New York Times looks at the Volt and GM's centennial
Few companies manage to stay in business for 100 years, but for the second time this decade (Ford reached the milestone in 2003) an American-based automaker has hit that threshold. Tuesday marks the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of General Motors with a celebration at its world headquarters in Detroit. Automobile Magazine's Don Sherman takes a look at GM and it's chances for future success with electrified vehicles in the New York Times. With a price tag that has crept upward by 30 percent from the original target, and styling that departs significantly from the highly-regarded 2007 concept, the chances for success of the Volt are being increasingly questioned. The need for aerodynamic efficiency has left many feeling that the sporty vision we saw last year has morphed into another Prius clone. Sherman quotes several industry observers who doubt that lithium batteries will be able to meet the vehicle lifespan requirements that are needed and they may well turn out to be right. At this point it's simply too early to tell. GM is conducting accelerated durability testing, but until they have years of use in the real world, we simply won't know if the models are accurate enough. Meanwhile, stick with us on Tuesday morning when we bring you live coverage of the official reveal of the Volt production design from Detroit.
Related:
- BREAKING: Is this the production Chevy Volt in Transformers 2?
- EPA vs the Chevy Volt: Hybrid or electric car? 48mpg or 100mpg?
- Production Chevy Volt photos leak out!
Gallery: 2011 Chevy Volt
[Source: New York Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Dave 11:29AM (9/13/2008)
I tend to agree with the content of the article. To me, the front end looks very much like the Honda Civic, so IMO nothing special in terms of unique design. So, when this comes out they will be competing on price and performance with their peers. Also, I think some of the new designs coming out from their competitors are much much more appealing, so they will have a lot of competition in that arena.
Reply
mynameisme 12:48PM (9/13/2008)
sounds like they are trying to kill off the ev again by saying that it won't last and is too expensive.
Reply
state 1:05PM (9/13/2008)
"With a price tag that has crept upward by 30 percent from the original target, and styling that departs significantly from the highly-regarded 2007 concept, the chances for success of the Volt are being increasingly questioned."
More Sam nonsense. The only thing we need question is Sam ability to get the information right.
Reply
Doug-GMnext 2:11PM (9/13/2008)
If you're interested, you can join GM for its Centennial activities on GMnext.com. It begins at 8:30 a.m. EDT with a Global Broadcast. There's also web chats with GM leaders, including Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, beginning at 10:30 a.m. and a Future of Transportation Roundtable at 1:30 p.m. with industry experts. Just visit GMnext.com for all the info.
Reply
Bill 3:25PM (9/13/2008)
There are no Volt competitors.
No one else is planning to sell a practical, mass-market EV by 2010.
You can have your pick of hybrid-assist models, but they have almost no electric-only range.
Reply
tankd0g 7:55PM (9/13/2008)
There might be a reason no one sells a $40,000 hybrid with a claimed 40 mile electric range, no market. There are EVs available all over the world that do 80-140 miles and cost less than 40 grand. GM would be better off tossing the ICE and get this pig to go 200 miles on a battery. The Chinese will probably do it before the decade is out.
Sam Abuelsamid 8:00PM (9/13/2008)
tankd0g, Name one!
mynameisme 10:57PM (9/13/2008)
Miles motors has one for $35,000
the aptera will go on sale soon for like $30,000
the triac from green vehicles is going for $20,000 and gets 100 miles.
jake 10:47PM (9/13/2008)
@Sam Abuelsamid
I think the TH!NK City qualifies, as it gets 110mi, is under $40k and is avaliable now, though not in the US. But I can't think of any other ones avaliable for sale that can get more than 80 miles. Most of the ones avaliable now are NEVs.
Sam Abuelsamid 11:03PM (9/13/2008)
The Aptera and Miles vehicles are not actually available to purchase yet and as far as I can tell neither is the Triac. The Triac and Aptera are also classed as motorcycles, not cars because they only have three wheels. As such they are not subject to any federal safety standards. None of the NEVs currently available can get anywhere near 100 miles on a charge nor can they go over 25 mph. Finally the Th!nk city is essentially a two seater and is not available here either.
tankd0g 1:19AM (9/14/2008)
Perhaps you should look a couple articles back right here on
autoblog at BYD. All those cars that aren't available yet, well they are every bit as available as the Volt.
John 3:39PM (9/13/2008)
The original styling was completely impractical. The target audience for this car isn't interested in what would effectively be a two seater with tank-like visibility. Those who would want the Volt concept because of the styling aren't interested in 50 mpg.
Those car pictures would be much better without those dorks blocking the view.
Reply
tankd0g 7:55PM (9/13/2008)
Tee's no excuse for losing the concept's nose in favor of the Malibou test mule. this smacks of laziness.
Chris M 3:37AM (9/14/2008)
the "Malibu mule" was just to test the powertrain and battery, it was not used to design the chassis.
The front end of the concept had horrible aerodynamics, too square and boxy, too many edges causing turbulence, and the wheel fenders stuck out too much. The production front end is much better, aerodynamically speaking. Besides, I love the redesign on the headlights, and the overall look is quite distinctive and won't be mistaken for anything else.
Perry 6:46PM (9/13/2008)
I still think it is insane to try to introduce cutting edge new technology at the lower end of the pricing spectrum. Tesla has the right idea. They should have made it a cadillac sports car that can compete with the tesla, that way nobody would care if it costs 50 or even 60 grand.
Reply
Mike!!ekiM 10:40AM (9/14/2008)
You make a valid point, but GM must have demographic data and done buyer survey's. In other words would Cadillac buyers have bought an electric car? If the answer was no, then GM made the right decision?
Would a Cadillac buyer have been happy with 160 electric horsepower? I'd say most 60 year olds would be, but the Car magazines would have destroyed it in reviews. ( As they did the EV1. )
gorr 7:40PM (9/13/2008)
I think that the best employee at Gm is larry burn with his opinion that they are ready to put fuelcell cars on sale and that they can offer natural gas cars. I hope the goverment and the other employees at gm will not put him out of the compagny. Employee like him are often kick-out when some old farts begin to remember having destroyed all the electrics tramways in all american cities in the 1950's era. All in all Gm in his existance have destroyed many electrical appliances, the ev1 and the tramways to show to the people that dirty petroluem was good.
They invested a lot in ethanol too. This compagny is own and operated by high financial bankers and big oil.
Reply
Chris M 3:44AM (9/14/2008)
Larry Burns is part of the hydrogen research team, so naturally he is gung-ho for H2 fuel cells, but even he admits they are still far too expensive and needs a lot more work to bring the price down. He figures another 8 to 10 years might do it, I think he is overly optimistic, and it doesn't matter because plug-ins like the Volt will take over long before then.
The future is electric.
Reply
jeffzekas 3:25PM (9/14/2008)
Why doesn't GM make TWO versions of the Volt: the boring, production version being shown, and a "special" edition with the show car body? Expensive? Yeah, but such a move would show flexibility and vision... two traits distinctly lacking in Detroit for the last two decades (didn't anyone learn from the Oil Crisis of 1973?!!!).
Reply
Chris M 6:15PM (9/14/2008)
GM has already announced plans to use the E-Flex powertrain in other models, they would have a different appearance and appeal to different customers. Those wanting sexy looks and high performance might want an "E-Vette", luxury lovers an "E-Caddy". Need room and carrying capacity? An "E-Van" or "E-Truck. And for those wanting excessive Macho, they might even make an "E-Hummer" (Assuming the slow selling Hummer line isn't discontinued first).