GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site

You know GM means business when it debuts a Chevrolet Volt television commercial during the Super Bowl, considering the 30 second spot costs $3 million to air.

The yearly football match is generally one of the most watched television events with over 100 million people expected to have tuned in.

The commercial, first airing prior to halftime called Discovery, illustrates a different perspective on the Volt than we have seen in previous commercials.

The intention is to describe the car as a historically disruptive breakthrough invention, which in fact it is. It nicely weaves quickly through several landmark historical milestones such as the discoveries of electricity, the lightbulb, the home computer, and the arrival of Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock.

An underlying theme to all these important advances is that electricity made them possible, the same being true of course for the Volt.

Tim Allen continues in his role as narrator, calling the car at the end the extended range electric Volt.

It will be interesting to see if the exposure of this commercial to such a wide audience, around one third of the US population, will  lead to increased attention to the car, which as it stands already seems to have garnered much interest.

And if you are new to this site after seeing the ad on the Superbowl, welcome.

You can see the whole catalog of this year’s Super Bowl ads here.

The Chevy Volt advertising campaign continues with GM recently releasing the fourth in a series of television commercials.


This one continues in the tradition of Tim Allen narrations and is a very brief 15 seconds. It is designed to illustrate the point that the Volt will rarely if ever need to fill up on gasoline. It is called See You Later Gas Station. You can see the commercial below.


Another recent development in the Volt world is the release of a new book about the car. Called Chevrolet Volt: Charging into the Future, the book was writen by Larry Edsall who is a former editor of AutoWeek and was officially sanctioned and licenesed by GM to write the book. The foreword is written by Bob Lutz.


The official description of the book is as follows:

The Chevrolet Volt was introduced to the motoring public with great fanfare in autumn 2008. Clean styling and creative engineering have created a tremendous buzz around the Volt, which is unlike any electric car to date. Chevrolet Volt takes you behind the scenes of the car’s development from concept to finished product. With unprecedented access to the people that made the car happen, author Larry Edsall brings you behind the scenes with exclusive photography from General Motors. In-depth interviews of the designers, engineers, aerodynamicists, and other key figures reveal the hurdles and setbacks, advances and victories in the car’s evolution. No other book offers the unrestricted access to the development of one of the most important cars from Detroit–ever!

Admittedly I imagined myself writing such a book but never got it together to do so. I contacted Edsall to see if he wanted any of my input, but at the time it was too late. “In many ways I’m sure your website is much more complete than the book I’ve written,” he said. “The book was completed a few months ago, up through the start of pilot production at D-HAM.”


You can purchase the 144 page book here:

See the TV commercial below:

Chevrolet has just released a video of a new 30 second 2011 Chevy Volt television commercial.

The ad is minimalistic and centers around a plain 120-v household socket sitting in a garage.

Narrator Tim Allen talks in a soothing manner to the simple socket advising it to “breathe, just breathe.”  The premise is the little socket now has a very important if not intimidating job to do recharging the Chevrolet Volt with its athletic looks, instant torque and 100 mile per hour top speed.

Allen tells the socket any one of them can do the job of recharging the Volt for about $1.50 per day.

“It’s a big step up from the leafblower,” he adds.

It is a short, simple, sweet and cute commercial that really tells the whole important story of the Volt in a nutshell.

More ads, more demand, less gas.

See the ad below:

This is now the second national ad spot GM has created for the Volt. The first one, called Anthem, that appeared during the World Series is below:

We just recently saw the first Chevy Volt commercial which aired on Wednesday in the World Series. Accompanying that 30 second commercial were three other Chevrolet commercials.

All are narrated by comedian Tim Allen and all evoke memories of this country’s past and how Chevrolet has been a thread that ties the decades together. The advertising tag line “Chevy Runs Deep” tries to remind consumers how much a legacy the brand is for the country, and how it is still alive. Furthermore the brand’s future is exemplified prominently by the Chevy Volt.

The following commercials illustrate these ideas:

1. Babies:

2. Dogs in trucks:

3. Chevy runs deep:

4. That first Chevy:

It is obvious GM has abandoned the ill-conceived memo of former brand director Jim Campbell to not call the brand Chevy, which is good. Whether prompting consumers to remember Chevy’s role in this country’s past will sell more cars isn’t known. The new advertising push is being led by GM’s new VP of marketing Joel Ewanick. The ads were conceived by GM’s new advertising partner Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, who took over after GM severed ties with Campbell Ewald with who was their advertising partner for over 90 years.

