Toyota is known to be developing a strategy that uses the Prius name as a brand for an upcoming family of hybrid vehicles. It is believed a sports coupe and MPV will eventually be produced under the brand.  Toyota hopes to profit by leveraging the popularity of the car and its recognition for fuel efficiency.

GM has a similar opportunity with the Volt, since it too is a name that has garnered a lot of attention and recognition. They could produce a line of Volts perhaps under different brands, different configurations, and different sizes that use the Voltec powertrain.

As interesting as it seems, that  idea apparently isn’t in the plans according to Global Chevrolet Director Brent Dewar who was asked about it recently at a Reuters summit.

“Our thought is to take the Volt technology to other products,”  he told the Reuters Autos Summit in Detroit.  “The Volt was the original vehicle that we started, but I wouldn’t see that as a brand marketing direction for us.”

The only other Voltec products we know GM is considering producing is the sporty and stylish Cadillac Converj which would be tweaked for performance, yet offer the same 40 mile range, and an extended range electric version of the Chevy Orlando MPV which is expected to launch as a gas version.

Source (Reuters)

A few days ago I wrote about an experience I had with my MINI E electric car.  I rode over a construction zone pothole and as a result the power electronic unit failed, making the car undriveable until it was towed and the component replaced.

At the time GM Volt executive Tony Pozawatz assured me “we do more tests to our cars and especially the Chevy VOLT than anyone could imagine including some pretty severe potholes on our Milford Proving Grounds and other very difficult road surfaces.”

Whether by coincidence or not, GM decided to put out a highly-produced one minute 30 second video on none other than…pothole testing the Volt (see below).

Here we actually get to see the fascinating Belgium block and pothole test roads at GM’s Milford proving ground.

The track provides “rough road input on various grades,” says a GM engineer.  She goes on to note that since the Volt is really “a giant computer”, its really important to see how rough roads affects the electronics.

The Volts do three laps per cycle and about 200 cycles per test on the track.  The engineer says if the Volt could withstand that, “it could withstand anything you can see on the roads today.”

Let’s hope so.

Besides robustly holding its own on rough roads the Volt is apparently also very endearing.

“I’ve been spending a lot of time in VOLT IV’s lately,” Posawatz tells GM-Volt.com. “The car is very easy to fall in love with and holds great promise.”

We can’t wait to find out.

Once in a while an epic Volt story is published in the media.  Such is the 6000 word piece penned by Bernard Avishai for Inc. magazine.

The Volt is described in truly revolutionary terms not just for its ability to drive without oil or how it would be a halo car for GM but more importantly how it forms the centerpiece of an explosively growing suite of industries.

It is explained how people will seek electric cars primarily for cost savings once gas goes over $3 per gallon.

“At that level,” GM VP Jon Lauckner tells the author, “the cost of running a Volt in full electric mode will be about one-sixth that of a gas-driven car of the same size, 2 or 3 cents a mile rather than 12 to 15 cents a mile. We figured that, for most people, this means a savings of about $1,500 a year.”  The value of range anxiety reduction is also described as giving the Volt an advantage over competitors such as the Nissan LEAF.

A very critical and perhaps more important success factor with tremendous national impact though will be the interaction with the Volt and the grid

An executive from utility company Duke Power is quoted as saying, “if every American home had a Volt, he says, total power usage in the country would increase only about 10 percent.”  His company and many others are developing the tools to handle this and more importantly to achieve ideal load distribution so that charging isn’t done simultaneously by many cars at peak times.

The Volt will be smart enough to program time of charging in, but it is perhaps more important that utility companies be able to read the demand of all the country’s electric cars concurrently and be able to manage the charging elegantly.  The elements to obtain this orchestration of supply and demand to the benefit of all parties is beginning to emerge.

This is the rapid transformational growth stemming from the electrification of the automobile that is upon us, akin to the Internet of the early 90s.  Many startups are forming to deal with this new network of the smart electric car and smart gird interface.  As an early mover, GM has the chance for tremendous future success.

