Chevy Volt's first pre-production model now on the road, in testing

And with that, the first bona fide pre-production Chevy Volt -- its own parts and all -- has hit the pavement. General Motor's storied EV will be taken through the ropes to see what needs to be tweaked / modified before it finally goes into full production, which is expected to be at a rate of about ten a week as of mid-July -- and if you happen to live near Warren, Michigan, you might just spot one of these early models out on the road. Hard to believe Volt's defied more than a few odds, but so far, it looks promising. Good on ya, GM.

[John @ Jun 26th 2009 12:41AM]

Neat.

[Thunda Chunky @ Jun 26th 2009 2:12AM]

Yeah it wasn't even cool enough to get a line in Transformer: RotF

[Information Central @ Jun 26th 2009 2:37AM]

Yet another ugly electric car with a fat, mountainous ass.

The Volt is essentially a PR manuever: It exists, and thus takes heat off GM, but is ugly enough to reduce demand and allow GM to go on doing business as usual.

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA1 Plumbing @ Jun 26th 2009 6:28AM]

If GM was really serious about selling this electric car they would have hired someone who was not 10 years old to design the facia and what not of this car.

Hey, if I blow a good $50K on a new type of car I want it to look like something batman or Captain Elektro would drive, not another losermobile.

America shold be ashamed of their products. Darn busted up Honda civic with a broken motor still goes for more than an american car. The only thing America made good was BIG BLOCK 4 Barrel PONTIACS.

[RK @ Jun 26th 2009 10:34AM]

Everyone says $40K, can anyone point to a document that mentions the price.

[Matt @ Jun 26th 2009 10:46AM]

Why buy this if the Honda Insight is under $20K? I doubt it's worth the extra +$20K.

[Nomi @ Jun 26th 2009 11:06AM]

Insight is not a plug-in afaik.

[chispito @ Jun 26th 2009 12:27PM]

It looks better than any Prius ever has. I just wish they would have left some more definitive lines in it.

[BigD145 @ Jun 26th 2009 12:54PM]

It looks exactly like a Prius. The only difference is that it's shorter and has a longer nose.

[Jeff @ Jun 26th 2009 5:36PM]

My first thought was "looks like a crappy chevy-made body kit strapped on a Prius."

GM has always been really good at making concepts look neat, and making production versions really crappy and boring.

[Kyle B @ Jun 26th 2009 12:41AM]

Double neat.

[John @ Jun 26th 2009 12:42AM]

Sweet.

[Ryoga Vee @ Jun 26th 2009 12:42AM]

Wow.. its, kinda ugly...

[melloncollie @ Jun 26th 2009 12:50AM]

How is this ugly?

[Juaquin @ Jun 26th 2009 12:53AM]

It may not be as sexy as the concept, but it's still quite a bit better than Chevy's other models.

[Ryoga Vee @ Jun 26th 2009 12:56AM]

It looks like as Prius and a Ford Focus had a illegitimate love child.

[melloncollie @ Jun 26th 2009 1:03AM]

I still fail to see how that could be considered ugly. Generic, yes. Ugly, no.

[FotoGenetix @ Jun 26th 2009 1:17AM]

gonna have to go with ugly as well, either that or black is really unflattering. the silver spoiler? really.

the proportion from the front end to the back just look really weird

[FotoGenetix @ Jun 26th 2009 1:17AM]

gonna have to go with ugly as well, either that or black is really unflattering. the silver spoiler? really.

the proportion from the front end to the back just look really weird

[liam devlin @ Jun 26th 2009 1:27AM]

It's definitely better looking than the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius.

[Jon Doe. @ Jun 26th 2009 1:34AM]

What part of preproduction didn't you get? The color and the spoiler could and will easily change before it ships in mass. *shrugs* Who cares. Its an American made car. Won't touch it with a 10 meter cattle prod. I've been burned too many times over the year. I just went with Toyota a couple years ago and its like a rock....so to speak. If I can't trust tried and true engineering in a traditional car how the heck am I to trust something as new as the Volt? Maybe after 5 years on the market and not seeing a spike in failed transmissions, gas pumps (Which I think is still in this type of car.), etc maybe.

[ManoloDF @ Jun 26th 2009 2:07AM]

Cobalt with a spoiler?

[Gilbert J. Garcia @ Jun 26th 2009 4:46AM]

not be as sexy as the concept? Thats an understatement thats like comparing an ipod to an original xbox. its about as sexy as a garbage can this thing is fugly no imagination at all. I thought the concept was a work of art this is just garbage. Why did it change so much?! its like they went from 100 to 0 in artistic design in less then a second. Who was in charge of this project homer simpson? how could they go from such a sexy car to this?

[Dax @ Jun 26th 2009 7:47AM]

Its looks like crap. They took a great concept and normalized the design into a Malibu. Company should have been bankrupt years ago.

[tranquility @ Jun 26th 2009 12:42AM]

A Chevy Monza!

[sitruc @ Jun 26th 2009 12:42AM]

10 per week isn't full-production. Autoblog is doing fine.

