GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

The Chevrolet Cruze is the gas-powered sister car to the Chevy Volt, riding atop the same global compact delta platform.  It is also one of GM’s greatest hopes for its future, a feature-packed luxury-like small car in an affordable price range.  It is designed to sell at high volumes and compete head on with bread and butter cars like the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic.  And unlike GM’s past small cars is to be sold at a profit.

The car has been on sale for more than a year internationally with over 165,000 having been sold, and starting today launches in the United States.  The first US retail Cruze rolled off GMs Lordstown Ohio production line at 10:30 AM today and will be delivered to a dealership. The configurator is now online, and pricing will begin below $17,000.

Accompanying the launch of GMs most important car next to the Volt, will be an advertising blitz including television commercials.  Movie and TV star Tim Allen, perhaps known best for his most famous role on the Home Improvement TV series, is GMs choice for the voice and spokesperson for the car, and indeed the Chevrolet brand as a whole.

Joel Ewanick who comes from Hyundai and is GMs new marketing chief told Automotive News his views on advertising the Chevrolet brand.  He said GM wont hammer home the message that Chevrolet is an American icon.  ”The nice thing about Chevrolet is that people know it’s an American brand,” he said. “We don’t need to remind them of the obvious.”

Ewanick doesn’t prefer the term social media it seems.  ”Maybe we need to change the language, it’s not media, it’s social engagement,” he said. “Aren’t we causing a conversation? Media is when you buy television or print.”  Whatever you call it, he promised some new social initiatives.  ”We’re going to do interesting things ,” he said.  ”Even this fall with the Cruze launch. ”

He also doesn’t believe Chevrolet needs a special theme or tagline. “I think the bow tie speaks for itself.” said. “And you’ll see us use the bow tie prominently and proudly in everything we do. ”

Ewanick feels strongly about having halo cars for the brand, and sees them as a good thing.  ”We should be using the Corvette to make a statement about Chevrolet,” he said. “Tying the Corvette to Chevrolet is a beautiful thing.”

“The Chevrolet brand has several halos, he said.  ”The Camaro could be a halo. You could look at the Volt as a halo product.”

“I hope we turn the Cruze into a halo in that segment,” he added.

GM has released two 30 seconds commercials including Allen’s narration which have begun appearing on national television.

You can see them below:

Source (GM) and (Automotive News)

When GM first introduced the Volt concept in January 2007, it was met with tremendous public enthusiasm.  Indeed this very site was born of that sentiment.  Faced with this strong public interest, GM’s communications department decided early on they would be very open and transparent with the Volt development process.  This transparency and outreach to unconventional media led me to be invited to GM headquarters within four months of starting this site.  It was also a method of improving their image with an often skeptical public.

Since then GM has marched through a very carefully planned and choreographed campaign, gradually teasing out the details of the car’s development, design and finally most recently merging into the marketing and rollout phase.

We are also well aware GM is also planning second and even third generations of the car which will improve on the design and cost less to manufacture and sell.  However, there is little detail on these future versions of the car.  I asked whether GM will continue its transparency approach to these future vehicles.

“We will not be as transparent on the Gen 2 VOLT and VOLTec offerings in the future product plan,” said Volt director Tony Posawatz.  ”We will continue to share our learnings as VOLT is launched and rolled out and people need to educated on the virtues of electrified transportation.”

Rob Peterson of Volt communications was a little less sure.

“We’re still trying to get Gen1 to the dealers,” said Peterson.  ”We don’t want to confuse the message,” he said by discussing too much the next version of the car.

In due time, though, GM will feed us news.

“We’ll talk about Gen 2 as it becomes appropriate,” he said.

Peak oil is the theory and study of the time when global oil production reaches its maximum rate and then declines terminally, despite growing demand. Peak oil is a fact of nature that either will shortly occur or is presently occurring; oil is a finite resource and at some point remaining reserves will decline and not be able to keep up with demand.

It is a very compelling reason to move towards electrification the automobile.

Generally large western democratic governments do not publish reports on the study of peak oil or its consequence, for fear of causing public distress. However a document produced by the German military was recently leaked to the media via the German outlet Der Spiegel.

This document was never meant to be seen by the public and outlines some very dramatic, drastic, and sobering consequences of peak oil.

The report claims there is “some probability that peak oil will occur around the year 2010 and that the impact on security is expected to be felt 15 to 30 years later.”

