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REPORT: How the Chevy Volt got its $40,000 price tag, and what GM's going to do about it

It's sort of common wisdom that when the first Chevrolet Volt models become available in General Motors showrooms (or on eBay) in late 2010, they'll be priced at around $40,000. GM hasn't made any official statement declaring this specific price – and for a while there was speculation on which way the ticker would go; would it be $30,000? $35,000? – but for now, $43,000 is the expected average transaction price, and GM will lose money on each Volt at that rate, according to a new story in AdAge. This is much higher than Bob ... Read more →

Toyota's Bill Reinert lets loose on ethanol, li-ion batteries, plug-in vehicles Sebastian Blanco

Toyota's Bill Reinert should be better known. With so many quotable statements coming from GM's Bob Lutz and Tesla Motor's Elon Musk, perhaps Reinert, Toyota Motor Sales' national manager or the ...

Day one for The New GM: the more things change... Lutz stays, company needs vehicles that matter Sebastian Blanco

After only 40 days in bankruptcy, General Motors emerged today as the new GM (sans green logo, for now). While the bankruptcy was about as short and sweet as they come, the future is what everyone is ...

Lutz does care about the Volt. Stop saying he doesn't Jeremy Korzeniewski

According to Dictionary.com, ambivalence means "uncertainty or fluctuation, especially when caused by inability to make a choice or by a simultaneous desire to say or do two opposite or conflicting ...

VIDEO: Letterman gives ground on Volt, asks Lutz for first production model Sam Abuelsamid

Last night, General Motors' outgoing car czar, Bob Lutz, went to New York City to rebut the thrashing that David Letterman gave the Chevy Volt a few weeks ago during an interview. That comedian's ...

Ready for Lutz's appearance on Letterman tonight? 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

We're going to make a prediction right here and now: Bob Lutz's appearance on Dave Letterman tonight will result in at least two choice quotes. Granted, we're not exactly going out on a limb here, since the stage has been so perfectly set for a great bit of drama. Step one, Letterman loves Elon ...

Bob Lutz to take on Letterman next week to refute Volt claims 5 months ago on Autoblog Green

Two weeks after late night comedian David Letterman lashed out at the Chevy Volt's 40 mile range during an interview with Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, GM is counter-attacking with former vice-Chairman Bob Lutz. Next Wednesday night, Lutz will appear on Letterman's show with the Volt show car. Lutz ...

Bob Lutz on Letterman's Volt dis: Stupid Human Trick 6 months ago on Autoblog Green

The common wisdom shaping up around Dave Letterman's smackdown of the Chevy Volt Wednesday night: not funny. The latest to chime in on Dave's dismissal of the work that GM has done with the Voltec technology is one of the Volt's biggest supporters: Bob Lutz. Lutz, GM's Vice Chairman, wrote a piece ...

Bob Lutz: Volt will survive and prosper 7 months ago on Autoblog Green

According to the President's Task Force on Autos, GM has spent far too much time and money developing the technology that will one day underpin the Chevy Volt. As important as the fuel-saving technology is, the Task Force is keen to point out that it's a loss-making venture, at least to begin ...

Bob Lutz to retire at the end of 2009 9 months ago on Autoblog Green

Automotive journalists the world over are saddened and General Motors communications staff are breathing a sigh of relief today: Bob Lutz is retiring. For journalists, the loss of perhaps the most quotable executive since Hank the Duece means they will have to dig a little harder for stories. For ...

Which green cars should Detroit execs caravan to Washington in? 11 months ago on Autoblog Green

In lieu of taking private jets for their upcoming second visit to Washington, a new suggestion has recently been made: caravan to the nation's capitol in next-gen, fuel efficient cars. As far as being green goes, perhaps the only better option would be to carpool together, and since we can't see ...

Chevy's Volt mules have moved to Cruze mode; Lutz drives one 11 months ago on Autoblog Green

Last spring, when General Motors starting track testing its first E-Flex powertrain "mule" prototypes, the cars were based on previous-generation Chevrolet Malibu body shells, the Mali-Volts. The engineering team has now moved on to the next generation of its development cars. The latest batch of ...

Lutz: Cheap gas would be bad 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Remember all the bravado that Bob Lutz unleashed when we got our first glimpse of the Volt back in early 2007? Lutz has been the car's biggest champion since then, but he's thinking that there could be some tough news coming soon for this kind of technology. While the Volt is not named in an ...

60 Minutes on "The Race For The Electric Car" 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Want to watch Lesley Stahl and Elon Musk tool around in a Tesla Roadster? If you missed the duo on 60 Minutes last night, you can still catch it online. The stalwart CBS reporter takes a 12-minute look at "The Race for the Electric Car." The piece starts out by talking the need for new battery ...

Lutz calls for crash test break so small cars can be brought to U.S. 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

With this year's rise in gas prices, sales of small fuel efficient cars have gone through the roof and companies like Ford and Honda are selling every single Civic, Fit and Focus they can produce. Over in other parts of the world, automakers have long sold many vastly more efficient cars that ...

Bob Lutz finds out first-hand what happens when you run out of juice 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Click on the image above for more shots of Lutz and the Vectrix Bob Lutz, GM's formost Volt-pusher, loves himself some electric vehicles. As the owner of four (that's right... dude's got four!) Segways and a Vectrix Scooter, he's surely gotten used to the charging ritual. Still, accidents happen, ...

Lutz pegs first generation Chevy Volt price tag at $40,000 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

At this point any hope of picking up a first-generation Chevy Volt anywhere near the original $30,000 price target will likely come down to what tax incentives may be available at the state and federal level. GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz has told the Seattle Times that the first-generation Volt would ...

