GM releases new production Chevy Volt teasers
by John Neff on Aug 14th 2008 at 11:00AM 
Click above for high-res gallery of the production Chevy Volt
We're not sure why General Motors has released two new teaser shots of the production Volt as well as ten images of engineers and designers working hard on its development, but we'll gladly take and show them to you while we find out. Though GM certainly isn't going to let the whole cat out of the bag this early, we are given a much better view of what we were shown in that ABC News video. We can now see just how high-tech the lighting appears to be on the Volt, with the blue glow of its headlamps upstaged by what appear to be some sort of LED foglamps. We can't tell you what their function is, except to say they look cool and give the impression that the Volt is a car from the future on sale now, or rather sometime in 2010, which is technically the future, but you get our drift. The other pic is not as revealing as the first and shows only a small portion of the Volt's rear end including its bow-tie emblem and model badge. The rest of the images show designers and engineers working on a full-scale clay model of the Volt as well as the car's high-tech drivetrain. A few of the pics give up even more of the production Volt's design, so be sure to view each one in the gallery below.
Gallery: Production Chevy Volt
[Source: GM]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
3seriesisking 11:03AM (8/14/2008)
Lookin' good.
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nastinupe 2:02PM (8/14/2008)
Go Chevy Go! I have never ever been a fan of American cars, but that's when they weren't losing money. Now my heart goes out to these automakers and I want them back with a vengance.
Build it Chevy, Build it! I will come, I promise. I will keep my money in America and stop giving it to the Germans and Japs.
But I have a question guys. If you ALWAY buy a used car, is your money "really" going to the Japs and Germans? Because I never buy new anyway. So does it really matter? Am I really a traitor?
Powerhouse 2:28PM (8/14/2008)
nastinupe,
You buying used foreign cars increases the demand raising prices.
This in turn lowers the lease cost resulting in more foreign leases.
You also decrease the value of used American cars which affects people not wanting to buy new highly depreciating cars so they look at new foreign cars.
So yes you are a traitor, but the American company's should be economically punished for not producing a competitive product (I am assuming thats why you buy foreign)
nastinupe 3:15PM (8/14/2008)
I'm not so sure about your comments about my purchasing a used Civic from some third party guy increasing demand for Civics in America. If it does anything, it decreases demand because the market is being recycled.
If I have one pencil in a room and everyone wants to use it. They can either buy a new one or wait for one to be passed around the room. Passing the pencil around doesn't increase demand. It just satisfies demand without having to manufacture and sell a new pencil. Which means Bic would then send evil ninjas out to assinate me.
Decreased demand may be true, however, the flipside is that if they didn't makes 500,000 F150's every year and just expect every last one of them to sell then maybe their supply wouldn't be so high.
The Prius has a high demand because there aren't enough of them. I am sure that if Toyota made enough Priuses to satisfy everyone out there, they still wouldn't sell as many F150's as Ford sells every year.
So demand is actually relative to output and can be controlled. Hence why we always wonder why there are never enough Wii's for the masses. It's all part of Nintendo's plan to create demand, which helps the hype.
You are correct in that assumption my friend. I was never raised to hate American. It's just that their product was so awful and the Germans and Japs make such great cars. I mean, the Germans have their quirks, but their cars are sexy. And the Japs make lame cars, but they are very dependable. So where does that leave American cars?
Hummmm, lets see.
cheap interior.... check
revolutionary styling every 5 years in search of it's soul.... check
leaning on heritage to sell cars instead of the actual product... check
fazzster 11:10AM (8/14/2008)
Wow, so the production car is made out of clay. I suppose it is one way to keep cost down.
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Serious 7:33PM (8/14/2008)
You are kidding right?
Those images are from clay models that are sculpted to perfect the design.
cFoo 11:11AM (8/14/2008)
Those aren't LED fog lamps. They're probably day time running lights. aka. Audi A5 style.
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Andre 2:32PM (8/14/2008)
Audi DRL lamps are LEDS anyway..
TJ 11:14AM (8/14/2008)
damned vaporware....
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TJ 11:43AM (8/14/2008)
for those giving me low ratings...
THAT WAS DRIPPING WITH SARCASM.
2004m3driver 12:02PM (8/14/2008)
still doesn't make it funny
jg 12:21PM (8/14/2008)
I think it's funny.
Frankly I find it more likely we'll never see the Volt. All the tech that comes from it's development will end up in other cars. Either way we benefit. I'd like to see it tho. I'd also like to see the tech flow to other vehicles I might have a need for. A small truck, CUV or wagon. I got my bimmer so I don't need a Volt but I do have a 94 Jimmy that could be replaced with something efficient.
obie 12:43PM (8/14/2008)
@jg--
It would be absolutely devastating for GM not to bring this car to production, and based on the pictures above I don't know how you believe this car isn't going to be on dealer lots in 2010. I was just reading over on gm-volt.com that GM will have 50 prototypes on the road with production parts by the end of this year, so to buy into the vaporware hype at this point is kind of ridiculous. It's real technology that GM is proving they have.
Epyx 12:47PM (8/14/2008)
Some of you are very stupid or ill-informed. To read a very good article about the progress of the Volt and the vision take the time to look intoa recent write up in the Atlantic. Well written and detailed look at the production of a revolutionary car. It is longer than 2 paragraphs with pictures so it may be over the head of the average AB reader.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/general-motors
jg 1:59PM (8/14/2008)
'It would be absolutely devastating for GM not to bring this car to production, and based on the pictures above I don't know how you believe this car isn't going to be on dealer lots in 2010. '
GM will be fine either way.
I'll believe it when I see it. I didn't say it won't show up, I just think it's more likely not to. I have no problem with being wrong about that either. Its just an opinion. The world will continue to spin on it's axis no matter what happens.
The Volt will be too expensive to seel in volume and that's a good thing because if something goes wrong there's less to recall. The win will come when the tech moves to high volume cars. So even if the Volt arrives it's like our moon missions, a small costly step in the right direction but still just a step. It's probably closer to Gemini missions than Apollo if I think about it, missions to develop the technology to get us we're we want to go. The Volt is a means not an end.
KeatMP 11:15AM (8/14/2008)
Looks freakin sweet!
I love high tech lighting.
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Ryumo 11:17AM (8/14/2008)
I get the feeling this this is a labor of love for everyone involved on the Chevy Volt production team. They all know the importance of what they are trying to build and seem to be pouring their hearts into getting this vehicle out on the road and exceeding everyone's expectations.
I'm really rooting for GM on this one and I hope they hit it out of the park when all is said and done.
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KeatMP 11:31AM (8/14/2008)
+1
Ligor 11:49AM (8/14/2008)
+1
looks very nice
2004m3driver 12:04PM (8/14/2008)
But if they were to exceed our expectations then shouldn't it look better than the concept and keep its previous 600 mile range and not cost over 30 grand?