For the base model of the Volt, I suggest making the controls and indicators as simple and normal as possible. If some people want high tech touch screens and such, make it an option. Don’t force all Volt drivers to be geeks. People won’t buy it.

That’s what I’m talking about! Evidently there is going to be some kind of a regenerative braking system in F! cars next season or the one after.

#108 Grizzly:

Well, in response to Statik’s comment about “employee pricing”, I was just sort of joking about how in the !@#$%^ the dealers are going to get rid of the left over 2008 SUVs and pickups.

In response to your comment, God send that it shall be true.

But seriously… I’ve been known to cure narcolepsy just by walking into a room. My organ donation card also lists my beard. I’m a lover, not a fighter. But I’m also a fighter so don’t get any ideas.

“We have a guy in SoCal who has a string of mattress stores. He has become locally famous via his radio spots. He screams out “We will beat any competitor’s price or your mattress is FREEEEE!!” Of course the weasel words are right there in the sentence, but the “FREEEEE” overpowers everything.

Maybe that’s next in car merchandising?”

*** *** ***

Noel,

We could only hope that E-flex would reach a level such that it would approach the almost “pure” competitive market that is indicative of the mattress industry. One could only hope that competition has it that there are so many of the product that to induce demand manufacturers are producing ever-so-slightly different Volts (or E-Flex cars) so that each retailer could hope to sell based on a perceived difference. You no doubt understand that no one will ever get a “FREE” mattress because despite the fact that a competitor’s mattress is the same mattress from the same manufacturer, they are varied ever so slightly and model named appropriately such that every retailer can/will claim that they are in fact “not” the same mattress.

I can only hope that this will one day be the case WRT RE EVs because it will SIGNIFY that we are well on our way to energy independence.

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets. I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I’m bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don’t perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four-course meals using only a Mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

But I have not yet driven a Volt.

One undeniable positive about a production unveiling is that not only will consumers know that GM’s car is for real, so will the rest of the automotive world. Other car companies have been far more reluctant to go the electric route, but once they realize that the Volt’s e-flex design blows their hybrids out of the water, they will be forced to get serious about mass-producing electric cars. If the Volt becomes a hit with the press, we could see electric cars from Ford, Honda and others early in the next decade… which means more options for consumers.