“Are we going to wrap ourselves in the American flag? No, we’re not, but we are going to wrap ourselves in the values and the character that has been part of this country for centuries,” Ewanick said. “That’s what we want to be.”

These commercial are reminiscent of previous patriotic campaigns such as “Heartbeat of America” and “American Revolution” that didn’t necessarily drum up a lot of business. Of course back then there was no Chevrolet Volt.

Ewanick believes this strong historic American theme is something Japanese competitors cannot claim, and allows the brand to be set apart. “We have a soul that our strongest competitors don’t have,” Ewanick said. The question is, will it work?

Quote Sources (Reuters)

As we reach the summit of production Volt launch, the Chevy marketing machine begins to ramp up.

GM is serious about selling this car and has high hopes it is the tip of the spear for future generations of electric cars to come. Though only 10,000 to 15,000 units will be produced in 2011, in the interest of being cautious, after that the company will ramp up to march demand.

We hope demand will be high, but at present it is uncertain, as GM isn’t announcing how many orders it has taken.

According to Automotive News, Volt marketing chief Tony DiSalle said over half of the people who have ordered a Volt are first time buyers of a Chevrolet brand vehicle. He would not give specific numbers nor say whether any of these so-called conquest sales had purchased other GM brands in the past.

DiSalle also reported that the very first Volts would go to customers, not dealerships. Dealership demo models, one of which each Volt dealer is required to have on hand, won’t start being delivered until February of next year.

Today the company has unveiled one of two new TV commercials for the Volt that will appear during the World Series which begins tonight. This represents the premiere of national high profile prime-time Volt advertising. Along with the ads the new Volt tag line, “its more car than electric,” is debuted.

Part of this Volt advertising blitz is intended to draw in showroom traffic to Chevy dealers. Even if people don’t or can’t buy Volts right away, it is hoped they may buy other cars like the Cruze.

“I hope there are redundancies with dealers,” said DiSalle.

GM will also be debuting several Chevrolet ad spots during the series which feature the new Chevrolet tagline “Chevy Runs Deep.”

“The World Series is a defining piece of American culture,” said Joel Ewanick, vice president, U.S. Marketing. “It has a story, a soul and a connection to every generation – just like Chevrolet. You can’t get a better fit than Chevy and baseball. It’s the perfect opportunity to talk about Chevy’s commitment to America and showcase our newest cars, trucks and crossovers.”

“As we prepare for Chevrolet’s centennial in 2011, we’re beginning a new chapter in Chevy history,” Ewanick said. “This is a brand that has touched all Americans. We’re proud of our heritage and eager to let people know how we can create a better future through vehicles like the Cruze, Volt and other fuel-efficient models that will be coming soon, including a new sub-compact car and the Spark. We believe this campaign provides a great platform to tell that story.”

Check out the first exclusive showing of the new Volt commercial below called “Anthem” which celebrates all the different freedoms driving a Volt can provide and tell us what you think.

Source (Automotive News)

While at the Chevrolet Volt launch event I attended a presentation by Volt marketing director Tony DiSalle.

He advised us that Chevrolet Volt television commercials were in production and would soon appear. One is in fact scheduled to make its debut during the world series.

He played two commercials 30 second commercials for us which were still rough.

The first was called socket. It showed a lonely wall socket in a garage who was told to relax and was promised he would soon become involved in some very important thing. Namely, charging the Chevrolet Volt. “A big step up from a weed whacker,” was the closing line. It was cute and just a tiny bit touching.

The second commercial was called “Anthem” and is the one that will be shown at the World Series. It showed how the Volt could allows drivers to engage in “spontaneous acts of freedom.”

Both could do no more than pique a person’s interest to look into the car further. Not much more could be expected from 30 seconds.

DiSalle also unveiled the official advertising tag line for the Volt: “It’s more car than electric”

This tag line was played in both commercials.

DiSalle expects to emphasize the freedom the Volt can provide customers:
1. Freedom to drive gas or tailpipe emissions-free
2. Freedom to drive whenever and wherever
3. Freedom to charge at home.

The next year or two will be very interesting to see how many Volts GM will actually be able to sell. Lets hope very, very many.