Taking Charge

GM unveils Chevy Volt ‘production model’ at 100th birthday celebration 3

Chevy Volt.

Photo: gmeurope

At its 100th birthday party on Tuesday, General Motors unveiled its oh-so-close-to-production model of the Chevrolet Volt --a plug-in hybrid that the automaker swears will be on sale by the end of 2010. GM has been plagued by massive financial problems lately caused mainly by its heavy focus on SUVs, which have largely fallen out of favor with consumers due to sustained high gas prices. In an effort to turn the automaker's fortunes around, GM has promised big things from the Volt, including an advanced lithium-ion battery (that doesn't quite exist yet) that GM says will be powerful enough to propel the car some 40 miles on one charge before the gasoline engine kicks in. GM also says the Volt will have an overall range of 400 miles on a full tank and a full charge. "We have to deliver," said GM's Elizabeth Lowery. The Volt is "very important to our entire strategy."

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  1. Delay And Deny's avatar

    Delay And Deny Posted 12:49 am
    16 Sep 2008

    Hopefully there will be......a hydrogen fueling station nearby, so they can swap out the battery hybrid engine with the fuel cell model....because hydrogen fuel cells are the real future of automobiles.
    One Engine.
    One Fuel.
    Hydrogen!

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  2. JudyK Posted 7:10 am
    16 Sep 2008

    SUVs are just the most recent problemSurely the real problems for GM have more to do with their humongous financial obligations, such as retirees' health benefits.  It's true to say that current sales aren't keeping up with these liabilities (due in part to high gas prices making large vehicles less attractive), but this is the trajectory GM - and all the rest of Big Auto - have been heading for decades, long before the SUV trend took root.  SUVs provided a brief reprieve for a few years, thanks to their high margins, but the deeper problems wouldn't go away if gas prices suddenly dropped - it would just take a bit longer for the axe to finally fall.

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  3. racc Posted 8:05 am
    16 Sep 2008

    PR strategy that isThere is no automobile of the future. The automobile is a symptom of cheap oil and steel. Once those are gone, there is no economic reason to still produce automobiles for the masses.

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