Volt Birth Watch 130: GM Promises Volt by November 2010

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

Hats off to GM Spinmeister-in-Chief Steve Harris. The guy’s got his finger on the pulse, at a time when the last thing GM can afford (never mind the U.S. taxpayer) is bad PR. And so, the ailing American automaker launched a major “the Volt is real” offensive, in the face of rumors (need I mention any names?) that the bailout-critical green car program is in chaos. (Cart and pony pics in gallery below.) The Detroit News reports that “Volt is on Track.” The words “GM Says” are conspicuous by their absence. But I e-quibble, ’cause I share Lyle Dennis’ willingness to accept Volt engineers’ “infinite confidence” that they can make Chevy’s plug-in gas/electric Hail Mary work. And here’s the news: like Tesla, GM’s already hard at work on Volt 2.0.



GM says engineers are working on second- and third-generation electric versions that will cost less.

The Detroit automaker is working with companies that produce battery cells and electronic and thermal systems to find innovations that will drop the cost of subsequent generations of electric vehicles, said Denise Gray, GM’s director of hybrid energy storage systems.

“Our primary focus on generations two and three is one of cost,” said Bob Kruse, GM executive director of global vehicle engineering. “We understand the business proposition and we understand what it takes. But we also know to allow this to take off and be more regularized that cost is absolutely key.”

Verbize of the day? Never mind. There’s no question that GM will move heaven and Congress to get something Volt-shaped on the road by the deadline.

GM has about 30 Chevrolet Cruze vehicles on the road now that use the Volt’s lithium-ion battery packs and the automaker will start testing about 80 prototype vehicles this summer that functionally represent the electric car, [GM executive director of global vehicle engineering Bob] Kruse said.

Battery-powered Cruze control? Who’d a thunk it? Over to you, Mr. Harris.

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Akear Akear on Mar 19, 2009

    I know this is not the topic of this thread, but isn't all this bad news about the US auto industry just adding to the depressive state of the nation. 40 years ago we sent men to the moon, and now we can't even make a simple compact car. I feel sick to my stomach thinking GM's only domestic engineered passenger cars are the Lacrosse, Lucerne, and Corvette. What is left after all this out-sourcing. The answer to this is a giant pile of excrement! What friggin' nightmare.

  • Yankinwaoz Yankinwaoz on Mar 20, 2009
    Why buy the first if the 2nd and 3rd gen are going to be affordable? They have to be careful about what they promise. Otherwise, they may get sunk by the Osborne Effect.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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