Our friend Volt executive Tony Posawatz was quoted as saying “our urgent challenge is to become the leading integrator of the sustainable transportation-energy ecosystem — to control the intellectual property governing the integration of the battery to the car and the car to the grid.”  The author translates what Tony is really saying is:

If GM plays its cards right, it could well incubate, and own, the new industry’s crucial operating and telecommunications standards, the anchors for thousands of smaller technology companies supporting the electric car’s components, information, and entertainment and charging needs.

Beyond the explosive growth of the lithium battery industry fueled by government loans and grants and A123’s IPO, GM has its own internal plans for future battery advances.

Former executive Bob Kruse explains that GM’s 3rd generation Volt battery will use non-liquid solid-state cells that have twice the energy density and half the cost. GM’s close collaborator Ann Marie Sastry at the U. of Michigan who has founded the battery start-up Sastry3 is apparently working on developing such cells.

“Liquid electrolytes present integration limits — also limits on energy density. We think that disruptive manufacturing techniques can improve performance dramatically, as in the chip industry.” Sastry said. “We aim to create a cheap, scalable process.”

Another electric car-induced industry will be for battery packs that have passed their vehicular lifetime but still have 75% storage capacity.

“It is easy to imagine warehouses full of used batteries sucking up wind energy and saving it for times the wind does not blow, or homeowners using the pack as backup,” said Pozawatz.

Home and public charging station companies will also proliferate. Highlighted is California start-up Coulomb Technologies who is pioneering the networked EV charging industry. The company’s CEO is former Cisco executive Richard Lowenthal who explains how networking software is the key to his company’s product.

“The key to our infrastructure and our venture funding is our network software applications,” said Lowenthal. “Our chargers are smart enough to consolidate payment from subscribers to all the various power companies, or tell drivers over their phones where they can find incentive pricing, and so forth.”

Software development is also a crucial new industry representing the brain of the Volt; choosing how to balance generator and battery ouptut against rapidly changing load demands from both the road and driver.

Furthermore, ensuring the car is able to communicate outward to the grid, service providers and the Internet is very important in the Volt. Here GM holds a fearsome advantage over its competitors by owing OnStar which as we know will be deeply knitted into the Volts operating system.

“We are focusing on the car and building in the capacity to roll up charging data, which can be placed at the door of the power company,” said Posawatz.

The killer app though could be supplied by a company called GridPoint that will supply the link between the electric car and the utility grid, allowing the utility companies to comprehend and act on the information provided by many thousands of electric cars like the Volt

“We see companies like GridPoint managing what utilities do with data behind the door, providing back to our drivers the charging, billing, and other services that will maximize the cost effectiveness and environment benefit of owning an electric vehicle,” said Posawatz

All of these new industries that the Volt represent a starting point for are also being subsidized by government in the way of the billions of dollars of loans and stimulus money already supplied by the Obama administration, guaranteeing their success.

As this story compellingly tells, we have arrived at a truly transformational point in history for the country, the economy, society, and the environment, and sitting right at the heart of it all is none other than the Chevy Volt.

Source (Inc)

Monthly Sales:
Alright, who lost the script? GM is supposed to finish last in these things aren’t they? (I mean after Chrysler of course) Yet, the numbers are in, and GM stands as the only manufacturer of the ‘top 5′ to record a gain:

GM +.4% (177,603 vehicles sold)
Toyota -3.5% (152,165 vehicles)
Ford -.6% (136,920 vehicles)
Honda – .4% (85,502 vehicles)
Chrysler -33% (65,803 vehicles)
–adjusted for sales days

Naturally there is a (*) asterisk in the title, but lets dwell on the good things for awhile.

For the first time in 22 months, since January of 2008, General Motors sales increased year over year. Retail sales were up 15%. And Pontiac-less dealers found that Buick and GMC were both up 14.2% and 16.1% respectively. An impressive showing to be sure.

