Jon Lauckner, New GM’s Vice President of Global Program Management, picked up the FastLane webchat-a-phone and confirmed that he can’t confirm a final price for its tire-squawking (true story!) Hail Mary hybrid. This despite the fact that the Volt—or at least a small squad of hand-built prototypes—is due at the Chevy showroom—or at least down at the steps of Congress for the next ’round of bailout hearings—by the end of 2010. “Hi Dan,” Lauckner says, greeting the e-interrogator daring GM to whip out its sticker. “We typically do not lock in on pricing until about 3-6 months prior to start of production. The reason is primarily so we have an opportunity to take a look at the market, competitors and other factors. So stay tuned.” So to speak, ’cause that issue ain’t sorted out neither . . .

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With the Malibu mild-hybrid out of the picture and the Volt project still in integration testing, GM-Volt.com reports that the General is developing a “dedicated hybrid” model alá Prius and Insight. According to GM’s Ed Peper, the 4-banger manual Malibu’s 33 highway mpg makes the extra cost of a mild hybrid a tough sell. Besides, a hybrid has to look like a hybrid to earn its eco-premium, right? But isn’t that what the Volt does? Unless, of course, GM wants an eco-halo that it can (possibly) make money on. In which case… duh? Either way, if GM plumps for a dedicated hybrid alongside the Volt, it will mean more development cost, more cannibalism, and more signs of death-thrashing. Time to pop those focus pills, GM. Again. Still.

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?

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.

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?

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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?]

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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.

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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?

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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.

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.

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