Volt Birth Watch 149: Jean Jennings Loves Her some Volt
By Robert FaragoJune 29, 2009
In fact, Jean Jennings loves her some, well, anything—as long as the company providing the four-wheeled thing butters her bread either directly or indirectly (via advertising). Way back in March 2008, TTAC took the president and editor-in-chief of Automobile magazine to task for pimping for Jeep. Now, even as Old GM becomes Old GM II (a.k.a. New GM), the bankrupt automaker’s turning to Jean for a spirited defense of their beleaguered plug-in Hail Mary. This, remember, is the car the pre-C11 GM Presidential Task Force on Automobiles dismissed as . . . well, shall we recap? “GM is at least one generation behind Toyota on advanced, “green” powertrain development. In an attempt to leapfrog Toyota, GM has devoted significant resources to the Chevy Volt. While the Volt holds promise, it is currently projected to be much more expensive than its gasoline-fueled peers and will likely need substantial reductions in manufacturing cost in order to become commercially viable.” Anyway, misery loves company. Automobile magazine’s owner, Source Interlink, recently emerged from bankruptcy. Despite the objection of the IRS. See what paying Bill Clinton $15.4 million in do-nothing consulting fees can do for you?
Posted in News Blog | Volt Birth Watch | 5 comments 
Volt Birth Watch 148: The End of the Beginning?
By Edward NiedermeyerJune 25, 2009
Ahead of schedule and under budget? Maybe this one will come down to door closing sounds. So why the flashback to the concept bait-and-switch? If the Volt’s butterfly-into-larvae morph doesn’t remind folks of the Old, Bad GM, what will? Ask Farah for yourself at his Live Chat Confessional, 4 pm Eastern, at Fastlane.
Posted in Electric Vehicles | News Blog | Volt Birth Watch | 8 comments
Volt Birth Watch 147: Heavy Lifting
By Edward NiedermeyerJune 25, 2009
As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama made a campaign promise to have one million plug-in hybrids on America’s roads by 2015. That’s an ambitious plan, considering we didn’t hit the million hybrid milestone until eight years after the Prius was introduced. Back in April, GM’s Volt Man Tony Posawatz admitted to MSNBC that “it certainly is a difficult challenge to achieve that goal.” He went on to say that GM would have “tens of thousands” of Volts on the road by 2015. But, “it’s not readily obvious, based on the product plans that have been communicated, that the 2015 objective aligns with what is currently on the books,” he said. Would someone please tell Tony who pays the bills? Anyway, the tune has changed. “I can tell you we can definitely do the heavy lifting part of that,” GM’s Brita Gross tells Automotive News [sub]. “We definitely will lift up our end of that.” But how?
Posted in Green | News Blog | Volt Birth Watch | 3 comments
Volt Birth Watch 146: How We’ll Make Money on the Volt
By Robert FaragoJune 24, 2009
Yes, it’s triple VBW day at TTAC, thanks to Beth Lowery, GM Vice President, Environment, Energy & Safety Policy. Over at the Fastlane blog, Lowery is proving that the more things change at GM, the more things don’t change. She’s still talking about perception gaps. And here’s the spin re: the Volt’s financial sustainability. [BTW: Whatever happened to GMNext?]
Posted in News Blog | Volt Birth Watch | 12 comments
Volt Birth Watch 145: Another Meaningless Test Drive
By Robert FaragoJune 24, 2009
The Chevrolet Volt’s engineering team has given journos seat time in development mules. While this proves that the Volt exists, no car hack has been allowed to put the most important metrics to the test: range and recharge times. In fact, the makers of GM’s plug-in hybrid Hail Mary haven’t allowed a single scribe to drive the car in “range-extended mode.” For the euphemistically averse, that’s the bit where the Volt switches from battery operation to gasoline-powered battery operation. Writing in the Irish Times, automotive correspondent Chelsea Sexton (I’m female!) tried to rectify this sin of omission. She encountered little of CEO Fritz Henderson’s stack-o-bibles promise of transparency. In fact, this is genuinely funny stuff, in a “there goes a billion dollars of my tax money despite the PTFOA’s pre-C11 assertion that the Volt is a waste of money” kinda way.
