By Robert Farago
September 23, 2008
We’ve given Alex Taylor III grief about remaining in Detroit denial. Well, you can forget all that. Fortune’s Senior Writer rips GM’s plug-in electric – gas hybrid a new asshole in his latest epistle “Will the Chevy Volt save the world? Please! It isn’t even enough to save General Motors.” In paragraph two, Taylor’s unloads both barrels of his rhetorical shotgun. “To put the Volt in perspective, it is an expensive, low-volume automobile that will have no visible impact on GM’s market share, CAFÉ average or profitability. One cynic calls it ‘a Viper for tree huggers.’” I’d lose the diactritic mark over the “E,” but you can’t fault the man’s logic. “Even if GM can meet its deadlines and the Volt turns out to be a huge success, it isn’t going to matter to most people. At best, it will become a second or third car in the garages of the affluent.” Nor can you question Taylor’s TTAC-like editorial commitment, or penchant for Parisian metaphors. “Except for its celebrity appeal, the Volt is about as relevant to the survival of GM, much less the world, as Paris Hilton is to the future of Western civilization.” [thanks to mudhen for the link]
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POWERED
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:10 am
Very well put. I suspect the Volt will turn out to be GM’s Edsel.
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:19 am
There are enough rich treehuggers (been to California lately?) to make it worthwhile for GM, but not with that styling and not as a Chevy.
There were actually multiple Edsel models, a complete line of cars. GM has several Edsels-in-waiting: Saab, Hummer, Saturn, Pontiac, Buick…
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:26 am
I suspect the Volt will turn out more like the original Oldsmobile Toronado. Not a terrible car, but just another low-volume asterisk that displayed GM’s typical mix of innovation and myopia.
In marketing terms it doesn’t really matter what happens to the Volt. GM doesn’t believe that the corporation’s future rests upon its shoulders. This is just a big marketing game. Once GM has something else in the pipeline the Volt will be relegated to the top shelf back by the detergents (and the Camaro).
What’s next? Hey, how about something truly innovative like the world’s first wide small car?
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:34 am
What’s the point of a $40,000 economy car?` If you care about saving money, you’d buy a $20K car and use the other $20K to buy gas.
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:04 am
It is pronounced “cayfe” or “ca-feh”? I’ve always used the former, but when it’s mentioned–say, in podcasts–it’s the latter.
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:09 am
Regardless of the merits of the Volt, this line is priceless: ‘a Viper for tree huggers.’
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:11 am
Dr Lemming :
What’s next? Hey, how about something truly innovative like the world’s first wide small car?
You mean like the Pacer? If it had only gotten the Wankle, maybe…
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:23 am
I’ve always heard it pronounced “ca-feh” like you would in France, or for cafe racer.
Awesome pic, btw.
And +1 on the Viper for tree huggers line. That’s awesome!
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Gotta put in my vote on it too.
‘a Viper for tree huggers.’
Inspired.
And accurate.
Bunter
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Clearly, the Volt won’t save GM, but it is a good starting point for the future. They need to learn to walk before they run, to find out what works and doesn’t work. Cost reductions will come eventually as volume increases and the technology matures. The 3rd or 4th generation 10 years into the future could be very interesting, especially if gas prices continue their upward climb and the world expends some serious effort in battery technology.
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I was listening to Loveline on the radio last night and the subject of the Volt came up between calls. Dr. Drew talked about it and how it worked for a bit, then said he was probably going to get one. I wonder if he’ll remember it in the next two years it takes to finally hit production.
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
A good caption for the above pic:
“You can never be too rich… or too thin.”
The Volt? Meh.
September 23rd, 2008 at 1:48 pm
The Volt isn’t a good “starting point” – if you actually believe, it’s a big leap. A good starting point would be building hybrids that don’t suck. Or, heck, even normal small cars that don’t suck.
GM got caught with their pants down – the Volt was originally just a FUD project to hold off the Prius until gas got cheap again. Now it’s a FUD project to get a big bailout. In neither instance is it necessary that it actually sell.
September 23rd, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Actually the Volt could be one of the most profitable cars GM ever build. If it succeeds in it’s secret mission: create the goodwill GM and the other big 1.8 need to get their $ 25 billion bailout money from the US government.
September 23rd, 2008 at 3:00 pm
I just like to see Paris Hilton confused. That is the laugh du jour. And so is the price tag of the Volt. I thought it was going to be Prius priced.
Yep, dead in the water – sort of like Paris Hilton’s career – if she ever had one.
mg
September 23rd, 2008 at 3:45 pm
“diactritic mark”
-2 misspelled and redundant.
“diacritic” is defined as a “a mark, point, or sign added or attached to a letter or character to distinguish it from another of similar form, to give it a particular phonetic value, to indicate stress, etc.”