VIDEO: Bob Lutz is "Super-Pumped" about the progress on the Volt 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

GM's product development chief Bob Lutz is one of only a handful of people to have driven the first Chevy Volt development mules with the full lithium ion battery pack in place. The mules have now been dubbed Mali-Volts alluding to the Malibu body shells that contain the E-Flex. A post went up ...

Bob Lutz blogs about driving the first Volt mule 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz has just up a new blog post describing his first drive in the first functional Chevy Volt mule. The official terminology is "engineering development vehicle" but the engineers all refer to them as mules. That's because like a mule (part horse, part donkey) these early ...

Reversing the flow to Australia, Volts headed down under 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

The Lutz has spoken yet again (imagine that!) and the subject once more is the Volt. This time it involves reversing some of the recent flow of machinery between Australia and U.S. GM's Holden division down under was tasked with developing a global rear wheel drive architecture for the company ...

Was Maximum Bob right? Is global warming a crock? Sure looks like it around here! 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

So, was Bob Lutz right, or was it just bad luck? Just as I picked up a new Mazda MX-5 to drive for a few days following the Vernal Equinox, it has started to snow (and snow, and snow). We've actually had more snow this winter than I can recall in quite a few years. Getting 4-5 more inches of the ...

Lutz: GM is OK with losing money on the Volt for a while 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

According to Bob Lutz, General Motors has known how to make a hybrid for years, but held off of building one because they projected that they would lose as much as $250 million per year building them. What they hadn't counted on, though, was that a huge perception gap would grow in the public eye ...

GM: by 2015, one-third of our US car sales will be hybrids, and the V-8 engine will quasi-disappear 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

What will you be driving in 2015? If you only drive GM vehicles, there's a one in three chance it'll be a hybrid, according to a report from Bloomberg. GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said, "around 2015 we're going to have to sell a ton of hybrids whether people want them or not." Lutz added, "it's ...

GM and Toyota: Don't expect fuel cells any time soon 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

The great hydrogen debate of '08 continues to heat up, with Bob Lutz from GM and Katsuaki Watanabe from Toyota echoing each other's statements regarding fuel cell vehicles for the mainstream market. The general consensus seems to be that fuel cells are still way too expensive for use in automobiles ...

Lutz says new CAFE standards will increase car price by $6k 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Ten months ago, Bob Lutz said GM cars would be $5,000 more expensive if the Bush administration got its way with fuel standards by raising fuel economy 4% every year through 2017. Bush didn't get his way, but Congress did with its newly-signed-into-law energy bill that requires automakers have a ...

Videos: Bob Lutz says Toyota will have egg on its face come Easter 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

The videos above and below the fold are parts 1 and 2 of a 50-minute speech by GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz after receiving an award at the Western Automotive Journalists' meeting. Even with no voice, jet lagged and after a drink at dinner, Bob had lots of interesting things to say. Is anyone ...

LA Auto Show video: Bob Lutz makes apparent slam at Hillary Clinton's energy plan 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

The video above is an interview with the emanently quotable GM vice Chairman Bob Lutz on GM's move towards making greener cars and CAFE standards at the 2007 LA Auto Show. Bob says the reasoning for making more fuel efficient cars is really a global one because there are places around the world ...

LA Auto Show video: Bob Lutz confirms GM will release 16 hybrids in next four years 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Your browser does not support JavaScript. This media can be viewed at <a ...

Bob Lutz can't seem to decide on just what impact CAFE legislation has 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

A common auto industry argument against CAFE - regulation that requires automakers to make their overall vehicle fleet get more miles per gallon - is that it will just force small cars on the road and big vehicles off. The argument goes that the automakers will not be able to improve cars and the ...

Volt battery may be shaped like accordion 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

David Pogue did a great segment on CBS Sunday Morning all about electric cars recently which included an interview with GM vice chairman Bob Lutz. David has a larger chunk of the interview with Bob Lutz in his e-newsletter. In the interview, Bob mentions the "batteries may or may not have exactly ...

Liveblogging from the Management Briefing Seminar: Bob Lutz Speaks on the Volt 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/hardware/General_Motors_appoints_A123_as_top_tier_lithium_ion_battery_supplier'; This morning at the Management Briefing Seminar in Traverse City MI General Motors Vice-Chairman Bob Lutz will be speaking and making an announcement related to the Chevy Volt/E-Flex ...

VIDEO: Bob Lutz expounds on diesel in America 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

In the latest installment of the continuing video series being published on GM's FastLane Blog, this week Bob Lutz responds to the question: "What about diesel?" Clearly Lutz isn't a huge fan of diesel going forward, at least for the North American market. In a response similar to that given by ...

Video: Lutz admits Cadillac Sixteen wouldn't be prudent 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

The Cadillac Sixteen concept from 2003 General Motors has released another in a series of videos of senior managers and executives answering questions from readers of their FastLane blog. This time Vice-Chairman "Maximum" Bob Lutz answers the question "Hey Bob, what's up with all the concept cars ...

Bob Lutz says Wait, Wait! The Volt is more exciting than the Viper 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

The National Public Radio comedy news quiz show Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me! periodically takes there show on the road and this past weekend they turned up at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. They have a segment called "Not My Job" where they ask a series of questions to a special guest on topics ...

GM is determined to put the Chevy Volt in production as early as 2010 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

It appears as if everyones favorite series-hybrid may make it into production as early as 2010. This news comes courtesy of General Motors Larry Burns, GM's vice president for research and development and Jim Queen, group vice president of global engineering. It is no secret that the Volt was a ...

Maximum Bob leaks news about Bio-Diesel E-flex in Frankfurt 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

During an interview at the New York Auto Show last week Bob Lutz let it slip that there would be another concept car based on the E-Flex platform that underpins the Chevy Volt coming out at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. The fact that the car to be shown in Germany is to use a biodiesel ...

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