[Stevo @ Jun 26th 2009 4:10PM]

Oooh! PoPo!

[slicecom @ Jun 26th 2009 12:43AM]

Double ugly.

[jitters333 @ Jun 26th 2009 12:16PM]

Ha yeah Tesla FTW

[sitruc @ Jun 26th 2009 12:46AM]

Double sweet.

[Anthony M. @ Jun 26th 2009 12:47AM]

Double Chevy Monza

[giantenemycrab @ Jun 26th 2009 12:49AM]

I really hope this car succeeds. Not just because I want to see GM get back on their feet, but for full-on electric cars to become more mainstream. I can't wait to test drive one myself.

[IvanP91 @ Jun 26th 2009 12:59AM]

thats exactly what I want, I want electric to be mainstream and a stunt like this just might make other manufacturers jump into electric production.

[sitruc @ Jun 26th 2009 1:14AM]

Volt still isn't full-on electric, but it's a big step and more practical than most vehicles of the type. It's electric for the first 40 or so miles then it relies on the conventional engine.

[giantenemycrab @ Jun 26th 2009 1:22AM]

@sitruc

Well... That's technically true. But the gas engine is supposed to be just a backup in case you go over 40 miles. It's more of a convenience thing in my mind. I still view the car as an electric car.

[sitruc @ Jun 26th 2009 1:29AM]

Fair enough. I just wanted to point out the important distinction and part of why the Volt is more practical at this point.

//Before somebody misinterprets that, I'm not saying the segment is for everybody and/or affordable.

[Rincewind @ Jun 26th 2009 4:52AM]

The gas engine just runs a generator that powers the electric motor after the battery is down to a certain percent of charge (I forget the exact number). What I don't understand is why it can't throw some charge back into the battery, say while idling at a light, until there's enough juice in it to run electric-only.

[Ignatius @ Jun 26th 2009 9:47AM]

No matter what, you're still running electrically regardless if the generator is running or not. It is actually less efficient to try and charge up the battery using the generator rather than just sustaining the 30% state-of-charge, because once you get home, you can just plug it in and pay about a dollar to charge it up overall.

[SupaYoYoMan @ Jun 26th 2009 12:52AM]

it looks so sweet in black

[MoreGooder @ Jun 26th 2009 2:56AM]

Looks like it just got t-boned.

[m2h @ Jun 26th 2009 12:59AM]

Sweet? It looks like a normal car. Like every mudain car on the streets since the beginning of time.

As for GM, or any mega company. Seriously, wtf? I really don't believe a company should be so huge, that if they go bankrupt, they devastate a nation.

[jinsei888 @ Jun 26th 2009 12:59AM]

wow, it actually doesn't look bad!

[Vinnie @ Jun 26th 2009 1:02AM]

http://image.motortrend.com/f/roadtests/hatchbacks/9924943/112_0808_02z+2008_COBB_tuning_subaru_wrx_sti+side.jpg

Anyone see the similarity?

[MONKEY @ Jun 26th 2009 1:10AM]

Check out the headlights - pulled straight from a 2004-2008 Acura TL. Coming GM, it's no surprise and I don't mind if a failing company copies a bit to get a car to look good. And the Volt does look damn good.

[myopiczeal @ Jun 26th 2009 9:42AM]

Not really...

On one hand, I see Subaru's typically quirky yet compelling design, and on the other, I see GM's typical bland and uninteresting design cues. That both cars are 4-door hatchbacks is really the only similarity.

[myopiczeal @ Jun 26th 2009 9:45AM]

Just to add:

I will give GM credit for taking a step in the right direction, but they have many, many steps to go before most of their cars are worth buying.

[yokel @ Jun 26th 2009 3:48PM]

Nope. The Subaru looks much more appealing to me.

[Badger_badger_badger @ Jun 26th 2009 1:02AM]

I must admit it does look better than the Prius.

[Dank @ Jun 26th 2009 6:36AM]

It damn should look better considering that it will cost almost $20k more than a Prius. GM really messed this one up though. This does NOT look like a $40k car. Not to mentiont that the new Prius design looks better than this.

[Jim @ Jun 26th 2009 9:27AM]

The Prius defined the segment, has a plug-in version that will be out before the Volt and is backed by a company that did not blackmail billions of tax payers dollars in order to stay afloat for another year or two. This is GM's Hail Mary to make it look as though the car faker is clued in. It's taken too long, will cost too much (especially compared with the new Honda hybrid) and will still lose GM money on every sale. GM did have a viable electric car in the EV-1 a decade ago but the tards at GM HQ couldn't see beyond their bonuses that this was a glimpse of the future. Instead they continued to suck on the teat of big profits from SUVs and trucks in ignorance of the impending oil spikes and stuffed billions into lobbying against pollution and efficiency legislation. Then, with the noose tightening, they announce a Volt concept that looks cool but the production model looks so plain that only it's mother would love it.

Do I sound bitter? Maybe because I foolishly owned 2 crappy GMs (a Saturn and a Pontiac) before realising the folly and now I get to be a forced shareholder. Never another GM in my family, even this this dolt won't bolt for a Volt.