Volt Birth Watch 149: Jean Jennings Loves Her Some Volt
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?
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I've never had much use for Jean Jennings - except for the use that David E. Davis had for her. Strap her as passenger in some sort of race car/off road vehicle and drive her around real fast until she pukes.
Jean Jennings is between a rock and a hard place. It's too bad she has to play footsie with GM to save her job, but that's pretty much what it boils down to. The car magazines have been sort of playing footsie for years, but now that some are on the ropes more than others, the distance for playing footsie will be much closer. That David E. Davis now writes for Car & Driver is truly a kick in the gut for the people who still work at Automobile, the magazine he started. I wonder now long it will be until the 83 preproduction models of Volt will appear on Barrett-Jackson?
@Rod Panhard Have you read anything interesting by DED in the last five years? Thanks for the laugh (your fourth comment) And, are you any relation to the late lamented car company?
Coming out with the volt in the middle of this is pure stupidity. That is what she should have said. High initial demand, dealers will try to gouge on them, Obama will offer massive subsidies and checks to anyone who buys one, and then reality. The car will underwhelm and underperform like nothing before. There have been so many discussions about the battery life, the practical nature of the design as compared to the more affordable Prius, and the simple fact Toyota is far ahead of them at this. Plug in Prius's are around the bend and if the government does not extend the same tax courtesy to Prius buyers there is going to be trouble. I can see myself passing one on the side of the road already with a white rag hanging from the window. GM should have gone down the same path as Toyota and Honda and made a decent hybrid small car like the cobalt for around 24K.