[sidindica]

First Official Images of Production Chevy Volt Leak Out

[mjothi]

Thats a nice find.

The Volt is arguably the most important car in General Motors history, success could see the automotive giant return to the top of the auto sales tree but failure would put the very existence of the company in doubt.

Time to wait & watch

[maddy42]

Nice find.
Loved the part where they mentioned the models. Lol

[GTO]

The Volt is arguably the most important car in General Motors history, success could see the automotive giant return to the top of the auto sales tree but failure would put the very existence of the company in doubt.

Couldn't be further from the truth. I don't know why it is being touted as "the most important car for GM" as the Colt, in all probability, is not going to be raking in big $$$. For one, it will be very expensive to build and there is only a certain price point that it will sell at. Rumours are rife on the price tag being in the vicinity of $35K - 40K. Second, electric cars are not mass-market products, battery technology being where it is today. The Colt's differentiating factor is that it will drive about 40 miles on pure electric....after which the petrol motor kicks in.

On the positive side, 40 miles is a decent enough range for the daily commutes of most Americans. I can imagine a majority of Colt owners not filling up on petrol at all! Smart on GM to move away from the "hybrid" tag. Unique positioning no doubt, Toyota will be watching very closely.

[vasudeva]

Images are very far away and long years away from an actual car that GM is around to make, and consumers feel profitable to buy.

[GTO]

Vasudeva, these are (apparently) leaked pictures of the production model. Why do you feel they are far away? The launch is only 1.5 - 2 years away.

[vasudeva]

Of course, GM has pinned a lot of hope on the Volt to return to profits. But cars are not made and sold on hope. To get to 2010 (or possibly 2011), GM needs a lot of money from both internal and external sources. At present, it is burning a lot of cash and seeing a huge decline in sales dollars. Losses were around US$18.7 billion in the first half with little hope of any recovery soon. Cash is very tight, and external sources of funds are also tight for all and GM in particular. Sale of assets is also uncertain.

Since you own a business, you should know that with cash going out a lot faster than coming in, how can a business survive long.

[vasudeva]

Read this for some perspective on GM's cash problems and possible solutions (Govt. handout, sale of assets, etc)

Deal Journal - WSJ.com : General Motors, Hummer and The Cash Gauge

[sujaylahiri]

The Volt might not bring in big money for GM initially since it'll be sold in limited numbers, but it is a big step forward in the North American auto industry as you can now get to own or lease a plug-in hybrid vehicle from a mainstream American manufacturer, with extensive warranty and after sales coverage, something which you do not see with companies like Tesla, Honda (FCV and Insight) or even Toyota (Prius).

Also it could be an easy way out for the struggling American manufacturers, as even Ford and Chrysler have the technology to put their own plug-in hybrids in the market.

This is also a big threat for the trump card of the Japanese automakers, which was superior fuel economy. If the Americans can bounce back in that department, they can surely win back their market share, as they have already closed in on build quality and reliability.

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by sujaylahiri

The Volt might not bring in big money for GM initially since it'll be sold in limited numbers, but it is a big step forward in the North American auto industry as you can now get to own or lease a plug-in hybrid vehicle from a mainstream American manufacturer, with extensive warranty and after sales coverage, something which you do not see with companies like Tesla, Honda (FCV and Insight) or even Toyota (Prius).

This is also a big threat for the trump card of the Japanese automakers, which was superior fuel economy. If the Americans can bounce back in that department, they can surely win back their market share, as they have already closed in on build quality and reliability.

A lot of ifs and maybes. As a consumer, I would be more than happy if I can get quality, FE from more competition. As of now, unfortunately that is not the case. Further, present and future monetary resources may determine outcomes for many. As of now, most Japanese are profitable, have been profitable for some time, and have larger cash piles than Americans. That puts Japs in a much better position to further throw money at future trends, and beat the Americans in the next big thing.

Of course, recent evidence compiled by Harbour and Associates suggests that the US–Japanese cost differential has narrowed considerably to such an extent that the US makers can no longer complain of legacy costs.

There was a research paper published in Nov. 2007 by Brookings `Vehicle Choice behavior and declining share of US automakers'. If you wish, I can mail you that. That concludes (a 2007 observation):

Nearly all of the loss in market share for U.S. manufacturers can be explained by changes in basic vehicle attributes, namely: price, size, power, operating cost, transmission type, reliability, and body type--that measure the quality and value of their vehicles. U.S. manufacturers have improved their vehicles’ attributes but not as much and as rapidly as Japanese and European manufacturers have improved the attributes of their vehicles.

[highwayblaze]

Dude,
Forget all those losses at GM and the other two. If thats what makes u think they'll back off with the Volt or any other, trust me wait till the elections get over and you'll have the govt. giving the three their promised 25 billion USD ATLEAST to get their act together. Btw the prototype Volt looked much more different than the one u see in these pics. This one's softened, making it easy for production, without taking any names, there's ppl on t-bhp that work for the company and for the volt program.

[GTO]

get over and you'll have the govt. giving the three their promised 25 billion USD ATLEAST to get their act together.

The only way for GM to get their act together is to downsize, get rid of the unnecessary brands / cars and focus on quality / depth of engineering. Make 15 awesome cars instead of 60 lacklustre ones. GM, in its current state, has no direction. I agree that the US Govt. will eventually bail GM (& Ford) out. Some industries just can't die.

[gopinathann]

Today saw an article in Newspaper, it says that GM VOLT runs 94 km per litre and the gas will not be used to run the engine but to charge the battery, however the cost is double than the Toyota Prius.

[mjothi]

Here is the link

GM says Volt to give four times more mileage than Toyota Prius- Automobiles-Auto-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

General Motors Corp said on Tuesday its Chevrolet Volt rechargeable electric car should get 230 miles per gallon (98kilometers per liter) of gasoline in city driving, more than four times the current champion, the Toyota Prius.

[Nitin]

This is definitely change the way automobiles work.230mpg! I'd say its more than 5 times the numbers returned by the Prius!