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Chevy Volt Interior Spy Photo

April 5th, 2008 | Posted in: Design, Interior

Someone took a picture of the Volt’s interior sketch (to the left). As I saw it firsthand, I can tell you it is indeed accurate, and is essentially finalized. As per interior designer Tim Crieg, what is seen on this picture will be indistinguishable from the final product although subtle features could change. Not high-resolution as the photo was taken against GMs instructions.

The center of the center console contains the paddle shifter we discussed. The dark rectanlg3e above is an LCD screen. Not that the center console is a little tall, because it is actually sitting on the stem of the “T” of the battery pack.

You can read more about the interior in my prior post.

Posted by: Lyle

36 Responses to “Chevy Volt Interior Spy Photo”


  1. Talks
    Vote -1 Vote +1Talks
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 3:29 pm

    Doesnt look that great but it is ok. It looks like typical GM interior for small cars. May be its good in real.  

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  2. Grizzly
    Vote -1 Vote +1Grizzly
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 3:32 pm

    I guess that means that the paddle shifter is not on or behind the steering wheel? Despite my preference for a regular gear shift lever, I can live with that.  

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  3. ThombDbhomb
    Vote -1 Vote +1ThombDbhomb
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 3:53 pm

    Where are the cupholders?  

    (Quote)


  4. Robert.V
    Vote -1 Vote +1Robert.V
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 3:57 pm

    amen to the cup holder comment!  

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  5. Martin
    Vote -1 Vote +1Martin
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 4:06 pm

    Like the spacious feel,

    But More importantly,

    Why don’t they make it a x4 Adult plus 1 centre rear child configuration?

    The centre rear seat being only configured for a child ?
    Maximum utilisation would be nice, rear seat battery pack hunp included !  

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  6. Martin
    Vote -1 Vote +1Martin
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 4:09 pm

    Cup holders ?

    Maybe they will be slid pop out as required ?
    PS I hope we get a different size ones for Australia, your USA ones are CRAZLY large. The Pop holders you guys get would let a whole Europeon family have a drink out of one LOL !  

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  7. jscott1000
    Vote -1 Vote +1jscott1000
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 4:16 pm

    #6 – Only in the USA is a small drink 32 oz LOL .

    Yeah, it’s hard to tell from the bootleg photo, but it doesn’t appear Earth shattering. I was hoping for a glass cockpit kind of look. Maybe the cluster is one big LCD. That would be cool.  

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  8. nasaman
    Vote -1 Vote +1nasaman
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 5:59 pm

    I had a lengthy chat with Tim Crieg (Volt Interior Designer) & Tony Posawatz (Volt Line Director) at Volt Nation about the car’s interior design philosophy. I asked them if GM saw it as essentially one of the world’s first “FOUR-door Sport SEDANS” (vs a 2-door Sport Coupe like a Z-28 Camaro). Tim said, “YES, WE DO”!

    We then discussed the differences between a traditional 2-door sport coupe & the Volt as a ground-breaking 4-Door Sport Sedan…..

    - Sport coupes have 2 very nice bucket seats & a console in front, plus (typically) a very cramped bench seat & little space in back

    - Volt will have FOUR very nice bucket seats & consoles in BOTH front & back, with plenty of head/leg room in both front & back

    The audiophile in me then said, with 4 buckets wouldn’t it make sense to locate 2 very small but very high-quality speakers in the “shoulders” (NOT the headrests) of EACH seat, only about 6″ from either side of the passenger’s head? ….then added, as every audiophile & acoustic engineer knows, superb surround sound can be achieved much more easily by high-quality, close-spaced speakers than by distant speakers ….and while the amplifier power needed drops dramatically, the sound quality improves significantly over door-mounted and/or dash-mounted speakers. They both nodded & smiled broadly.

    Finally, I added that —like airline passengers— each of the Volt’s 4 passengers (sharing 2 large consoles) could also have his own volume control AND source/station selector switch. So for example, the driver could be checking an XM traffic channel while the front passenger listened to the Top 40 and the kids in back were hearing & watching Disney DVDs (on optional screens in the back of the front seat headrests or on ceiling drop-downs).

    When I next suggested they get Dr. Bose involved in designing this unique high-feature, high-quality, low amplifier power system. Tony Posawatz acknowledged that “we’re ALREADY talking to Dr. Bose”, then quickly added, “and that’s all we’re going to say!”

