Comments on: Volt Birth Watch 18: Happy Birthday Volt?

By: Steve-O

Steve-O — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 21:59:48 +0000

Lutz & Co. are trying to create PR mystique around their upcoming (or pie in the sky, we won’t know until 2011) products. The problem is, we’ve heard this from him before (RWD Impala? Yes? No? Perhaps?).

My money is on a watered-down plug-in hybrid with the name Volt, IF and only if GM survives to produce it by ‘10.

By: 1996MEdition

1996MEdition — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 20:56:17 +0000

Accelerated life testing is standard in product development. Maximum (Minimum?) Bob should know that since he is the product guru. There is a whole science around reliability testing and predicting (within confidence bounds) what your product life will be based on accelerated tests. If there wasn’t, product development would be extremely lengthy as validation testing proceeded at real world rates. Oh, wait a minute, this is GM we are talking about. Nevermind.

By: Redbarchetta

Redbarchetta — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:26:42 +0000

How insulting to Homer to compare him to Bob Lutz!

There’s no way we can predict how these batteries will perform over 10 years based on only two months of testing, but I can assure you, there will be a point in time when we have the full confidence that our solution will reach this goal. When this happens, you’ll be the first to know.

I love that line from Lutz. You’ll be the first to know because you will be hoping version number 2 does last 10 years after beta testing version number one for $40,000 to find out it only lasted 5 years.

By: guyincognito

guyincognito — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:13:48 +0000

“Well I took up smoking and then quit”

“Great job Bart! You know quitting smoking is one of the hardest things to do”

“But Dad, he didn’t even do anything”

“Didn’t he Lisa, Didn’t he”

By: Sherman Lin

Sherman Lin — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:27:17 +0000

Then again GM’s fastlane blog should make interesting reading if and when GM goes ch11.

By: jazbo123

jazbo123 — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:51:47 +0000

I think GM was better off without their executive involvement in the blogs. I really don’t see any value added to them, unless their goal is to be the world’s largest blogmaker. Just go back to press releases when appropriate, and roll the cars out when they’re done… and avoid all the deserved and undeserved criticism that a blog is going to generate.

By: Redbarchetta

Redbarchetta — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:37:49 +0000

He must be completely crazy. At least it makes for a good laugh on the net, at his expense. The first birthday on a car in name only. It;s not even going to look the same as the rolling platform they keep advertising. What exactly is this a birday of the “idea to create it and the new drivetrain.” The loonacy that is Mr. Nutz.

By: Sid Vicious

Sid Vicious — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:31:14 +0000

Life begins at conception in GM Land. Haven’t you seen the commercials for the Volt?

By: KixStart

KixStart — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:25:50 +0000

FastLane is a dreamworld where GM is perenially number 1. It’s a place where the FanBoys can slap down GM’s critics at will. A place where a non-existent car, the Volt or the Camaro, puts the competition to shame, in spite of the fact that it doesn’t ship but the competition does.

It’s the perfect venue for a birthday party for a car that doesn’t exist.

And Maximum Bob missed a significant achievement; they’ve advertised this vaporware heasvily.