Analysis of the report has led to seven key findings.

• Oil will determine power:
  Oil producing nations will gain considerable power in the international landscape and will use this power to expand their domestic and foreign policies in their own best interests.
• Increasing importance of oil exporters:
  Oil importing countries will have to compete with each other to obtain oil from oil exporters. This will allow the oil exporting countries to implement their political, economic, and ideological goals on dependent nations including the use of aggressive and assertive tactics.
• Politics in place of the market:
  The global oil market will retract from free-trade mechanisms and degenerate into two-way contracts between oil producing and oil importing nations.
• Market failures:
  The report paints a bleak picture of the global economy as oil shortages develop. Since all goods depend on oil to transport them, shortages and price escalations of vital goods will arise. “In the medium term the global economic system and every market-oriented national economy would collapse,” the study authors conclude.
• Relapse into planned economy:
  Since all economic sectors are reliant on oil, peak oil could lead to complete or partial failure of all markets. This could lead to goverments’ rationing of vital goods.
• Global chain reaction:
  There will not be enough time to restructure oil supplies among dependent nations.  Since those nations are so closely intertwined, including Germany, economic crises or crashes will rapidly will spread throughout the developed world.
  
• Crisis of political legitimacy:
  So potent is the grip of oil dependence, the report predicts that it is possible even democracy itself won’t be able to survive peak oil.  The would create openings for extremist forms of government, intense political distress, and even open violent conflict in the streets.

Clearly these predictions are drastic, but it is important to take note that this report wasn’t written by some fringe psychopathic recluse, but by the military of one of the largest democratic economies in the world.

I’m not sure what I can do about it, but hopefully buying a Chevy Volt is a first step in the right direction.  Let’s hope we have enough time and ingenuity to avert this potential outcome.

Source (Der Spiegel)

This week I took the next step in what has been a remarkable four year journey. I ordered my very own Chevrolet Volt.

Fortunately I live in an early launch market in the metro New York City area and work only a block away from Englewood Auto Group, a dealership that has both Buick/GMC and Chevrolet stores side by side. I got in touch with the owner Steve DeScalsi and we ordered my Volt. It only took a few minutes over the phone and now I have an official order number. I chose the cyber gray metallic exterior and the jet black leather interior with white accents. I would have preferred the dark console but those won’t be available on the initial wave, not reaching the retail market I’m told until March.

DeScalsi has owned his GM franchise since 1999, and had another Chevy store in a different location from 1989 to 1999. He actually started as a salesman working his way up to becoming an owner.

Steve is very excited about the Volt. “How could I not be,” he said. “This car will bring in a ton of new showroom traffic.” He is committed to servicing the cars and currently has five Volts on allocation (four besides mine). He has no intentions of charging more than MSRP. “I will not price gouge,” he said.

I can honestly say I am extremely excited about taking possession of this car, the object of my intense fascination and continuous surveillance for the past four years. I look forward to being among the first in the nation to drive one and look forward to joining the nationwide community of Volt owners. Though I drove a MINI E for a year, the Volt offers so much more, and with far less stress and limitation.

I have been considering whether to lease or buy the car. The $350 per month lease is for three years at 12,000 miles per year. Since I travel about 22,000 miles per year, at 25 cents per extra mile I would expect to pay $558 per month to lease. After three years that would be a layout of about $20,000. I would then owe $22,500 on the car ($1500 for leather option) minus a $7500 tax credit, or $15,000. A five year loan at 3.9% APR would be $643 per month.

At five years though I will have traveled 110,000 miles, passing the battery warranty of 100,000 miles. At that point it is possible all-electric range could drop somewhat as battery capacity begins to fade. Also generation two or some other Voltec variant may be available by then.

Most prospective Volt owners have decided they will lease the car. In a poll on this site, twice as many said they would lease rather than buy the car. How do you see the decision?

For your viewing pleasure GM has released high resolution photos of all the available interior and exterior color options which you can see in the brand new gallery below.

Lets start off by saying the obvious. GM needs the Cruze to be a winner in the US. It has never been more clear given GM’s August results. The bulk of GM’s 25% downswing was because of not being able to compete in the compact and mid-size car market. Well, that and being up against CFC (cash for clunkers) in the summer of 2009.

