believe in the ****ing thing. you stupid ****!!!
06/16, 9:31 PM
posted by:
NoNameDenton1
Supposed to get about 40 on battery power alone.
06/16, 10:13 PM
posted by:
928dreamer
Geez. GM finally pulls its head out and puts a ton of energy and money into something that has huge potential and you guys can’t do anything but bitch and moan, and whine about failure.
I think the Volt will do fantastic and will become the new benchmark for “green” cars. What is even better is that the platform will continuously be upgradable as battery technology and powertrain options improve (to recharge the batteries).
A few years after the Volt is released you will be able to buy an updated Volt that gets 50 miles on a charge before the batteries need to be recharged by the new hydrogen fuel cell. (OK this is more than a few model updates from now, but you get the picture).
06/16, 10:37 PM
posted by:
bayrider
why is this only getting 40-50 miles on the battery when the EV1 was getting something like 120-150miles on each charge?
06/16, 10:50 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
928dreamer: I hate to use the baseball analogy because I’m a Blue Jays fan and they suck… I digress, but you have us all wrong. Nobody wants GM to fail, but we wish they’d quit trying to hit the home run instead of moving the runners with some well placed singles, doubles and even the odd sac fly. Where would they be now had they actually stuck with the EV1?
Above all, we’re just tired of hearing about sh*t they haven’t even done yet. The f*cking Volt, the f*cking Camaro: you want to talk baseball? I’ll take a fungo bat and stick it up my ass and tell you how that ride is if GM will stick someone other than Lutz in the driver’s seat to push his sh*t.
06/16, 11:11 PM
posted by:
Xile
Suck on that Toyota as well as all of you naysayers.
06/16, 11:29 PM
posted by:
NoNameDenton1
bayrider, the EV1 is an all electric car, the Volt is just an advanced hybrid.
06/16, 11:59 PM
posted by:
56oval
Does someone have more insight into the 30-40 mile range on the Volt??? How come all the other little guys are building cars that will do 100-200 miles like Tesla and some of these other niche players? Is the Volt made of lead?
06/17, 1:34 AM
posted by:
TOZO
I’ll bet anything it wont come out on time. This sounds like one of those specialty vehicles that never come out on time, or never come out at all.
Examples: Ford GT (barely made it at last second), Tesla Roadster (Just started now), Next Gen Prius (Pushback), Aptera, New MGs(Announced-killed-Announced-mum), Fusion Hybrid(The wait continues), Bugatti Veyron(It took awhile), Zonda F (They had to build only 10…and they’re taking their time), TVR Typhoon, Cunningham C7(Dead). Something like that.
06/17, 7:18 AM
posted by:
fuzz40
56oval, read the post above you and you can see why it will only get 40 miles to a charge. The volt isn’t just an electic car, it is an advanced hybrid. So that means the volt isn’t just stuffed full of batteries like other electric vehicles.
06/17, 8:03 AM
posted by:
SickofGarbageMotors
2010 huh? Just in time for his golden parachute.
I bet base sticker price is 45 grand when all is said an done. Seriously.
Meanwhile, Toyota will pump out their THIRD generation Prius cars that’ll get something like 60 - 70mpg and cost just 25k to own while developing their own “Volt” on the side. That way, if rising electricity costs choke the product just like rising fuel costs are killing the gargantuan BOF SUV, Toyota will have the 200+ thousand Prius sales to fall back on.
06/17, 9:19 AM
posted by:
HoosierHero
Is this the vehicle Jesus drives? I hope this thing is the godsend everyone thinks it is.
06/17, 9:27 AM
posted by:
oldraven
Hey, ****alker. Those trains you talk about sound like the ones Electro-Motive Diesel (GM) was building back in the 20’s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electro-Motive_Diesel
06/17, 9:32 AM
posted by:
tripleonefive
Well it better be under 30k in order for it to sell
No one will pay 40k for a GM unless it has a Caddy crest on it
06/17, 11:21 AM
posted by:
xyunya
Well if it is scheduled to get to dealers on December 29th of 2010 it will be 2011 model year, unless some creativity applied and with price of 50K it may even come on 28th instead of 29th.
It may be recalled on January 2nd and all back to SOP @ GM.
06/17, 3:37 PM
posted by:
Bubs Solo
who makes dumber statements?? Bob Lutz or George W Bush??
06/18, 1:10 AM
posted by:
1981blueZ28
Toyota announced a recall of 160,000 of its Prius hybrid vehicles following reports of vehicle warning lights illuminating for no reason, and cars’ gasoline engines stalling unexpectedly. But unlike the large-scale auto recalls of years past, the root of the Prius issue wasn’t a hardware problem — it was a programming error in the smart car’s embedded code. The Prius had a software bug. (Taken from WIKI)
Ok one thing about the Prius is its really ****ing ugly. Also the Prius’s (”driving range remains limited to around seven miles (eleven kilometers) per charge in all-electric mode” as said in Road and Track)
I think the Volt will do great.