    Our discussion was over ….but they agreed we’d discussed some tantalizing possibilities to add a lot of pizazz to the Volt for very little cost, while significantly reducing the sound system’s power needs. We’ll see what happens. ;)   

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  9. Lyle
    Vote -1 Vote +1Lyle
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 7:09 pm

    There are 2 cupholders in the center console…saw them myself . I know I’ll need one for the morning Starbucks.  

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  10. Rashiid Amul
    Vote -1 Vote +1Rashiid Amul
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 7:11 pm

    #8, Very cool, Nasaman. Very cool and sensible.  

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  11. mmcc
    Vote -1 Vote +1mmcc
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 7:30 pm

    Looks great! I hope they go with Bose. I think it’s still made in the USA.  

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  12. ksuhwail
    Vote -1 Vote +1ksuhwail
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 7:32 pm

    Difficult to tell from the fuzzy picture but I think its gonna be a neat interior. Considering the limited space it does seem very spacious. GMs interiors have been getting pretty nice lately so hopefully this one will take a page out of the Malibu and CTS play book.

    I see this car having nothing that it unneeded so I would expect a very simple interior. I just hope they excel in quality and design.  

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  13. Eric E
    Vote -1 Vote +1Eric E
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 8:19 pm

    I prefer THX over Bose.  

    (Quote)


  14. ChevyVoltForum.com
    Vote -1 Vote +1ChevyVoltForum.com
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 8:20 pm

    Hey Lyle,

    Where’d ya get the pic?  

    (Quote)


  15. NZDavid
    Vote -1 Vote +1NZDavid
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 8:28 pm

    nasaman, really great post. I am really getting my hopes up here.  

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  16. Jim I
    Vote -1 Vote +1Jim I
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 8:55 pm

    I like Bose equipment, but do you know what BOSE actually stands for?

    Basically Overpriced Sound Equipment………..

    Just kidding!

    :)   

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  17. Grizzly
    Vote -1 Vote +1Grizzly
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 10:25 pm

    Jim i #16

    I agree, but in a car it will be fine, not even sure they need to go with BOSE.

    Hey does anyone know what the best theft deterrent is for a Delco radio???  

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  18. Grizzly
    Vote -1 Vote +1Grizzly
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 10:27 pm

    ….and the answer is…..daylight!  

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  19. nasaman
    Vote -1 Vote +1nasaman
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 11:17 pm

    17 Grizzly…..

    You asked, “Hey does anyone know what the best theft deterrent is for a Delco radio???”

    I found another highly effective answer —a DELCO RADIO! I designed & installed a 10-speaker high-powered sound system in my beloved Z-28 Camaro back in the day. One of its key features was a high-end head unit with a diversity-reception* FM tuner. But its most important feature was that everything was hidden. I even recessed the head unit in the dash enough that I could place the cannibalized front panel from the car’s standard Delco radio, knobs & all, in front of my extremely expensive head unit as a disguise. The first time thieves broke into the car they took lots of tapes, CDs, etc …..but never touched the head unit hidden behind the Delco front panel or any amps, speakers, etc —the deception worked!

    [The next (& last) time they broke in (in broad daylight, in a secure parking area) they stole the entire car --the police told me that, whichever of dozens of chop shops had taken it, had reduced it to nothing but parts in 45 minutes. Thank goodness for comprehensive insurance coverage!]

    *Diversity reception uses two antennas, one in front & one in back to minimize the so-called “picket fence” effect (whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-etc) due to FM multipath effects  

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  20. Tagamet
    Vote -1 Vote +1Tagamet
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 11:27 pm

    As long as it has cupholders, I can sleep well tonight.  

    (Quote)


  21. Tagamet
    Vote -1 Vote +1Tagamet
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 11:28 pm

    BIG honkin cup holders (lol)  

    (Quote)


  22. Grizzly
    Vote -1 Vote +1Grizzly
    Says:
    April 5th, 2008 at 11:50 pm

    nasaman,

    It was definitely “daylight” that saved the day for your head unit! BTW what did you have behind the Delco? Wasn’t the Sholz FM tuner the one with Diversity or do I have that wrong? I know Bob Carver had his own circuit in a home tuner that could really cut down on multipath. He always had such technical names for his inventions.  

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  23. ThombDbhomb
    Vote -1 Vote +1ThombDbhomb
    Says:
    April 6th, 2008 at 1:36 am

    #19 nasaman

    Another way to disguise your high-end head unit…strips of black, gray, and white tape!  