Posted in News Blog | Volt Birth Watch | 6 comments
Volt Birth Watch 143: Did He Just Say “Under Budget”?
By Edward NiedermeyerJune 22, 2009
In an interview with gm-volt.com, The General’s global product honcho, John Lauckner, reveals the impossible: the Volt is somehow under-budget. According to Lauckner, “. . . were [sic] very pleased that were [sic] on time on target and under budget.” After all, “you can’t ask for more than that when your running a program the size of the Volt and with the amount of technology that we’re [See? It's not that hard] designing developing and implementing largely on the fly.” Yes, but what does “under budget” mean when you’re talking about a $40K bailout-baby green halo car?
Posted in News Blog | Volt Birth Watch | 8 comments
Volt Birth Watch 142: Ask A Cheerleader
By Edward NiedermeyerMay 26, 2009
Because people with pom-poms always have great insights. Scott Burgess of the Detroit News and Mark Phelan of the Detroit Free Press have driven the Cruze-based Volt mule, written nearly identical rah-rah routines, and will be taking questions on the vehicle at 2 p.m. Eastern over at GM’s Fastlane Blog. Ironically (or not . . . who can tell anymore?) titled “Journalists To Discuss Chevy Volt,” the discussion is more likely to be indicative of the state of automotive “journalism” (shilling at the OEM’s blog? Really?) than revealing of anything of actual interest about the Volt. But by all means, surf over and ask a few awkward questions for us. For question ideas, start here.
Posted in Media | News Blog | Volt Birth Watch | 5 comments
Volt Birth Watch 141: Toyota Laughs at the Volt, Indirectly
By Robert FaragoMay 19, 2009
Bloomberg is all over Bill Reinert’s presentation to a National Academy of Sciences panel today in Washington. And why not? Toyota’s US national manager for advanced technology says plug-in hybrid vehicles are a non-starter. “Toyota estimates sales of hybrids that can be recharged at household outlets may be 50,000 units a year at most and could be as few as 3,500.” Not expressed: those kind of numbers wouldn’t even pay the HVAC bill for the building where Chevy engineers are busy trying to cobble together the new plug-in electric/gas hybrid Volt. Reinert’s not dancing on the Volt’s grave, but that’s only because it’s not dead. Yet. But the signs—admittedly as provided by the vehicle’s competitors—are not good.
Posted in News Blog | Volt Birth Watch | 33 comments
Volt Birth Watch 140: Aesthetic Holdups
By Edward NiedermeyerMay 18, 2009
The Freep‘s Mark Phelan has a new paean to the Chevy Volt mule’s electric grunt, saying the Cruze bodied tech-tester has “immediate torque for acceleration most sporty small cars would envy.” As GM prepares to build the first run of Volt-bodied test mules starting in mid-June, it’s bumping up the media presence of its last best hope by offering flacks like Phelan another test drive. And this time around the Volt’s “sporty acceleration” tops the talking points. “The test vehicle ran with smooth, quiet power,” reports Phelan, “but driving it felt reassuringly like getting behind the wheel of any new car.” Which conveniently is “a key goal for the Volt program,” according to GM EV Maestro Frank Weber. Another “key goal?” Making it look good enough to draw interest at its $35K price point.
Posted in News Blog | Volt Birth Watch | 24 comments
Volt Birth Watch 139: Niche
By Edward NiedermeyerMay 8, 2009
Recent reports that GM won’t even let the fanboys drive their Volt mules in the all-important range-extending “generator mode” were troubling enough, but recent chatter from inside GM suggests that maybe Chevy should have simply designed the Volt as an electric-only vehicle. “It’s best utilized in urban vehicles,” GM Product chief Tom Stephens explains to Automotive News [sub]. “We have to consider what is the usage of the person buying the vehicle. For a commuter who drives 40 miles a day and takes it shopping on weekend, it’s the perfect application.” Yes, and a Hummer is the perfect vehicle for those who want to practice counterinsurgency tactics on the weekends, but the market doesn’t necessarily reflect that, does it? No, it’s image über alles at GM. Is it any surprise then to learn (via GM-volt.com) that the Volt was originally imagined by Bob Lutz as an EV-only city car?
Posted in News Blog | Volt Birth Watch | 28 comments
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