Chevy Volt wins environmental prize at Festival Automobile International
A jury at the Festival International Automobile has selected the Chevrolet Volt for the 2009 Environmental Grand Prize. The jury at the French festival is comprised of artists, media and auto industry representatives and selected winners in multiple categories including the new Alfa Romeo MiTo mini car which chosen as the most beautiful car of 2008. The festival this year looked at the car in light of the current economic environment and festival president Remi Depoix said "Designers, engineers and marketing people in the automotive business will have to come up with new valid responses to this new paradox: to conceive an automobile answering new expectations and new requirements without compromising on charm."
Whether or not the Volt meets that no-compromises charm target is still debatable, but it certainly has the potential to break new ground in the technical department. The real question will be whether it can succeed on a commercial level whether the economy turns around or not. Only time will tell the answer to that question.
Gallery: 2011 Chevy Volt
[Source: General Motors]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Timo from North Europe, Finland 2:06AM (2/21/2009)
Finally an American car that is using as less as possible gasoline and is sold with reasonable price.
First time in my whole life I am thinking that mighby I could by an American car. I have always thought that Japanese cars are more green and less expencive to keep.
Keep up the good work :). Honestly GM has found something that will sell well OUTSIDE USA too.
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Hank 9:20AM (2/20/2009)
Wow. All that work, development and investment for what? A $6 vase from IKEA? Ha!
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Yikes 9:44AM (2/20/2009)
When did vaporware start winning Automotive awards? ;-)
jpm 3:42PM (2/20/2009)
ahahah.
The Volt is doomed, along with GM.
GM killed the EV1. And now the EV (from other companies) is going to kill GM.
dotDavid 12:18PM (2/20/2009)
What an awful award. How about those other companies who're doing
the green/electric thing without billions of dollars from our
government? We need to quit rewarding mediocrity.....the thing has a 40
mile range....I mean, come on.
If you want to see what else is going on in the cleantech auto scene,
this all-manufacturer encompassing roundup from the last few weeks is
pretty helpful:
http://bit.ly/4yBK5
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mister nomer 3:54PM (2/20/2009)
dotDavid writes: "....the thing has a 40 mile range....I mean, come on."
Dude, try to see the forest for the trees.
Assuming GM survives, the Chevy Volt is going to be built in the 10s of thousands in its first year of production alone. No other highway capable EV can make that claim right now.
And, this has implications for start ups too.
The Chevy Volt production run is going to pay for the tooling that allows suppliers to mass produce things like windshield wiper motors that are more energy efficient. With the tooling paid for suppliers can then make these same components available to small volume car makers like Tesla who are only going to order small quantities.
And that's going to make the start ups even better.
dotDavid 4:04PM (2/20/2009)
You make a great point @mister nomer.....however, the whole problem is that GM could have done this 10 years ago.....but they've waited until it's the last minute, until the last chance before the whole country goes under....and it's at the tax payer's expense. The overall outstanding reviews to the EV1 were literally killed by GM. Yes, GM will help hugely in this transportation paradigm shift we're going to go through.....but, they surely don't deserve an award for it.
Brent 3:48PM (2/20/2009)
Don't people realize this hybrids require a motor manufactured and a nickel/li bat manufactured. Also, light weight metals and plenty of mini-motors and electronics. All at a environmental intial cost. I want a car with 1 or the other(Preferrably an EV, cause solar/wind can make it 100% clean) not both, I dont want the manfacturing to equal or come near the environmental savings. It tempts me to just buy something light weight in it whiches engine has gone out, and put the latest battery in it. Then I dont get the regen braking/shocks and all the other nifty efficiency technologies.. Someone get your Sh*t together and pump one out, +50 mile range, top speed +75, with an opitonal battery inverter system for solar/wind chargers.
GO!
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Chris M 3:07AM (2/21/2009)
There are several other companies that will be putting out "battery only" EVs, some may make it to market before the Volt.
GM said that they will consider producing a battery only EV if they can get the cost low enough and the performance high enough to make it practical. With the way progress is going, that could happen soon.