I think(hope) GM is playing up the possibility that this car will not work for dramatic effect. I don't think they would hype this car so much with the knowledge that it was likely to fail.

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i think a car like this would helped GM a lot since americans would look at GM cars in a different way. now a customer looking for a fuel efficient car can opt for an american made car. if this is better then the toyota hybrid, and it looks like a regular sedan a lot more people would be buying it. before people who bought the prius were doing it to put all kinds of stickers of how they were saving the world. this is not the case no more, people buy them to save on gas. if the volt changes the way I see hybrids, by 2010 once I am done with college I ll be looking for a fuel efficient car and the volt seems like it could turn to be a great choice.

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It's an image thing, you don't seem to get that...other vehicles will sell on the media coattails of the Volt just because of brand association.

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Pete: I don't want to argue the fact that marketing can have profound (and bizarre) influence on buyers choices, but I'd be hard pressed to think that their legacy gas-guzzlers are going to ride the coat-tails of a vehicle that is supposed to revolutionize the fuel-side of the equation.

In fact, if the Volt is successful (read: desirable and affordable) I would expect it would _hasten_ the demise of their other non-volt vehicles.

(Speaking of which, I predict once "The Volt" is out, GM will re-engineer the term to be "Volt Technology" and apply it across their products. In other words, there will be a legacy-gas-powered version and a "Volt Powered" version - at least until petrol as a fuel is legislated out of existence. You read it here first.)

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@Mike,

You missed the point entirely. GM themselves said about a year ago, that the Volt was their "moonshot". I believe Bob Lutz' exact words were "this car is our 'moonshot'. It's exciting because our number one competitor thinks we're full of sh*t". He was referring to Toyota saying GM's Lithium-Ion technology won't work.

The point being made here is, while more efficient gasoline vehicles will sell more than the Volt, those profit-saving vehicles will not get here prior to GM's entire company morale is completely shot to hell. If the Volt becomes yet another failure among GM's long history of well-publicized failures, especially after how much they've hyped it up, it could indeed be the final nail in the coffin for GM. GM hyping this car will either pay off in the form of "oh wow...this company (and our company, by the employees) can really do something great and I should really invest my money in their products. We as industry people will definitely have to take them seriously now. We'll have to copy what they're doing because obviously the gamble payed off." The list goes on and on. And if it doesn't work after all the hype? Well, just read the comments on blogs like these.

As for your comment about Rick Wagoner, say what you will but GM was already in the toilet when he came into his current position. Current sales really have no reflection of his position, but of the people prior to his position continually squandering their efforts to change public perception and the ignorant belief of most consumers that GM still makes poor vehicles. Again, I don't need to go very far to find proof of these mostly ignorant claims. While there certainly may be the case in a few examples, there are definitely examples of competent products that have come online in the past 8 years, about the time Wagoner took his current position IIRC. It's because of Wagoner that GM is even still alive with his investment in overseas markets, specifically China. Say what you want--ignorantly, I might add--about the Chinese, but GM sells 6 times more vehicles in that bursting market than any other automaker in the world, including Toyota. You don't have to be a GM fan (I'm not) to see how well they're doing everywhere except here. They've gotten most other markets to work for them.

You talk about ABC and the media being ignorant, but you yourself don't really seem to know what you're talking about.

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@Red:
Everything that Mike said was acutely right on, except the "fire Rick" piece, which is only partially correct. This will not break or save GM. The sad thing is, what could have been a great car has been tarnished significantly by over-hyping and over-promising, that the public is now expecting nothing of a miracle, with GM consistently delivering delayed timeline. What's worse, some people may be holding back car purchase to wait for Volt, or they bought other hybrids (because in their minds Volt partially justifies other manufacturers hybrid strategies, and GM is only now playing catch up). You need to catch the market by surprise with these kinds of products, not parlay the R&D drama for public consumption.
Wagoner made plenty of mistakes (Fiat, employee pricing, Volt out-of control hypes, etc) and does not get off scot-free, but in the past few years, he has also made tremendous progress on certain strategic infrastructure issues.

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No it won't?

Simply because any goodwill that Volt will create was offset long ago by Bob Lutz and his views on Global Warming and the environment.

Also as much as Toyota likes SUVs they were the first to build a hybrid that was mass marketed + Toyota exects are on record as saying that they was environment to be clean (i know, i know they build SUVs ) GM exects haven't been all that enviro friendly.

Plus GM has taken a hit for its Ethanol strategy, which resulted in food shortages all accross the world.




I have a question, say 10-20 years down the road people will find out that Rick Wagoner is a Japanese spy. Will anyone in here be shocked? Because as soon as he took over Toyota simply exploded.

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@ The Othe Bob...

You got it right. The Volt will save GM, in my opinion, thanks to the wave of good publicity. The Volt will bring people to consider GM at long last. When customers come to the dealership to look at a Volt they'll end up leaving with a Malibu.

It happened to my sister with the Prius... she goes in to look at the Prius, leaves the dealership with a Corolla. Done deal.

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Thats a dumb statement. Toyota didnt explode. the Domestics just continued their gradual implosion while toyota stayed the course and continued to improve and read the market. A spy cant make GM loose 12billion dollars in a quarter. GM, FORD, Chrysler, they are all to blame for their terrible performance. Not some imaginary spy.

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really? did you also think it was a Ford Edge?

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Agreed. They have to keep the hype machine running overtime to try and inflate their stock.

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Don't worry, that's definitely the plan. There have been what, three separate concepts based on this architecture already? They're definitely planning for mass deployment. They Volt itself may not be profitable immediately, but spread across the entire lineup, the development will be extremely profitable.

Is it possible GM has finally created something people WANT them to platform-share?

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