Chevy Volt coasts closer to reality, first bona fide model now in production

General Motors has just cut the ribbon, metaphorically at least, on the production of the first genuine Chevy Volt integration vehicle. Unlike previous versions, which have been "developments mules" made using parts from the Malibu / Cruze lines, this will look (and hopefully feel) 100 percent like what the company plans to start pimping out this November. The pre-production model will be put through the paces in case the design needs to be refined and tweaked before going full steam ahead. GM is sticking pretty close to its original plan of building at a rate of ten a week by mid-July, with "several hundred more" going into production early next year, and with any luck, it'll be packing some standardized EV plug by then.

[Robert @ May 27th 2009 10:43PM]

You forgot to mention GM must not go bankrupt first.

[iFargle @ May 27th 2009 10:46PM]

I'm sure a $50 billion bail out will help (or for a few more months, anyways...)

[Alexandre Emond @ May 27th 2009 11:09PM]

In the probable event of GM bankruptcy, the Volt will still go to production. :)
Bankruptcy means that GM assets will be liquidated (sold).
I'm pretty sure that the Volt is a good asset to buy for other car makers.

[Eric @ May 27th 2009 11:14PM]

Blackwatch Plaid!

[TheSuburbanWhiteBoy @ May 27th 2009 11:17PM]

BUY FOREIGN

[Epsilon-Not @ May 27th 2009 11:20PM]

GM going bankrupt (probably at the beginning of June) actually doesn't mean much- the American taxpayer will be giving more money, but that was going to happen anyway, you should be used to that by now. (Don't the numbers just all blur together?) The main effect is if you happen to own GM stocks or bonds, stocks will be worthless and bonds will be taking a fairly substantial haircut.

But for the average consumer? Eh, just another article in the Business section of the newspaper to not read. (online, of course)

[Will C @ May 28th 2009 12:22AM]

@SuburbanWhiteBoy

Correction: Buy Toyota.
Toyota does more processing and production in the US than any other automaker. You're actually pumping money into the US with a purchase of this foreign-branded, domestic-built vehicle (ie Camry).

[loosely_coupled @ May 28th 2009 5:48AM]

@Will C
Toyota does more production in the US? Lets see a source.. Regardless, I think the idea is that all the profits and tax revenue goes back to Japan instead of the USA.

[Heath @ May 28th 2009 8:49AM]

True a lot of Toyotas are assembled in the US... But!!! Most of their parts are made in other countries... Mostly Japan. GM, Ford, Chrysler does assemble some of their lines in other countries. But most of their parts are made in the US with the exception of the Aveo. Check your facts.

[Nicole @ May 28th 2009 9:36AM]

Toyota numbers:

http://www.toyota.com/about/our_business/toyota_in_america/our_numbers/production.html
http://www.toyota.com/about/our_business/operations/manufacturing/
http://www.toyota.com/about/our_business/toyota_in_america/our_numbers/direct_employment.html

I couldn't find an exact number of GM's direct US employees, but fuzzy numbers say about 80,000 in the US and ~245,000 worldwide. Toyota employs over 36,000 in the US and 316,000 worldwide.

On the other hand, GM doesn't employ anyone directly in this state whereas Honda, Toyota, Hyundai and Mercedes do, in very large numbers. "Buying American" has a different meaning here.

[Andre @ May 29th 2009 8:25AM]

@Nicole:

Now look at domestic content. Many of those vehicles are significantly lower than the 75% required to be considered a "domestic" vehicle, and even that says nothing about corporate cashflow.

[Eric Pendergrass @ May 27th 2009 10:48PM]

Worth saving an entire company for 1 car?

[Quantumphysics @ May 27th 2009 10:56PM]

The VOLT is not gonna save GM.

Too bad GM didn't make decisions as intelligent as Ford has. EVERY car maker is down - including multibillion dollar losses for Toyota - but Ford is gonna bounce back stronger than ever with their Taurus, Fusion and their new Ecoboost models.

GM however seems to be doomed. Cadillac will weather the storm however even if they have to be bought by someone else.

[BloodyHell @ May 27th 2009 11:09PM]

yeah, you keep going on that exclusive-ford-owner.
we all hope you work there so you can keep your job unlike the poor, unintelligent competition, saddface right guize?

[iFargle @ May 27th 2009 11:04PM]

What about the Chevy Camaro? I'm sure those will generate at least a few sales.. I've seen three in my town: Mine (red with white pinstripes, pwnage), a silver one, and an orange one.