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  24. Estero
    Vote -1 Vote +1Estero
    Says:
    April 6th, 2008 at 10:00 am

    The LCD screen is a little high to suit me. Also, the LCD seems to be quite small, severely restricting the information that can be displayed. I was hoping for a larger screen.

    Hope this is one area where GM will make some changes before production.  

    (Quote)


  25. DaV8or
    Vote -1 Vote +1DaV8or
    Says:
    April 6th, 2008 at 10:12 am

    Hope we can get other colors besides gray. I’d love black and tan.  

    (Quote)


  26. JBFALASKA
    Vote -1 Vote +1JBFALASKA
    Says:
    April 6th, 2008 at 1:02 pm

    Amen to black and tan. Please, not another GM grey for the gray. I’m gray haired in part, but this car doesn’t say gray set crowd to me.

    GM’s most listless days were the grey interiors.  

    (Quote)


  27. Jean-Charles Jacquemin
    Vote -1 Vote +1Jean-Charles Jacquemin
    Says:
    April 6th, 2008 at 1:47 pm

    You said it Rashiid, #10  

    (Quote)


  28. Grizzly
    Vote -1 Vote +1Grizzly
    Says:
    April 6th, 2008 at 1:51 pm

    Thomb #23

    I’m thinking of doing this with my house, except I’m afraid the city will condemn it :) .  

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  29. John
    Vote -1 Vote +1John
    Says:
    April 6th, 2008 at 4:25 pm

    Estero said:

    The LCD screen is a little high to suit me. Also, the LCD seems to be quite small, severely restricting the information that can be displayed. I was hoping for a larger screen.

    Hope this is one area where GM will make some changes before production.

    ======================================

    Please be serious.
    You know exactly nothing about the car’s dimensions. Nothing.

    How on earth can you claim to know the size of the LCD and the height of it all relative to you (not even taking into consideration the number/range of seat adjustments)?

    These comments can be truly magical at times!

    The Volt will come when it comes and be the car that it will be. Period.

    The really serious ones are plotting trips to California to get one first.  

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  30. Jake
    Vote -1 Vote +1Jake
    Says:
    April 6th, 2008 at 6:23 pm

    How on earth would a “paddle shifter” be located anywhere other than behind the steering wheel, where paddle shifters traditionally go? If it’s on the center console I don’t understand what’s “paddle” about it.  

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  31. Grizzly
    Vote -1 Vote +1Grizzly
    Says:
    April 6th, 2008 at 7:11 pm

    I’m hoping it’s a “paddle shifter” in name only. I have no idea why GM couldn’t implement a short throw stick… even one that juts out of the center console just so that everyone would be familiar/comfortable with it.

    Not only is this a safety issue, but having to learn a new system in an already revolutionary car is unnecessary. This may be a case of functional integrity at the expense of novelty.  

    (Quote)


  32. Mark
    Vote -1 Vote +1Mark
    Says:
    April 7th, 2008 at 9:37 am

    Its electric for goodness sake – why does it have a shifter at all. The Tesla is shipping with one speed (yeah I know, it’ll be two speed when they figure out how to keep the tranny in one piece) The volt needs only to know if you want to go forwards or backwards. A button would do. Maybe a reverse pedal like the Model-T. Paddles are for race cars (got them on my mini-cooper, I’ve used them exactly once just to see if they work) “short throw” sticks are for dragsters. Give me a button and I’ll be happy….  

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  33. Grizzly
    Vote -1 Vote +1Grizzly
    Says:
    April 7th, 2008 at 10:59 pm

    Shifter= Reverse, neutral, Park or drive. Short throw and why not? It’s what everyone is familiar with, and no chance of hitting it accidentally. Why should anyone have to re-learn the automobile just to “borrow” the Volt?  

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  34. Ryan P
    Vote -1 Vote +1Ryan P
    Says:
    August 5th, 2008 at 3:00 pm

    Do you realise that, the VOLT being an electric car, we could easily have electric cup holder warmers????
    Hot coffee all the way to work!  

    (Quote)


  35. Tagamet
    Vote -1 Vote +1Tagamet
    Says:
    August 5th, 2008 at 4:32 pm

    Ryan P
    Nice thought, but as I understand it, they are even foregoing electric seat adjustments to save power.
    Be well,
    Tag  

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  36. Abraham
    +1 Vote -1 Vote +1Abraham
    Says:
    July 1st, 2009 at 8:45 pm

    I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.  

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