GM Formally Unveils 2011 Chevy Volt Gas-Electric Hybrid at Centennial Celebration
By Scott Doggett September 16, 2008
A week after leaking shots of the Chevrolet Volt with project principals posing in front of it, General Motors Corp. today rolled out its plug-in hybrid vehicle to a standing ovation from hundreds of employees inside GM's Renaissance Center in Detroit.
The unveiling was the highlight in a string of events scheduled for today to celebrate the automaker's centennial.
The Volt is expected to allow drivers to travel up to 40 miles on electric power alone. After that, a small gasoline-fueled engine comes on to generate electricity for a battery pack that feeds the sedan's electric motor. The motor in turn provides power to the wheels.
Seated behind the wheel at its unveiling was GM's chief product man, Bob Lutz, who said the hybrid vehicle will help reestablish GM as a leader in technology and fuel-efficiency.
"With one fell swoop, the Volt will erase that misconception," Lutz said, adding the vehicle should be available to consumers in November 2010.
GM President Fritz Henderson seemed to disagree. He said no single vehicle will change the fortunes of the cash-strapped automaker.
"I'm not sure there is a single game-changer," he said. "My view is you change the game one step at a time. We're excited about this, but it's not the only step."
Both Henderson and CEO and Chairman Rick Wagoner pointed to the automaker's other research -- among them developing biofuel, plug-in and fuel-cell technologies -- as part of a broader effort to change the game.
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Click here to comment on this entry.Oh, boy - not diggin' the "Windows" style dash readout. Analog guages are quicker to read, and aesthetically better than an operating system monitor. Still, the rest of the car looks interesting enough.
This car is just too ugly. Who would want one? If I wanted a hybrid, I'd simply wait for the new Prius. Much better!
The car is pretty sharp looking. Certainly the sportiest looking hybrid. (Oh wait, it's not a hybrid, but it technically is). The second from last picture is my favorite. A couple of gripes though. I certainly hope they redesign the center stack before final production. As cool as touch-sensitive buttons are, give me real mechanical buttons/knobs, and simplify the design. Blue foglamps look dumb and are less functional at cutting through fog than white or yellow lights. (But who uses foglamps to do that?) And I hope those are not production brakes. They look fake. I don't know if I'd pay 35 grand for this, but when price becomes competitive with a Prius or Civic hybrid, it'd be worth a look.
@ greenpony: They'll probably make further tweaks to the design details as they finish tooling and cost projections for production.
I'm actually fine with the styling. They couldn't keep the design that they premiered for the concept because it had too much drag. I'm fine with them doing whatever they have to do to get the car to run well- function over form. Even in this compromised look, it's fine, just generic.
My bigger worry is the center console. Until I see it in person, I'm going to worry that the white plastic will look chintzy rather than upscale. I wouldn't want to pay over $30k for a car with a cheap looking center stack.
I worry about how stained and dated that white plastic will look after a year or two of grubby, dirty fingers touching it. I know my friend's Mac laptop (all white) looks dingy brown and stained now.
With that exception, I think the car looks very nice. I'm not one to expect that a production model should look like a concept from two years ago. Did anyone really expect that?
As hybrids go, this is the best, most athletic looking five seater I've seen so far. Compared to a Prius, the Volt looks sporty indeed. I'm impressed that they fit essentially two drive trains and a load of batteries into this thing. Overall, I say nicely done.
I also love that look for the gauge cluster and information displays. I think futuristic and different is the way to go. On a car like this, people don't necessarily want to look at analog gauges. If they stick with that set up, I think it would be very cool. The interior, to me, looks great taken as a whole.
All in all, I say good job so far to the General.
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