Somewhere ex-GM marketing guru/thesaurus owner Mark LaNeve must wonder if the universe is playing a cruel joke on him, as new head of US Sales, Susan Docherty has the easy task of spinning the month’s results:

“We’re very pleased with consumer acceptance to our newest cars, crossovers and trucks. While we have more work to do, we are making progress and will continue our focus on delivering vehicles and a sales and service experience that brings consumers to Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac – and keeps them coming back”

Asterisk moments:

(*) These are year over year numbers…and the comparison to the other automakers is not a fair one. October of 2008 found GM reeling in a bad economy and under the threat of bankruptcy…off a staggering 45%. The rest of the pack, (except for the albatross named Chrysler) were all up against much better set of worse numbers, ranging from -23 to -29%

(*) GM bought these numbers/this month. GM is no stranger to putting ‘cash on the hood’ to make a sale, but it has never been more true than it was in October. Fearful of losing customers because of the closure of brands, GM looked to regain these newly found ‘free agents’ by lining their pockets with cash…to the tune of about $4,277. With new 2010s finding there way onto dealer lots, every other manufacturer lowered their month over month incentive spending. Leading that charge, Honda offered only $508 in incentives per car, while Toyota came in second at $1,338.

Overall however, GM had a pretty good month all things considered. Sure they were up against some bad comps, sure they bought these results…but they did so with a plan, and that was to retain and/or increase market share. In this regard, they were a raging success, taking in a estimated 21% of all light vehicles sold.

/now if GM could only get the SAAR (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate) for auto sales back up over 16 million (currently around 10 million), ‘new’ GM will be a thing to behold

GM Retains Opel
Fresh from announcing this month’s positive sales results, GM also announced late Tuesday, that it would not be selling Opel to a group lead by Magna International.

Despite having just disclosed in a SEC filing that only 13.6 billion remained in their escrow account from the government funded bankruptcy, GM cited its own improving financial condition and a more favorable environment in Europe as the reason it would be retaining Opel.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson had this to say on announcement, “While strained, the business environment in Europe has improved. At the same time, GM’s overall financial health and stability have improved significantly over the past few months, giving us confidence that the European business can be successfully restructured.”

GM had been very leery of relinquishing control of Opel to the Magna group, for fear that one of the financial backers, namely Sberbank (a Russian bank), would flip its interest in Opel to Russian carmaker Gaz, who would then gain access to GM’s platforms/technology, and use that position to ruin GM’s own business in Russia.

GM must now convince the European governments (namely Germany) to continue to provide the interm support it says it needs to stay healthy, around €3 billion ($4.43 billion). Germany had previously offered a €4.5 billion Euro loan under the Magna deal. They also must seek new concessions with the strong labor unions throughout the region…and pray they don’t ever need to infuse capital received from the US government to prop up a international division.

In a statement from Magna on the happenings, Siegfried Wolf, (Magna’s co-chief) said that Magna understands GM’s board’s decision on the matter, and vowed to continue supporting Opel and GM.”

In case you haven’t noticed it’s November 2009, and there’s just one last year left until someone can buy a Volt.

GM has internally targeted what it calls a production launch date for the Volt of November 2010.  This date was first publicly stated by Bob Lutz, exactly two years ago in November 2007.  Read post here.

Since then GM has communicated that date very strictly.  In the Spring while I was out at GM’s Milford proving ground, I had the chance to further question Volt project director Greg Ciesel on the details.

“The exact date in November is about the middle of the month,” he said. “There is a target date. In this program, every hour is scheduled.”

“How many will be sold will depend on the shipping time to the dealerships and the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays,” said Ceisel. “Those things will limit the number from a logistics standpoint, but I expect there will be a lot of interest for every vehicle that we can get to a dealer in 2010.”

More recently Volt vehilce line engineer Tony Posawatz  indicated that around 2,500 2011 model year Volts would be produced in calendar year 2010.

All is good right? Not so sure.

We recently heard that GM would be delaying the North American launch of the Chevy Cruze from April to July of 2010, and since it’s a platform sister to the Volt and shares many of the same components, it could be speculated that the Volt might be delayed.

