GM reaffirms commitment to 2010 Volt launch

Although we haven't noticed an atypical resurgence in doubters, General Motors' Bob Lutz apparently has. The exec has come forward and stated that the 2010 timeline for its much-anticipated Chevy Volt is still valid, despite the fact that employees working on the vehicle are "becoming increasingly nervous." While speaking at the Reuters Autos Summit in Detroit, Lutz also noted that there was "a lot of skepticism within the company," but that those in leadership roles firmly believe that it "has to be done." More specifically, GM is hoping to "leapfrog anything that is done by any other competitor," and while we're delighted to hear that the commitment is still strong, three years offers up a lot of time for situations to change.

[Image courtesy of WindingRoad]

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 21st 2007 2:20PM]

You guys dissing this announcement because it is from "management" are clueless.

Lutz is about as "un-management" as you can get. The guy has serious engineering chops, has auto platform development experience in both the Western and Eastern hemispheres for 3 major automakers, and is a jet pilot (former Marine aviator) and military jet collector. Not to mention a motorcycle collector.

Lutz is far from a talking head in a suit, and about as far from a bean counter as you can get. If he says they're going to do it, I'd give him (and GM) the benefit of the doubt. And no, I don't work for GM.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 21st 2007 3:07PM]

@Phil:

LOL. Whatever. Toyota isn't kicking so much ass lately if you've been paying attention. Quality problems are up, recalls are up (just because the media doesn't report them with the same verve they do GM/Ford/Chrysler recalls doesn't mean they don't happen), Consumer Reports no longer recommends the Camry automatically, and even Toyota's chief honcho is on record as saying things are not all hunky dory at Toyota.

My point was simple: Lutz is not a clueless management drone or a bean counter. He has a track record developing vehicle platforms all over the world and has a technical background. They may not reach their goal, true, but summarily dismissing a man's comments based on the position he holds on an org chart without considering his actual experience is lame and weak.

[nXt Posted Nov 21st 2007 4:27PM]

American car companies need to stop making cars now.
They're fugly and only 60+ year olds buy them.

[arkansized Posted Nov 21st 2007 10:55PM]

I think during WW2 the P-51 took like 117 days from blueprints to test flight.
There doesn't seem to be any reason why US automakers can't deliver fuel efficient/electric/hybrid/fuel cell vehicles in a timely manner.
Oh, wait...

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 29th 2007 3:34PM]

I think you guys are misunderstanding Lutz's comment about the engineers getting nervous. As a retired GM engineer, I can tell you that I got very nervous whenever
a major project was approved. When you are spending major capital, failure is not an option. The reason that they are nervous is that the project is approved and they know that they have to do it! That scares the living hell out of any good engineer and if it didn't, he or she wouldn't be a good engineer.
On another subject, do any of you techies know of anyone who has coupled a ground source heat pump (COP~4) to a supercritical Rankine cycle running R-134A as the working fuid in the Rankine cycle?
I'm still looking for a copy of the suggestion that I turned in around 1979 to build a car like the Volt. You can read about the first one built in 1979 in the Archives of "The Mother Earth News". I hope its still availabe online.