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Archive for the 'Design' Category

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Flextreme Concept Wins Prestigious Design Award, Still Not Production Intent

November 28th, 2008 | Posted in: Design, E-REV, Opel with 76 Comments

In late 2007, GM unveiled the Opel Flextreme concept car and later showed it rebadged as Saturn.
The vehicle has a unique monocab design, but importantly, like the Chevy Volt, is also an E-Flex vehicle. It is meant to demonstrate how the range-extender could also be diesel and how the E-Flex E-REV drivetrain could be [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 76 Comments

Production Volt Interior Further Refined: Center LCD Screen, Center Stack Buttons, and Vents

November 17th, 2008 | Posted in: Design, Interior with 154 Comments

I had some further discussions about the Chevy Volt’s interior with chief designer Bob Boniface.  He advised me that the production interior design has undergone some further refinements. This images above reveal those. The older design is at the post bottom.  You can download the high-res image here.
Are the interior interfaces finalized?
Stylistically it looks mainly [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 154 Comments

GM Continues Push to Develop Plug-in Portfolio Beyond the Volt

November 5th, 2008 | Posted in: Brand, Design, E-Flex with 105 Comments

Despite all of the abysmal financial issues plaguing GM and the “important changes” to business operations GM CEO Rick Wagoner plans to announce on Friday, GM continues to push ahead with the Volt program.
Multiple sources have stated that with all the slashing going on at GM, the Volt program and budget remains unchanged. In [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 105 Comments

The Chevy Volt’s Green Leaf Function

November 4th, 2008 | Posted in: Design, Efficiency, Features, Interior with 98 Comments

Many people have noticed the interesting “green leaf touch” sensor button on the Chevy Volt’s interior center stack.  To date we have not heard a good explanation of what function it might perform, although there have been some amusing guesses by commentators here.
I had the chance to ask this question to Volt lead designer Bob [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 98 Comments

Volt Lead Designer on the Production Volt Front Grille

November 3rd, 2008 | Posted in: Design with 113 Comments

There has been some public debate about the appearance of the production Chevy Volt’s front grille.  It is unique in that it isn’t a series of bars across an opening, but rather a closed but very firm and strong panel with openings around the sides.  The panel has etchings that simulate a true grille. The [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 113 Comments

The Chevy Volt’s Tailpipe: A Sight Unseen

November 1st, 2008 | Posted in: Design with 65 Comments

When you look at the back of a car one thing that usually is apparent is the tail pipe. Especially so in high power cars, twin or dual twin tailpipes tend to give the design a lot of aggressiveness.
It turns out despite the fact that it will be sporty, the tailpipe isn’t at all [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 65 Comments

The Hows and Whys of the Volt Concept Redesign

October 19th, 2008 | Posted in: Design with 125 Comments

Its very common knowledge around here that the original Volt concept was considerably redesigned for production, and was unveiled on September 16th.
The Ohio Plain Dealer has a discussion of that process as it was explained members the Volts designs team, including design chief Bob Boniface.
Boniface indicates the car doesn’t look like the “electric camaro” some [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 125 Comments

Video: Bob Lutz Discusses Production Chevy Volt Design

October 15th, 2008 | Posted in: Design, Original GM-Volt Interviews, Video with 121 Comments

In this video segment GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz noted that he didn’t think the previously leaked photos would ruin the public’s acceptance of the Volt in production form. He felt however that even if people didn’t like it, it wouldn’t matter because as he puts it “this is a case where handsome is as [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 121 Comments

Results of Preference Poll and My Production Volt Unveiling Video

September 20th, 2008 | Posted in: Design, Public Opinion, Sightings with 49 Comments

I had the chance last week to watch live and in person as the production version Chevy Volt broke out onto the stage in front of thousands of journalists packed into an arena at GM headquarters, at the cue of CEO Rick Wagoner and driven by none other than GM vice chair Bob Lutz himself.
It [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 49 Comments

The Chevy Volt’s Interior

September 18th, 2008 | Posted in: Design, Interior with 167 Comments

“Space, comfort, convenience, and safety features” are how GM describes the rather futuristic interior of the Volt.
I had the chance to sit both in the passenger and rear sear of the vehicle.
The design encompasses the new dual cockpit theme that Chevrolet has adopted, which also appears in the upcoming Chevy Cruze.
The top of the dashboard [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 167 Comments

POLL: Chevy Volt Concept Versus Production Version

September 17th, 2008 | Posted in: Design, Public Opinion with 221 Comments

We previously ran polls about GM-Volt.com reader preference with regards to concept versus production design. Those were biased however in that we were comparing grainy video stills and poorly framed and angled images.
Now that we can see the fruit of many months and many millions of dollars of labor by GMs E-Flex design team, [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 221 Comments

On Public Opinion About the Production Chevy Volt (and Another Poll)

September 10th, 2008 | Posted in: Design, Images, Production, Public Opinion with 281 Comments

Not unexpectedly the leak of production Volt photos have ricocheted around the web, and certainly 10’s if not 100’s of thousands of people have seen these images.  However, some design uncertainty remains. We really haven’t seen the car alone in full at favorable angles and with unencumbered views.  This will come next week.  Sources tell [...]

Posted by: Lyle with 281 Comments

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