In fact, a few days later GM CEO Fritz Henderson was in Washington DC giving testimony to members of Congress. Among other things, he was asked about the status of the Volt by Michigan Senator Carl Levin.

The Detroit News reported his response as follows:

Henderson said the Volt would be released at the “very end” of November or December of next year.

December?  Are there some delays creeping in?

According to Volt spokesperson Rob Peterson, no.

“Production launch remains November 2010,” he said.  “Once vehicles are built they are sent to dealers.  No change in plans.”

On an online webchat the new Volt vehicle line executive Doug Parks who is replacing Frank Weber was also asked if Henderson was setting the stage for a date slip.

“There is no contradiction,” responded Parks. “Fritz essentially said we are on time and target. Our start of production remains November 2010 – a year from now.”

So is the date slipping or not?  It’s for you to decide.

Martin Lamonica of CNET had the chance to interview Tony Posawatz, the Volt’s vehilce line director about what GM’s expectations were for the car.

As to whether GM believes the Volt will be a commercial success Posawatz replied ominously “all bets are off if gas prices are under two bucks a gallon.”

“We don’t anticipate that in the long term, and because the launch volume in the first few months is relatively modest, I think we can do OK,” he said.

“I think the real question will be in the 2012 time frame,” said Posawatz. “Where will the economy be then and can we reach beyond the early adopters?”

Clearly GM knows it can count on us early adopters to suck up all the initial low volume production models, but another question posed to Pozawatz was whether GM believes it can one day reach a broad audience with the car.

“We think we can,” he said. “The intent is that in year two we will be making tens of thousands of vehicles.”

Posawatz feels the unique drivability will compel buyers. “You have a low center of gravity, and you have instantaneous torque–you can burn rubber on the car–and no transmission shifts… It will have a high “fun to drive” quotient,” he said.

Clearly price is an issue for mass market adoption, and GM has plans to get effective cost lower in addition to the $7500 tax credit available to initial buyers.

“We anticipate that some localities (could) give you preferred parking, HOV access, free electricity at place of work–all which will end up being positive,” said Posawatz.  “And there are some interesting business models as it relates to spreading the cost of the battery over time (such as leasing). We’re investigating a lot of this stuff.”

He was asked whether it was OK that projections for electric cars suggest they will only make up about 1 percent of sales in 5 years, considering all the attention the Volt is beig given.

“Like a lot of stuff, the gen one version is probably not the most important play,” he repled. “It’s ultimately what we do after that.”

He referred to new body styles and cost reductions on the manufacturing and supplier side.  “This is a much more of a longer-term game,” he said.

Finally the reporter asked him if he thought Toyota more conservative  approach was a mistake.

“Every company has to find what they think is their formula for winning,” he replied.  “We think the regular hybrid architecture is still an internal combustion engine. We now have the possibility of different variants for engine generators.”  Though he added “we have hybrids too.”

Source (CNET)

UPDATE: If you are interested in asking questions of  exiting Volt vehilce line executive Frank Weber and his replacement Doug Parks, come here at 4PM EDT they will both be present in the chatbox below:

Around 3 years ago, a neurologist named Lyle Dennis decided he just had too much free time on his hands and decided to start a site chronicling the progress and development of a vehicle named the Chevrolet Volt.

Since then, Lyle has researched, interviewed and penned well over a thousand articles on the subject. To date, not a day has gone by without a fresh article for the readership to comment on, no small feat…especially considering his day job.

A few months ago, Lyle ruined his consecutive streak of articles by graciously allowing me to fill in and do some guest pieces, and ever since then I have been nagging him to let me do a story just on him.

Until today, Lyle had rebutted my requests saying that the readership would prefer more Volt-related news, and that the site was not to focus on him, blah, blah, blah. I’m chalking his refusal up to him just being a all around humble/good guy who really doesn’t crave the spotlight…because what he has accomplished here, the hours he puts in, and the access he has been granted inside GM for our benefit is nothing short of remarkable.

