Thread: Chevy Volt Dubbed Euro Car of the Year

The irony in this whole thing... it was not even American's who invented and designed the Volt, but people from GMs German arm.. Opel (Vauxhall for you Brits). Why? Because GM America lacked the technological basis for fuel efficient cars, and had to "borrow" technology from its European normally independent arm. And the big irony is that Opel is a crappy car manufacture and seen by most as the poor mans car for old people.. they are unattractive, not very advanced compared to its competitors and often too expensive compared to what you get.

Originally Posted by PeteEU

The irony in this whole thing... it was not even American's who invented and designed the Volt, but people from GMs German arm.. Opel (Vauxhall for you Brits). Why? Because GM America lacked the technological basis for fuel efficient cars, and had to "borrow" technology from its European normally independent arm. And the big irony is that Opel is a crappy car manufacture and seen by most as the poor mans car for old people.. they are unattractive, not very advanced compared to its competitors and often too expensive compared to what you get.

As is Vauxhall. Although, I LIKE the Opel Speedster, or the Vauxhall counterpart.

Light weight, mid engine RWD, nice looks, fairly cheap for what it is, though a tad anemic on power....




Also, I think the US needs to expand on diesel technology. If Chevy came out with an american counterpart to the VW Golf TDI....I'd buy that in a heart beat, so long as it was priced right.

Originally Posted by PeteEU

The irony in this whole thing... it was not even American's who invented and designed the Volt, but people from GMs German arm.. Opel (Vauxhall for you Brits).

Good, because any AMERICAN who had come up with such a ridiculous thing ought to have been taken out behind the woodshed and beaten bloody with a baseball bat just for what I refer to as "general principles". (aka... wasting their and everyone else's time and money on sheer stupidity).

Originally Posted by Tigger

Good, because any AMERICAN who had come up with such a ridiculous thing ought to have been taken out behind the woodshed and beaten bloody with a baseball bat just for what I refer to as "general principles". (aka... wasting their and everyone else's time and money on sheer stupidity).

You work for the power company....EVs should be like a wet dream for you, shouldn't it? Do you have stock options or anything?

Originally Posted by Redress

I find the efforts of some conservatives to kill the Volt hilarious. It must be bad because, well, so we can blame it on democrats!

Conservatives aren't killing the volt.

Consumers are.

Originally Posted by MaggieD

Conservatives aren't killing the volt.

Consumers are.

What I can't figure out is...who is buying this car?

Damn thing costs close to 40K here in CT...and for that kinda cash, I can have a BMW, lol.

Originally Posted by KevinKohler

What I can't figure out is...who is buying this car?

Damn thing costs close to 40K here in CT...and for that kinda cash, I can have a BMW, lol.

Nobody with a brain cell working, imo.

Brand new technology is risky. The Volt is risky. It also fails to appeal (price tag) to the solidly middle class.

It's not ready for prime time. I took a look at the Lexus hybrid for about ten minutes. I think it cost $50K, if I'm not mistaken. When you entered the car to drive it, you had to decide how you were going to drive it before you started out...do I need electric? Do I need gas? What combination should I use? Yeah, like I want to have to make those decisions myself and pay a $10K premium.

Originally Posted by KevinKohler

You work for the power company....EVs should be like a wet dream for you, shouldn't it? Do you have stock options or anything?

Not at all. The more of these things come online the more difficult our lives get because we have to find ways to provide additional power to all of those homes and businesses on an already taxed electric system.

I have a pension. Beyond that I have about $12K of retirement savings. My retirement plan is simple.... Day X retire from work. Day X+1 retire from life entirely. The only things I invest in are steel, copper, and lead.

Originally Posted by Pinkie

Why? Not enough places to recharge?

The Volt's failing in the U.S. for a variety of reasons and this is coming from someone who was a huge fan at first. If the car that the Volt was originally pitched to be came out then things may’ve been different. Sadly, that’s not the case. So why is it doing poorly in America?

Reason 1 – Mileage and the failed goal

The initial stat’s for the Volt read like this. At 40 miles per day, you would be able to go just on the electrical charge. The conversion of gas to electricity was set for 50 mpg. So the total range on a “full tank + charge” would be 640 miles. The production model ended up with significantly lower numbers. 35 miles per day on the electrical charge. The gas only MPG is 37. Finally, the total range on a “full tank + charge”, with the production models 9 gallon tank over the original 12 that was going to be in the car, leaves us with 368 miles.

The initial stats were enticing to individuals who were looking at the car for economical reasons not “green” reasons. At 40 miles per day the electrical charge would get you a fair bit. However, the reality is for many Americans…as opposed to the way European cities are set up…is that more than 40 miles in a day may hardly be unusual. That 50 MPG instead of 37 is a decently significant difference. At 50 MPG you’re getting some great gas mileage that could save you enough over a “regular” car that it may appeal to a frugal person. At 37 you’re within 2 mpg or less of number of non-hybrids. Finally, the difference in total range gives a different impression. At 640 miles you could look at a decent length trip (Save northern Virginia to New York City) and conceivably go there and back without having to fill up during the trip. That’s extremely attractive. For a LONG trip, say Northern Virginia to Orlando and back, you could potentially only need to fill up once each way. At 368 however you’re looking at fill ups much closer to your normal economical car.