[ash @ May 27th 2009 11:09PM]

There's no way your car actually has pinstripes, right? Racing stripes!

Otherwise I'll take mine in houndstooth.

[Link2877 @ May 27th 2009 11:13PM]

@Quantumphysics

I'm sorry to say dude but Ford is in the exact same position GM was a year ago. Ford is surviving off of credit they have, not profit. They are digging themselves into a hole too! If the economy doesn’t turn around, and it certainly doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anytime soon, Ford will be in bad shape very soon and asking for a hand out. The dripping irony here is that 3 years ago Ford was in the worst shape of all the automakers. They were losing money and had little new product in the pipeline. So they accessed the credit markets and put up even the “blue oval” trademark for collateral. What a stroke of genius - actually blind dumb luck that turned out to be! Next came high gas prices knocking the wind right out of the sails - and sales for GM and Chrysler with their new products and then came the credit crunch followed by recession. So the irony is that Ford is in the position of not needing govt loans because they were in such bad shape before the oil/credit/economic crisis. And now they are riding a wave of goodwill because they are not taking govt assistance.

I'm not saying they can't be successful I'm just saying just because they haven't asked loans yet doesn't mean they are doing any better then the ones that have.

[madgic987 @ May 27th 2009 11:16PM]

The Volt won't save GM.

Reason being is that a survey was done by GM themselves to see what the "average car buyer" would be willing to spend on something like the Volt. The average response was somewhere around $25,000 to $30,000 which is pretty fair if you think about it. The company though AFTER that still put out initial prices for the car about $12,000 more than that.

If people are willing to pay about $27,500 for a car (average), why put the car at $40,000?

No wonder they failed. If you can get a Toyota Camry for $21,000 that's built better than a $26,000 Impala SS, why would you waste the extra $5k?

[why not the LS2LS7? @ May 28th 2009 12:25AM]

Why did you just compare a base model Camry to the top of the line Impala?

The Impala SS makes about 400HP. Camry?

[DM @ May 28th 2009 2:23AM]

Since when does government need to intervene in a public corporation? Let all of the Big 3 automakers crash and burn, and maybe, we'll recover from this economic catastrophe. Hopefully in the process, other corporations (and industries) will understand they won't be saved by government bail-outs.

[sitruc @ May 28th 2009 5:33PM]

@Link2877
You didn't address the fact that all manufacturers are down. Sales are down, but Ford has a lineup that is in a better position and well-respected worldwide. Ford still has many vehicles that are doing well even if down from last year. GM grew into too many brands with little identity. Ford is not having those problems as much. I don't see the problem with Ford recognizing problems in their structure and correcting them without too much outside intervention. They are now in a better position than most global manufacturers. If anything, one could say Toyota is heading down the same path that GM is struggling to deal with now.

[ILIKEFREESTUFF @ May 27th 2009 10:50PM]

Recession antidote?

[Michael @ May 27th 2009 10:50PM]

Sweet. Detroit really needs to go electric. Perhaps then people will start buying more American cars. Living in the Detroit area myself I see how much this is effecting our jobs and our economy. My hope is that the American electric cars will gain a reputation of good quality. America needs more exports.

[chris @ May 28th 2009 4:52PM]

True, this is where the Gov;t Fuct up. that OK'd imports of foreign cars but didn't do anything to make sure our Cars were exported at a similar rate.

[shine chan @ May 27th 2009 11:00PM]

omg!it's so nice!

[roole @ May 27th 2009 11:08PM]

I truly hope it succeeds.

But it is unlikely to, at a price of $40,000. The Chinese will probably come out with something that is 75% as good for 50% of the price, by 2011.

[Alexandre Emond @ May 27th 2009 11:17PM]

Chinese cars can't pass our safety regulation :(
BUT:
If you can buy a very dangerous 1000cc+ bike why not accept a less dangerous Chinese car? This is the last thing thats stop us from buying the 7000$ Chinese sedan.

[Wei @ May 27th 2009 11:09PM]

Why are you showing the concept model picture? The production ones aren't that cool looking.

[Fatima @ May 27th 2009 11:11PM]

That is the production model.

[sitruc @ May 27th 2009 11:12PM]

I wish this kind of stuff would stay on autoblog so there would be fewer posters who don't follow GM or know GM's products making uneducated blanket statements about GM vehicles. The Volt won't save GM, but there are plenty of great cars out and coming out soon that will help restore the company. The Volt is a unique product and a step in a different direction for the automotive industry. Volt research and technology will be used on several future vehicles.

