GM employees to get sneak peek at production Volt
Pending white collar cuts and dismal sales data have resulted in morale problems at General Motors. That's going to put a damper on the Detroit automaker's centennial celebration, so the General plans on showing employees a near-production-ready Chevy Volt to give workers hope. The (hopefully) game-changing extended range electric vehicle will be shown internally around the September 16th centennial, and employees who see the Volt will, of course, have to check their cameras and phones at the door. That doesn't mean the public won't soon get an eyeful of the car, as GM sources report that it'll be shown in production trim at this year's LA or Detroit Auto Show. Don't forget also that it's also been rumored that Volt could show up in Paris in October.
GM has 200 engineers and 50 designers working long hours to make the ER-EV happen by its late 2010 production target, and there are another 400 people working on components. GM is also constructing a new 530,000 sq-ft facility to build the Volt's 1.4L engine and working on getting incentives for the planned construction.
Gallery: Chevy Volt Concept
[Source: Detroit News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
tankd0g 10:35AM (7/30/2008)
"...employees who see the Volt will, of course, have to check their cameras and phones at the door. " Did they actually learn something from over exposing the Camaro?
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zamafir 10:42AM (7/30/2008)
Better yet, why not invite some of the press and show all the naysayers just how far they've come and just how production ready the car is.
Erm. Never mind. Much harder to control the press and work them up into a self supporting frenzy.
why not the LS2LS7? 11:31AM (7/30/2008)
But tankd0g, there's nothing to leak, right? Just 4 days ago you said GM doesn't have any Volts anyway.
'I know they don't have a car to put it in so I'm pretty confident they didn't try either one yet.'
tankd0g 11:59AM (7/30/2008)
why not the LS2LS7, if you are this naive then you must believe what was under this cover back in January was also the production Volt. http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/09/sneak-peek-at-production-chevy-volt/
Remember January, when they weren't even testing batteries that have a 2 year test cycle yet?
TJ 12:00PM (7/30/2008)
There could be 20,000 on the roads and the fanbois will still be crying 'vaporware' at the top of their lungs.
:rolleyes:
tankd0g 12:24PM (7/30/2008)
Uh, no. Unless of course they completely fail to meet their ever shrinking goals and the thing has a 30 mile EV range and and overall MPG of 40. Then yes, I will laugh pretty hard even with 20,000 of them on the road.
why not the LS2LS7? 1:37PM (7/30/2008)
It is not naive to think that GM has both mules (but not necessarily in sheetmetal) and non-running (but in proper sheetmetal) Volts right now.
Renault can have 2010 Meganes running the streets in LA right now and you think Chevy doesn't have Volts almost along?
I think it is an unreasonable position to say GM can't be far enough along to do any actual testing right now.
tankd0g 2:46PM (7/30/2008)
I think you are confused as to what the word production means. There's a reason they said "near production version". What they have there is another concept car, maybe it's the finalized sheet metal and it's exactly what it is going to look like, but no way in hell does it go 60, 40 whatever they are down to this month, miles on a charge and have a 1.4L in it that charges the battery while driving with no degradation in performance. But I'm sure the about to be downsized employees will appreciate the being the first to see the new tail lights, they may even light up.
why not the LS2LS7? 6:36PM (7/30/2008)
I think it's clear you don't know what production means.
You can have a prototype that is identical to the production car, the only difference is that it wasn't built with mass-production methods. So you trying the word production to specific performance measures makes no sense.
Now, stop trying to say this is about the word "production". Your comments I quoted where you say they had to car to drop an engine in was not about production versus prototype. You made out as if GM had no way to evaluate motors because they had no rolling test beds.
Now, back as to how far GM is along, I am quite certain that at this time they have stationary test beds (in fact, ABG ran a piece on one a day after you said GM had none), rolling test beds (mules) and these drivetrains are pretty much locked down in terms of the hardware. Yes, the software for managing the complex systems is probably not done yet, especially given all the conditions it has to work under. But I would be shocked if GM has not under controlled test conditions already driving Volt test mules for even more than 40 miles on battery alone.
I think you underestimate how much polish has to be put on. Long before the car is useful in real-world conditions, it surely already can show its stripes under ideal conditions (batteries at 85% to start, temperature at a nice 70F, no hotel loads on and "don't push that button, we didn't implement reverse yet!").
I expect the one shown will be as production as all the Camaros we've been overexposed to so far, which is not production at all. Something cannot be a production vehicle until it is production, but it can be a prototype that is identical to the finished product in terms of sheetmetal especially.
tankd0g 9:36PM (7/30/2008)
I don't underestimate anything, I've been prototyping things for production half my life and I know what I'm seeing with this thing and it's mostly smoke with no fire. this is what happens when the crazy old man in charge announces the feature list and then tells the engineers to build it.
The Camaro was in production the day they picked a factory and started making tooling for it, you can bet your ass there's no tooling being made for the Volt chassis yet.
Dude 10:49AM (7/30/2008)
Great! This means that pics of the production Volt will be on the internet by the 17th.
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Duders 11:17AM (7/30/2008)
I'd be more apt to say the 15th.
BGJ 11:22AM (7/30/2008)
zamafir -
It's not a press event, that's why the press is not invited. The press will see it at an autoshow, either at LA this November or Detroit next Jan.
GM knows how important the Volt is, they are busy making it a reality instead of worrying about "naysayers".
Which reminds me, surprised to see no posts yet from the tin foil hat crowd about how the Volt is vaporware and isn't real.
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BGJ 11:23AM (7/30/2008)
zamafir -
It's not a press event, that's why the press is not invited. The
press will see it at an autoshow, either at LA this November or
Detroit next Jan.
GM knows how important the Volt is, they are busy making it a reality
instead of worrying about "naysayers".
Which reminds me, surprised to see no posts yet from the tin foil hat
crowd about how the Volt is vaporware and isn't real.
Reply
Ferg 11:26AM (7/30/2008)
"GM is also constructing a new 530,000 sq-ft facility to build the Volt's 1.4L engine and working on getting incentives for the planned construction."
GREAT IDEA!!!!!
/sarcasm
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obie 11:46AM (7/30/2008)
What?
Why the sarcasm? I think it really is a great idea.
tankd0g 12:26PM (7/30/2008)
Because they have a half dozen idle facilities right now.
TJ 1:56PM (7/30/2008)
Check the ABG headlines.
"It's official, Flint engine plant to build Volt range extender"
elprogramer 3:35PM (7/30/2008)
It is a great idea. It replaces the old Buick V6 (3800) plant, and condenses operations to a single site, bringing operating costs down. They're going to put the I4 in the Cruze too, so yay.
David 11:27AM (7/30/2008)
GM has low morale and showing the soon-to-be-fired employees their future car is going to improve it.
Better off just doing a hawaiian shirt Friday.
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