Gosh, and we thought GM was over-hyping the Camaro….

I thought the Volt was supposed to be all-electric, or at least a plug-in hybrid? So other than extended range battery power, what makes this worth $15K more than a Prius?

How can you overhype a car that you can potentially never have to fill up? Gimme break, the Prius went thru the same thing and as their Hybrid Synergy found it’s way into other vehicles, the technology became profitable.

@zoomzoomer
You have clearly not been paying attention. The Volt was announced as a “plug-in hybrid.” There are dozens of articles here, on other websites, and in the mainstream press about the fact that the Volt is a “hybrid.” “Hybrid” means that it has booth a thermal engine and an electric one.

with our economy the way it is, I don’t think GM is going to be selling as many volts as they would like, especially with two good hybrid models below it getting equal gas mileage. Good luck selling all of your volts to Need Oil for GM.

“below it” as in price-range

any idea what Bob Lutz drives?

You guys need to read this article from Top Gear:

Volt aged
General Motors ends its first century this month. And, you’ll have heard, it ain’t in very good shape in the US.

So here’s the car on which it’s betting its second century. The Volt, on sale in 2010 is a hybrid, but not as we know it. They’re calling it the extended-range electric vehicle.

There is an engine, a new 1.4-litre petrol four, mounted at the front as per usual. But, unlike the Toyota or Honda hybrids, it never drives the wheels directly. In future years, that engine could be replaced by a fuel cell.

In fact, the Volt is designed to give up to 40 miles on battery power alone, with full 150bhp performance available. This, says GM after lots of study, is enough for the habitual daily mileage of 80 percent of American drivers – 12,000 miles a year at 40 miles a day, six days a week. So they’ll get home at night and plug in to cheap household electricity, getting that 40 miles for 50p at US mains prices. They might go weeks or months never needing the engine.

When it does spark up, the engine simply charges up the battery – although only partially, as GM wants the car always to arrive at its destination in a depleted state so you can use the mains to re-charge. Even with the engine cycling to keep the batteries at constant charge, the Volt will do about 60mpg.

Disappointed that this doesn’t look have the electric-Camaro looks of the Volt show car? C’mon, it’s better than a Prius. The shape has morphed from show to production to make space for four adults, and the corners had to be rounded off because every scintilla of drag kocked back the electric range.

It’s only a four-seater because the upper body tapers backwards to cut drag, and because there’s a big battery box running along the car like an overgrown tranmission tunnel. The lithium ion pack weighs 180kg, taking the whole Volt to 1800kg.

By 2012 or so, there will be a Vauxhall/Opel version for Europe with unique styling. The Volt uses the platform of the next Astra, which gives you an idea of its size. And because they had to develop all sorts of power and weight-saving features for the Volt, like climate control and power assists, the Astra will be a better car because of it.

I’ve met a lot of Volt engineers and they’re absolute fanatics. I wish them well. A lot of them worked on the original EV1. Who killed the electric car? If it was GM, they desperately it to be GM who brings it back.

Wasn’t there an article last week stating that only due to the recent demand for small cars GM was finally realizing some profit on the Cobalt? The problem is Detroit- and GM inparticular- has never even attempted to gear itself up to make money on their small car lines. They didn’t have to with light duty trucks and SUVs there to swell the company coffers. Now they have to play catch up, but nobody else is exactly sitting still waiting for them. It’s been said a million times before, but where would GM be right now if they had stuck with the EV1? Or had Chrysler stuck with the Neon? Or had Ford kept dipping into its European well consistently? Shortsightedness is now forcing Detroit to come up with home runs right out of the box. I still feel they can do it, but they’ve also got to figure out a way to make some money while they’re doing it or what’s the point?

Howsmydriving and Zeeck, start thinking for yourselves and drop the idiotic GM ranting. It’s old. Find some new shtick… especially so since you can’t keep your facts straight. Zeeck, there are no other hybrids that will get the kind of mileage that the Volt will get. Do you understand what driving 40 miles WITHOUT A GAS ENGINE means?? It means NO GASOLINE.

And Zoomzoomer, where in hell are you finding a new Prius for $15K? Another case of poor reading comprehension??? If you don’t understand the vehicle, do some damn homework and find out for yourself instead of posting a dumbass request for someone else to regurgitate the answer for you.

Where is the mileage mention for the Volt?

Toyota won’t be making any profit on their Prius either once the Volt puts Toyota out of business. See Prius sales fall off into oblivion. It doesn’t have the quality and reliabilty of GM

Americans would rather drive American made vehicles and they’d rather buy them from GM. People don’t want dorkmobiles and GM has given Americans an alternative

Need more oil for GM, are you talking about the new Chevy Dolt…errrrr…I mean Volt?

Actually Typical_LLN_Poster, this is a case of poor reading comprehension. ZoomZoom said “$15K more than a Prius”, not that the Prius was $15k. Other than that, spot on…

LOL I think someone just got put in their place for trying to flame, looks like your flames……….backfired.

Need more oil you right, that’s why Toyota is the number “ONE” there are two types of car buyers, people who are “CHEAP”, and those that get what they want. Volt buyers will be mostly will not care for color, interior, and all the cool stuff that makes a car cool, but at $30K plus dealer mark-up, I rather get a Camaro.

If you just “THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK” maybe, just maybe people will LOL with you then AT YOU…

“Americans would rather drive American made vehicles and they’d rather buy them from GM. People don’t want dorkmobiles and GM has given Americans an alternative.”

need more oil you crack me up…..

UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…. GM doesn’t post a profit on any car they sell, why would the Volt be any different??????????/

Or perhaps:

“GM unlikely to be around produce first Volt”

“to produce”

Injunraiv – I’ll walk ya through it… The article states a $30K sticker for the Volt. Zoomer claims it costs $15K more than a Prius. So I ask again, where in hell is a new $15K Prius?

The vast majority of you kiddies are in for a real awakening. When your parents lose their job, or worse yet, lose their savings, you’re going to feel what it’s like to be GM and trying to survive in a failing economy.