Essentially, the original expectations of the Volt put out by GM set it up as a car that would be substantially better than its non-electric counter parts in day to day driving and long distance. It offered up a viable reason, beyond simply the plug-in nature of it, why you would want to pay more for the car rather than go out and buy a Jetta or a Civic. However, the final production unit did not have that same substantial difference but maintained the same kind of higher price tag.

Reason 2 – Appearance and the failed goal

One of the big things holding back hybrid type cards in the U.S., imho, is the appearance of the cars. Again, to get true adaptation of an alternative fuel vehicle you cannot just rely on pleas of “OMG save mother earth!” and “Peak oil!”. You’re only going to hit a segment of the population that is going to listen and care about those things to a point that it will affect their purchasing habits. You have to find ways to appeal to people who don’t care, or don’t care enough to change their buying preferences, about those things.

The Volt initially did this. The concept car looked outstanding. Not just outstanding, it harkened back to a true Americanized feeling of a “muscle car”. It was different in appearance to anything else we’ve seen in an electric or hybrid outside of the six digit Tesla’s. Suddenly it didn’t look like a car that screamed “HEY! I’M A HYBRID! GO GREEN! SUPER CUTE” with closed eyes and teeming with smugness (zyphlin’s law). At the expense of being called a misogynist, it was a style of car that an average person could look at and go “damn, that’s manly” similar to say the new Dodge Chargers. It presented an appeal that you could have an electric car that saved your money AND looked good while doing it.

Unfortunately this:



Turned into this:



The Volt looks pretty much like every other bubble shaped, compacted in, cute little hybrid or economical car. Which, like reason 1, took something that made it stand out and gave people a reason to say “hey, maybe it’s worth paying a bit more for this thing” and basically chucked it out the reason. It just transitioned into being “yet another hybrid”.

Reason 3 – The Price

A Volt costs $33,500 after a tax break from the government. In comparison, there’s nine cars roughly between $14-$16k or less that are within 5 mpg of the Volt’s gas MPG’s. There’s around six hybrids that get as good or better mpg than the Volt’s gas rating that are roughly $25k or less. Had the Volt’s MPG and range stayed close to their original projection, or its look remained close to its original presentation, there may be more reasons why someone would opt for the Volt despite the higher price. However, with those being gone, one basically has to determine if that 35 MPG electrical charge is worth the substantially higher price.

Reason 4 – Politicizing

“Republican’s buy shoes too” – Michael Jordan

Republicans purchase cars as well. Barack Obama, and the media to an extent, decided to take the Volt and make it a symbol of Obama’s economic policy, the stimulus, and his purchasing of GM. The Republicans were more than happy to jump on board and help him with that presentation. As such, the Volt itself became not just a car but some kind of political flag that either side could wave around to say “Hey, look at how great we are/bad they are”.

By politicizing it you interject another factor into whether or not a potential buyer may purchase the car. The problem is, the people who may have a positive feeling towards it due to the politicizing of it are likely the ones who would be most apt to purchase it anyways. The ones who have a negative feeling towards it due to the political handling of it are likely your people who you needed to convince “Hey, there’s reasons to buy an electric car other than ‘going green’”. However, because it’s suddenly not just about a car…but it’s about the Obama agenda and strategy…further factors are interjected into the buying publics mind.

The fact that the Volt has became a political symbol used by both parties for different reasons hurts its ability to be successful in this country imho.

Reason 5 – It’s the Economy, Stupid

Seriously, the economy…even if it’s “improving”…is still bad. The desire to go out and buy brand new vehicles isn’t exactly at a fever pitch, let alone brand new vehicles that are over $30k. The prices I stated up above were looking at other 2012 new models. However, you can find used hybrids…used economic cars…hell used motorcycles all over the place for an even lower price if you want to save on gas costs. There’s not exactly a ton of used Volts for sale however.

It doesn’t surprise me it’s working well in Europe, where the cities are more built for that type of vehicle and where the political climate is one where the political nature of the Volt could actually be a benefit to it. However, here in America, it’s relative failure compared to expectations is not very shocking to me. Which is sad, because upon the announcement of the original concept and for some time after it I was a huge fan of the Volt and was very keen on purchasing one.

Originally Posted by Tigger

Not at all. The more of these things come online the more difficult our lives get because we have to find ways to provide additional power to all of those homes and businesses on an already taxed electric system.

I have a pension. Beyond that I have about $12K of retirement savings. My retirement plan is simple.... Day X retire from work. Day X+1 retire from life entirely. The only things I invest in are steel, copper, and lead.

It DOES stand to reason, though, that more EVs = more profits for power companies, yes?