The Chevrolet Cobalt production has long stopped in Lordstown, Ohio, and there has been a very large gap between that car and the new model because of production delays. The Cruze finally starts production on September 8th of next week, and with no current compact in production, many GM customers are either delaying their purchase, waiting to see if GM’s latest offering will be worth it, or going elsewhere. August sales of the Cobalt fell 67% to 5,643 cars from 17,393 the year prior. /yeesh

Part of GM’s solution to get the word out on the Cruze, and to regain lost market share from their Japanese rivals, is to return to a old strategy. Namely, asking their 3,000+ Chevrolet dealers to go out and buy a new Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic so potential Cruze customers can compare the two, right on the spot…at a Chevy dealership.

The thinking behind the promotion is fairly straight forward, and makes sense at first glance. The Civic, like the Cobalt, is very long in the tooth, and is scheduled for a much anticipated, full model overhaul for May of 2011. Likewise for the Corolla, which is the best selling car of all time, now having been on the market since a more slight model upgrade happened in October of 2006 (as the Axio in Japan), and is also firmly behind the curve, looking dated at this point.

Margaret Brooks, Chevrolet small-car marketing director, said at a press conference for the Cruze that she expects customers to “come away with a favorable view of the Cruze,” but is that good enough.

The bottom line for GM with this promotion, and why it is not likely to be a success, is that people are coming to your dealership to see your car…why show them what the competition has to offer? Even if your product is better, if it gets consumers in the mood to start shopping around, like to Ford with the Fiesta and upcoming Focus, or to Hyundai/Kia-who really know how to sell a small car, why do it? People might start to wonder why the Cruze doesn’t have a hatch, or a two door option, or why you have to pay the premium dollars to get the 40 MPG version?

I commend GM for the effort and having faith in their cars, the Cruze is as good or better than just about anything in its segment right now, but they have tried this before with the Saturn Aura, and more recently with the Malibu against the Camry/Accord, and it just did not work.

Sell the car…not the competition.

(Source: Automotive News – sub)

Editor’s Notes: You can also check out brand new pictures below of the Chevy Cruze hatchback.  This car is going on sale in Europe though won’t appear in the US.

US Chevrolet Cruze retail production will begin next on Wednesday September 8th at the Lordstown Plant in Ohio and the official Chevrolet configurator is now online. Pricing begins at $16,275.

Tim Allen has been hired as the official celebrity spokesperson and will appear in advertising also slated to begin next week.

China is officially the world’s largest automotive market, growing the most rapidly, and poised to continue doing so for years to come.  As oil demand grows there and world production declines, China, like many other countries will be faced with considerable difficulties.  As such the Chinese government has been strongly promoting and incentivizing the domestic production and sale of electric cars.

Not wishing to be left out of this opportunity, earlier this week GM shipped in the first two fully operational Volts to ever drive on Chinese soil   The cars were used as part of the VIP motorcade for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

GM also announced it will begin to sell the Volt in China towards the end of 2011.

Volts for sale in China will initially be exported from Detroit as part of the 10,000 planned 2011 production run, so availability will be extremely limited.  ”We are producing 10,000 Volts in 2011 and 45,000 in 2012,” said GM international operations spokesperson Freda Agboka. “We haven’t allocated or announced how many are going to be sold in China yet.”

The company has admitted, however, if demand in China turns out to be strong, the company may produce the Volt there locally.

“Local production of the Volt won’t be a problem, in terms of technology. However, we need positive market feedback before we can put it into mass production,” said Ding Lei, chief general manager of Shanghai GM, the US automakers joint venture in China.

GM also expects to price the Volt competitively in China, though pricing there has yet to be unveiled.

There were some early rumors the the Volt might be sold as Buick in China, since that brand is so popular there.  The arrival of the car as a Chevrolet puts and end to that speculation.

Chinese government incentives designed to promote purchase of electric vehicles currently only apply to Chinese domestic automakers such as BYD. GM hopes by promoting the Volt and through it’s joint ventures in the country, benefits will be extended to their vehicles as well.

Furthermore GM is also developing a pure electric car called the Chevrolet New Sail, intended for the Chinese market. The car is being produced through Shanghai GM and is expected to lead to running prototypes by 2011.

“GM has made a long-term commitment to bringing our industry-leading technology to China,” said Kevin Wale, President and Managing Director of the GM China Group. “This is enabling us to provide the best mobility solutions for addressing the transportation challenges associated with the growth in demand for personal mobility. With GM taking the lead, the development of electric vehicles is opening up entirely new industries.”

Source (GM)