If I was in charge of such a revolutionary product such as the Volt, letting the dealers mess with it would the LAST thing I would allow.

The limited rollout makes sense and I would agree to that.

Rather than stock and train dealers, I would instead simply train them to remove and replace complete components. I would have the removed components sent back to the lab for diagnostics and failure analysis.

This would allow GM to recognize problems and make corrections to production.

I would not pre-manufacture a deep inventory of replacement components. Instead, I would keep it shallow. Otherwise corrections could render the inventory obsolete. Limiting the market and volume of Volts will help control demand for replacement components.

Only after a sufficient period, perhaps 1 to 2 years, of beta-testing in this mode would I then start training dealers to do some of this work themselves. This would only be after most bugs have been worked out and the product is stable and reliable.

In other words, keep a tight grip on the product. There is way too much on the line to allow other variables to blow it for GM.

If they were doing things right for this product they wouldn’t be doing it this way. The right way to do it would be to show a concept give a realistic timeline and then shut up until they had something to show the media, a working prototype test mule, then shut up again until they had a production example they could start using for PR. Then a smart soft launch in select cities due to the nature of this product, such as New York City, LA, San Fran, Chicago, Atlanta, etc. Then slowly roll out the car nationally over 12-18 months with proper marketing. Not showing a car that wont even look like what they are showing in national ads(have any of you seen the one where the kids listen to the humm of a powerplant that doesn’t exist because its an empty shell, pathetic).

They are using the Volt as a greenwashing PR campain when it will end up being a half-assed overly expensive product if it ever makes it to production(I have serious doubts this car will ever be sold). They are already admitting the car wont meet their claimed price point and probably wont be all they have been claiming until version 2. And the bashing is warranted, where is the HyWire we should have gotten already that had the same sort of hype.

2010 was an aggressive schedule from the start, and yet they’re still on track to meet that goal. The batteries were delivered on time for one manufacturer, and less than a month behind for the other.

Development isn’t linear, it’s parallel, so this doesn’t even put the whole project behind unless the battery is the long lead item with a fully packed 3 year schedule.

As far as offering the car at limited dealerships, well that makes good business sense in every way. City driving EV’s shine because of the regenerative braking and instant on, service centers with multiple customers can carry an inventory of parts and limit the cost of new testing equipment.

There’s no advantage to offering the Volt at every dealership. The people that want it in the first year will drive a bit to get one, the people that don’t even know the Volt exists(most people) won’t even consider buying one until they’re successful.

People bash GM all the time, but they’re doing things right for this product.

The state laws ended that and now, if you have a dealer agreement, you get what they build — and sorrowfully, that includes the good and the bad.

To make matters worse, I think we are about to be blind sided by a Japanese car that will make the Volt obsolete before it is shown in production form. Pretty Pathetic.

Boy, what a drag that must be. Who would have thought that introducing a new vehicle would be so much work? You would think, though, that with a car as 180 out from anything else GM sells, they would be starting to look at dealer prep from a realistic point of view instead of preparing the public with an excuse to help ease another looming PR disaster. Maybe this shows how much stock GM has in Lutz’s 2010 claim, and how realistic the Volt will be as a mass market vehicle in its first iteration.