Chevy Volt rolls out into the open at long last

It's official public debut may still only be coming next week, but it looks like GM has finally decided to give up on the carefully-chosen teaser shots and let the hotly-anticipated Volt out in the open for all the internet to see. No doubt to the dismay of some, the would-be next Prius sure looks a good deal different than the far more angular prototype we've all come to know over the past little while, although we can't say we're exactly surprised given GM's mass-market hopes for the car. Still, it is quite the milestone for the auto industry, and hopefully only the start of things to come. Be sure to hit up Autoblog for a gallery full of more pics of your favorite GM execs -- and the Volt, too.

[Russell @ Sep 8th 2008 2:27PM]

Its Beautiful

[TareX @ Sep 8th 2008 2:42PM]

I LOVE IT :)

Aveo + Yaris = VOLT.

Beautiful...

[Oh-NO @ Sep 8th 2008 2:44PM]

No its not....

But if you mean the Guy, I cant respond I like women.

[tom @ Sep 8th 2008 3:21PM]

The headlight reminds me of Acrua TSX

[thedesolate1 @ Sep 8th 2008 4:08PM]

they are biting off Acura alright.. but unlike Honda their hybrid car might electrocute you and fry your entire family. Hell they cant even make a simple windshield washer work right.

http://digg.com/autos/ALERT_GM_Recalling_944_000_Vehicles

[Russell @ Sep 8th 2008 4:32PM]

At least you won't be killed in a crash unlike
BMW
http://digg.com/autos/BMW_recalling_200_000_vehicles_OOPS
or stall in a Toyota
http://digg.com/tech_news/Toyota_Recalls_75%2C000_Prius_Vehicles_
or
http://digg.com/business_finance/Toyota_to_recall_533_000_SUVs_trucks

[usedHONDA @ Sep 8th 2008 6:27PM]

Ugh, that fake grille looks horrible.

The rest of the car, however, looks alright.

[Smileypanda @ Sep 9th 2008 8:37PM]

It's a Prius with a funny grill! And weird fog lights!
They took out the angularity and replaced it with Toyota.

[Eric @ Sep 8th 2008 2:26PM]

The guy standing next to the car in that picture basically makes me NOT want to buy it.

[nerdtalker @ Sep 8th 2008 2:59PM]

Any of the pics in the photo gallery could be pretty good standalone shots for the car, but no, what does GM do? Stick a bunch of "I-totally-finked-dis-one-up" executives standing proudly in front of it like they birthed the thing 5 minutes before they took the photo.

Honestly, leave it to them to fuck yet another something simple up. It's the car, idiots, not you, that we care about.

I'm seriously depressed by the styling. The angular, stout, oh-so-mean looking volt was so distinctive. This thing looks like a cheap chevy malibu with the VOLT!!!! badge slapped on it. /facepalm

[Jimmy @ Sep 8th 2008 3:31PM]

Yeah, I was thinking I hope the coolness of this car is not proportional to the hotness of the model they got to stand by it...

[uhgotnegum @ Sep 8th 2008 3:26PM]

Awww...give Tom Smykowski a break! We wouldn't want him to try and off himself (again) by taking his new Volt into the garage and letting the carbon monoxide ....wait....nevermind.

[Hush @ Sep 8th 2008 4:21PM]

Keep up that positive attitude and the United States will be owned by other countries. Oh, you'd like that? You kids are too young to realize the ramifications of the auto industry and the American Economy. I'm not saying like it just because you have to. I'm saying don't bash it until you've tried it. But it would take an intelligent person to think that way and this site is not really that demo. You'd think it would be, but it's not.

[Hush @ Sep 8th 2008 4:29PM]

After looking at the pictures I will say it looks better than I thought it would. But their initial marketing of it I'll admit could have been better. Just car pics would be better than inserting the Engineers/Execs in there. Also they shouldn't place the Chevy logo so prominently in the front of the grill. It really is not that attractive of a logo. IMHO. A smaller logo to the off to the side would have been "cooler" and less boisterous. It's really about what they are promising(40 miles before using a sip of gas) that this is all about. And if they deliver on that promise reliably it will change the market. To note Toyota has promised an equivalent Prius version coming out soon. I used to not care what car I bought and still like foreign car styling better. But as you get older(and lose value on your house etc...) you start to realize how the economy works. Every time you spend a dollar you're voting in the global economy.

[steve @ Sep 8th 2008 4:44PM]

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[rlynd3 @ Sep 8th 2008 4:50PM]

WOW, With such a diverse crew working on it. It will certainly fit the needs of everyone!