[why not the LS2LS7? @ May 27th 2009 11:17PM]

Well, it's a start. Please let someone demo the range extender soon. Telling reviewers they can't see that in action yet is getting rather old.

[digitallysick @ May 27th 2009 11:20PM]

It wont save them its far to expensive. Why I rather buy a 40,000$ chevy volt, or a $25,000 prius. Sure , the volt is electric, but its double the cost. Not that many people are in that price range for a 4 door car, especially a chevy

[KeatMP @ May 27th 2009 11:22PM]

You're forgetting the $7,500 tax credit the Volt has and the Prius doesn't.

[digitallysick @ May 28th 2009 3:19AM]

Even if this car is $32.000 or 35.000 its too much. Most people i know buy cars under $27,000 usually $25,000 or below. If they could come to at least 26,000 it might be different

I feel its an overly expensive car, maybe it will change in the time. I dont know how well i trust Chevy to make a decent car, they can't make decent gas cars and trucks, how can i expect them to make a reliable electric car

[chris @ May 28th 2009 4:58PM]

While you are right about people not spending that much on a Car, the insentive here is that you can spend more now and save 1000's in a couple years time.

While I know most people don't think that way, some smart ones do.

[sitruc @ May 28th 2009 5:25PM]

Prius and Volt aren't in the same category. You don't compare Corollas to Corvettes.

[ImaYam @ May 28th 2009 8:23PM]

watch me.

Corrola. 186 horses of fury!
Corvette. 620 horses of Supercharger Goodness!

[Derek @ May 27th 2009 11:31PM]

So let me get this straight...

Taxpayers subsidized the development of this vehicle.
Taxpayers are bailing out GM so they might be able to produce them after bankruptcy.
But even after all of this, a tax credit is needed to stimulate the sale of a vehicle which will most likely cost close to $40K.
Oh yeah, and GM wants to keep any "profit".

What. The. Fuck.

[hexydes @ May 28th 2009 1:47AM]

Wow, good point. Taking into account the amount of money they've received from us already, on top of the tax credit people get for buying this thing, I bet the Volt probably comes in right around $100,000 per unit, when all is said and done.

GM is run very well, and totally doesn't deserve to go out of business...

[sitruc @ May 28th 2009 5:19PM]

Good thing development of the car just began a couple months ago and not years ago...

[Gregorian @ May 27th 2009 11:32PM]

So the Volt is a Terminator.... it's got Terminator eyes.

[seriousam7 @ May 28th 2009 12:02AM]

Considering GM was able to use the first movie as a 2-hour long ad for the Camaro, I wouldn't be surprised if the Volt shows up in the second movie.

[Will C @ May 28th 2009 12:25AM]

Someone is thinking of Transformers...

Fail.

[Ignatius @ May 28th 2009 1:08AM]

It IS in the next Transformers movie, it's going to be a new character "Jolt"...

[seriousam7 @ May 28th 2009 2:07PM]

Oh, haha my bad, for some reason.....idk, BAH!
Next time I'll make sure I actually read the post I'm replying to, instead of just giving it a quick glance.

[boss-hogg @ May 28th 2009 12:12AM]

not bad for American Car. So sad I had to say it

[Loonie @ May 28th 2009 12:55AM]

Hooray! Only twenty five years too late...

[therealmusashi @ May 28th 2009 2:17AM]

Too early is more like it. They're only producing it to get government loans from a starry-eyed, greenwashed administration. The market isn't clamoring for these cars, and there's no oil shortage.

[John @ May 28th 2009 1:14AM]

Toyota imports a higher percentage of Camry's from Japan than it builds here in the U.S. Toyota does not produce more vehicles here on U.S. soil than any other import. Honda has that distinction. Honda builds the Odyssey, Ridgeline, Pilot, Accord, Acura MDX, Acura TL and Civic in the U.S. Civics and CR-V's are also built in Canada and/or Japan. The Fit and Insight (2010 model) are built entirely in Japan. Keep in mind (for all imported vehicles) that even if they are not built in the U.S., they still provide for U.S. jobs, such as dock workers, rail workers and so on. Buying American only is not as wise a choice as people make it out to be. You want the above-mentioned dock and rail workers out of a job?

[alex @ May 28th 2009 1:58AM]

and the price?