A fleet of eight of these vehicles just returned from a 3-day 1200-mile extended test drive last week, and perhaps one of the lucky participants got to take one home for the weekend. It is known that 80 of these cars are in existence and nvolced in continuous and extensive testing

General Motors engineers are often given the opportunity to take home pre-production vehicles prior to launch.  In fact, some of the learning that goes into the refinement of these vehicles is derived from these take-home experiences.

However, these IVer Volts are unusually early in development for this type of endeavor.  Most pre-production cars are taken home just a few months prior to launch when they are usually at a high level of refinement. The fact that they are already allowed home appears to confirms the great confidence GM has with their robustness and the particularly advanced level of development they have already achieved in such a short time.

No, its not my house.

Apparently this is nothing new. According to GM spokesperson Rob Peterson, “several engineers have already taken these vehicles home over weekends.”

Source (Autoblog)

Shortly after it was unveiled the GM design team noted the stack would also be available in black and green finishes as well.

I have personally seen the new black stack while touring the Volt IVer production facility, and thought it looked excellent.

In one of GM’s videos showing the Volt IVers being built, one can catch a glimpse of the black stack, captured in the image above.

Although it looks gray in the shot it is indeed black.

I cannot get an official high resolution photo but am told it will be coming next week.

Source (Auotbloggreen)

We heard when the government brokered GM’s bankruptcy reorganization that the automaker agreed to build a new small car in the US for the US market, but did not announce what the car would be.  Previously the Chevrolet Spark had been demonstrated and set for production, though with reorganization that has become more uncertain.

Today, new sketches have been released of a new subcompact or B-class GM car.  The car will be called the Chevy Agile in South America where it will be released in the forth quarter of 2009.

It seems like the car is slated to replace the Aveo in the US in 2011, just as the upcoming Cruze will replace the Cobalt. Some reports speculate it will be called the Chevy Viva in the US.

In South America the car will be powered either by a 1.4 L 105 hp engine or an optional 1.8 L 129 hp engine.

“The Agile goes beyond a traditional hatchback,” said Carlos Barba, General Director of GM Design Mercosur. “It’s a car full of youth and a design that will surprise.”

Source (Autoblog)

GALLERY:

Lutz has taken that author to task in his latest FastLane post. “Let me say this clearly: There is no ambivalence on my part – or on the part of anyone at GM – toward the Chevy Volt. None. Zero,” writes Lutz.

Lutz confirms the Volt program is “the most exciting program I have worked on in my entire career.”

“The Volt can literally change the face of automotive transportation as we know it,” he writes “Who would be ambivalent about that?”

Lutz goes on to say the advent of the Volt and other smaller cars that GM has in the pipeline does not mean the end of performance car. He likens their arrival to a grocery store that first begins to offer organic vegetables, “doesn’t mean it shuts down the meat counter.”

Source (FastLane)

And for your viewing pleasure, the world’s first high resolution images of the Chevy Volt in black are below. Click to get to the high-res versions, and Enjoy!

GM has been gradually teasing images of the car. Now we can see it all including the first look at the car’s interior.

The interior design is the same as the Volt but these photos let us see how the center console will appear in black as opposed to the white color GM has shown us in the Volt. This black coloration is expected as an option in the production Volt too.

I asked GM spokesperson Rob Peterson whether any of this styling could make its way to the Volt. He said “No, the production Volt is the production Volt, and the production Ampera is the production Ampera.”

PHOTO GALLERY BELOW:

VIDEO:

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tx54B6ZQWI]

GM will be unveiling the European sister car to the Chevy Volt on March 5th at the Geneva Auto Show. Called the Opel Ampera, the car will have district Opel styling and share the same extend-range electric (or Voltec) drivetrain as the Volt. Reports indicate GM may build the Opel initially in Detroit.

The car will travel 40 miles on pure electricity with a full charge and have a gasoline-powered electric generator allowing several hundred additional miles of driving if needed.

Today GM released this brand new photo of a rather gorgeous car.

Click the image below to see wallpaper sized image:

And here is a video of GM’s Volt vehicle line executive Frank Weber discussing it:

The Opel Ampera is set to debut at the Geneva Auto Show on March 3rd. It is the European sister car to the Chevy Volt using the identical platform and extended-range electric car drivetrain. We’ve seen a teaser photo, and then some sketches from the European patent office.

Today the car has been snapped in full color by a spy photographer.

Yes it looks like the Volt, but at least we can see it in true white. The front and rear ends do differ though but the basic shape was retained.

Source (WorldCarFans)

The vehicle is known to use the identical compact Delta platform and Voltec extended range electric car drivetrain as the Volt too.

Expected to arrive in Europe in 2011,  GM-Volt.com also found out that the car would continue to use the same gas generator configuration the Chevy Volt did, without a diesel genset that some speculated.

Apparently the European Union trademark office required some sketches of the upcoming car and thus its cover was broken.

Lo and behold, its a Volt with Opel branding.

Of course does it really matter?  After all its really about getting the country and the world off of oil.

Source (Autoblog)

Gallery:

That’s GM’s CEO Rick Wagoner driving the Volt experimental prototype mule car on the right making sure to stay one step a head of the competition!

Click to enlarge.