[DB @ Sep 8th 2008 6:41PM]

@ steve

that's awesome

[deedeedee @ Sep 8th 2008 9:26PM]

Looks like a civic to me, only fatter and less attractive, but it suits that guy well. So that's the message GM is getting out-if you look kinda like me you should def. get this car! or better yet, if you got this car cuz you cant afford a honda or toyota, you'll slowly morph and eventually become like me, and we can take over the world matrix style, muhahahaha!

[ravissimo @ Sep 8th 2008 11:06PM]

I think it should be REQUIRED in every posting of the Chevy Volt that it is mentioned that GM made an electric car called the EV1 back in 1996 in California and then killed it in 2000 and sold the battery technology to oil companies (as others have mentioned). The chevy volt is overdue and not as good as what they had over a decade ago.

Watch "Who Killed The Electric Car?" to get the full info.

GM is a horrible horrible company. F you GM. i say F you.

[r3loaded @ Sep 9th 2008 7:35AM]

The headlight design looks remarkably like a Honda Civic or Accord.

On the subject of the photos, why didn't they just have a team photo with everyone standing BEHIND the car?

[Andrew @ Sep 24th 2008 8:10AM]

He is there to block the camera's view of the dent he left in the car.

[Najakwa @ Sep 8th 2008 2:27PM]

fugly.

[Jeff @ Sep 8th 2008 8:11PM]

surprise surprise.

[randy @ Sep 8th 2008 9:47PM]

Bet the girl who designed it doesn't think so.

[randy @ Sep 8th 2008 9:49PM]

Here she is, I found a picture of her in one of the press shots:

http://i34.tinypic.com/551q40.png

[Crashlander @ Sep 8th 2008 2:27PM]

That's an ugly car.

[Cunthor @ Sep 8th 2008 3:48PM]

I am European, and think this car is only marginally better looking then Prius - which looks like it has Down Syndrome. I know you Americans will vote me down for this, but man, you guys need some talent in designing less mutt-looking cars. Seriously... there are over 140 million people living in US, why can't one of those make something which looks like a real car? Sorry for being so negative...

[FreshJulius @ Sep 8th 2008 3:55PM]

It would help if it didn't make economic sense to have everything conform to North American AND European Union regulations.

Why do you think every new car looks so much alike these days? There's so little you can do to make your car unique anymore when you have to give priority to stupid things like "maximum bubble-hood-distance from engine-block in order to cushion pedestrians when hit in middle of road".

However, this car is very disappointing in light of the concept everyone's so familiar with.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Sep 8th 2008 7:05PM]

Does it really need to be so tall? Is it a car or an effing truck? The headlights are above the dude's waist. I think that's approximately where the roof on my car is.

[loosely_coupled @ Sep 9th 2008 2:02AM]

140?? Thats the size of Japan. USA is over 300 million..

[Greg @ Sep 8th 2008 2:28PM]

DISAPPOINTMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wanted the angular version :(

[Frankenstein Black @ Sep 8th 2008 3:00PM]

Exactly! They ugly'ed it up because their "oil buddies" asked them too!!!

[Twitchy @ Sep 8th 2008 3:20PM]

Actually it was because the prototype version was as aerodynamic as a brick, which kinda goes against the whole 'environmentally friendly green car' thing.

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/12/12/volt-aero-and-styling-touring-the-e-flex-design-studio-and-gm-w/

[bundle @ Sep 8th 2008 2:28PM]

It does look incredible

[Colin Potter @ Sep 8th 2008 11:15PM]

WATT?! OHM MY GOD YOU MUST BE KIDDING! I WAS SO AMPED FOR THIS CAR BUT THIS DESIGN IS AWFUL

[Neeko @ Sep 8th 2008 2:28PM]

This is def more mainstream. The other model was nice but i cant imagine many moms looking at it and thinking yeah thatll save the environment or my kids in a crash.

[adam @ Sep 8th 2008 11:00PM]

mainstream. this car isn't going to be mainstream, no matter what. it's still going to cost more than most unobtrusive moms are willing to pay. with it's fairly large price tag, this car should, among other things, stylistically distinguish itself, because if not. it's just a chevy that's not worth the 50, 40 or even 30k price tag.

the original styling was different and damn attractive and i think would have attracted more of the more "bold" businessmen/women with money. if i were my dad (even my mom too), i'd be embarrassed to drive this car as it is, and both my parents were initially really excited about the original design/prospects for this car.

[Jon Doe. @ Sep 8th 2008 2:29PM]

Again I don't trust American made traditional cars. Why should I trust one that is being fast tracked out of the R&D department at mach 2? Yes I know a huge chunk of the company is involved in this car and frankly if this fails Chevy is pretty much screwed unless the gov drops more money to bail them out. But frankly that isn't enough. I want to see 3 years, and 50,000 miles worth of data on this car proving that its solid before I go anywhere near American made again. Simply put I've been burned too often in the past.
The car could be the sexiest thing on the planet. It could get 500mpg. It could be a geeks wet dream. And it could make women fling themselves towards the car. It means absolutely dick to me if its not reliable.

[From My Cube @ Sep 8th 2008 2:35PM]

GM's automotive life and cred is being based on this car. There are literally thousands of people working on it daily to ensure its a solid launch. Yes its being moved quickly but there are two things to produce quicker results. 1. skimp on the quality or 2. Load it up with the best of the best, give it everything you have, set the budget high to higher ourside consultants....


Give it a chance

[Mel @ Sep 8th 2008 2:36PM]

Traditional cars? In what way is this car traditional? If you don't want it, fine. But nobody cares about your car troubles.

[Enigma @ Sep 8th 2008 2:36PM]

Cool...that's one less spot on the waiting list for me.

[happy_penguin @ Sep 8th 2008 2:57PM]

You generalize by saying you don't trust American cars but several American brands are in the top ten in long term reliability and this is nothing new. Buick shared the number one slot last year with Lexus and even after sliding this year Buick is still in the sixth position. Also there are several foreign brands which rank below average in reliability including Scion with 243 problems per 100 vehicles, below Chevrolet. So much for Toyota perfection.

[Ryan @ Sep 8th 2008 3:02PM]

I completely agree. If Chevy or any other American company is serious about competing in ANY car segment, not just this electric/hybrid, etc. one, they need to start making enormous quality increases. Yes, cars like the Malibu are better than they used to be, but still miles behind the Accord, Sonata or other foreign car. Plus, by buying Japanese or Korean, you're supporting the American workforce more than buying a Chevy or Dodge.

[happy_penguin @ Sep 8th 2008 3:05PM]

" Plus, by buying Japanese or Korean, you're supporting the American workforce more than buying a Chevy or Dodge."

Utter bullshit.

[Ryan @ Sep 8th 2008 3:06PM]

I just want to follow up my comment briefly by saying that I agree that Toyota has slipped severely recently. I no longer recommend them, but companies like Honda, Hyundai, and Subaru make some of the best, most reliable, highest quality cars. Sit in a Malibu or Avenger, and then sit in an Accord or Sonata, and just by materials and fit and finish alone, you'll see my point.

[happy_penguin @ Sep 8th 2008 3:09PM]

Honda also slipped this year, but still highly ranked yet topped by Mercury, Cadillac, Buick and Lincoln.

[Ryan @ Sep 8th 2008 3:12PM]

@happy_penguin

Companies like Hyundai are building more plants in America while companies like Chevy are closing them down and laying off workers (even execs) in favor of cheap labor from Mexico or China. Yes, not all Chevys are made in other countries, and yes, not all foreign cars are made in America, but the quotient is quickly going to the foreign manufacturers making the most in America. Also, just because a Chevy is assembled in America doesn't mean the rest of the car was made in America. If you look at the fine print, they always say "Assembled in America of globally sourced parts". And yes, the same applies to Japanese brands, but like I said before, they're making more plants and more of an effort to employ American workers than the domestic companies.

[Evan @ Sep 8th 2008 3:18PM]

It's not really a "new" car design. The drivetrain may be new, but the car itself is just a delta-platform (Chevy Colbalt, Saturn Astra) with some new body-panels.

[Ryan @ Sep 8th 2008 3:20PM]

Honestly, I want this car to succeed, because I believe we need plug-in hybrid technology, but, knowing GM and what happened with the whole EV-1 thing, I'm not entirely confident that it will succeed.

[happy_penguin @ Sep 8th 2008 3:24PM]

Ryan:

All companies use globally sourced parts. All of them. And in order for a car to be considered "domestic" in the US it must maintain a minimum of 75% domestic content. A Chevrolet HHR is made in Mexico but a Chevrolet Cobalt is made in Ohio. Many Hondas and Toyotas are made in the US but the Prius is made in Japan. If you care about supporting US made goods you have to check case by case. See if that Honda made in Ohio has enough content to be considered domestic. I bet it doesn't.