So what changed? How did this article come to exist? Well, charity finally got him to buckle…as in, I promised to give Lyle’s charity a pop in exchange for 7 questions. Lyle agreed.

On Sunday Lyle will be running in the NYC Marathon for the American Heart Association. The event looks to have over 40,000 participants and covers 26 miles of New York asphalt. Perhaps you have seen the little ads poking their heads up around the site to donate? I encourage anyone who can, to support Lyle on his run.

…and now the questions.

1.) I’ll start you off easy, can you fill us in on the NYC Marathon, your charity…and how does one run marathons, be a doctor and still find time to run this site?
I love running the NYC marathon, this will be my fifth in a row. It seemed like a good idea to do it for charity this year. As a stroke neurologist, I chose to run for the American Heart Association which is the parent organization of the American Stroke Association.

The only way to find time for all these things is to get up very early in the morning, and go full steam until its time for bed again. Every day is kind of a marathon itself.  As you can see I’m not one to sit idle.

2.) Follow-up question: What does your family think of the site? Does your spouse still speak to you?
I am very fortunate to have a supportive wife and 3 beautiful children ranging in age from 3 to 10. There are times my wife has heard enough about electric cars, and my kids know a little too much about them too.

3.) If you had the option to buy either the Concept or Production Volt in November of 2010? Which would it be?
Believe it or not, I actually prefer the production design. Yes the concept was cool but it doesn’t seem realistic. Also I think making a car palatable for the widest swath of the population will help lead to highest sales volume and thus lead to less oil used. The Camaro, for example, is very striking in design, but not everyone is willing to drive one.

4.) It is a well known fact that all .com owners are multi-millionaires, does it cause conflicts with GM executives when you are able to fly your jet to all corporate events and they now have to fly commercial?
Sorry that .com rule doesn’t apply to bloggers =)

5.) From your own ‘want’ list survey. What is the most you are willing to pay for a Chevrolet Volt (in USD)?
I think $40,000 is the number. I realize its high for the mass market but to me its worth it to be an early adopter.  With time it will come down considerably.

6.) We know you are currently driving a electric Mini, and have tested several electric cars from different manufacturers, if GM gave you a free pass and let you change one thing about the Volt, what would it be?
I’ll pick two; a third seat in the rear and 50 amp 220V charging capability.

7.) What happens to GM-Volt.com past the launch of the actual car? How do you see the site evolving once the car is mainstream?
The site has been a fascinating experiment for me. I started it with no idea if it would ever be noticed, so all of its attention has been a great surprise.

In my very first post in January 2007 I promised to continue the site to the launch and beyond, so that hasn’t changed.

I hope post-launch it will be the go-to place for all things Volt and for Volt owners to hang out and interact, free of corporate oversight and spin.

I also hope to implement, besides the forum, the ability for anyone to create their own microblogs within the site and to be able to post frontpage content in real time, along with what I contribute.

8.) Yeah I said only 7 questions, but this is one is important…and Lyle will probably not answer anymore questions from me. Ever. Who are you pulling for? Yankees or Phillies in the World Series?
I was born in the Bronx and live in NY Statik…do you really need to ask?

Sidenote: My thanks to Lyle for doing this quiz even though he didn’t really want to…and for giving us a little piece of the internet to call ‘home’ everyday.  Please donate to the American Heart Association in support of Lyle’s November 1 2009 marathon run by clicking here.

Those who follow the Volt closely know Frank Weber has been a key figure.

He is the German-born engineer with the job of Volt vehicle line executive, making him as the leader of the Volt program, reporting to the VP level.

I have had the chance to interview and meet Frank many times.  His precision, attention to details and strict demands have made the Volt program successful, high quality and able to move on a very rapid time frame.

Weber will be leaving his post on December 2 to take a promotional leadership position in Opel in Germany on December 2nd.

As per GM Volt spokesperson Rob Peterson, this is not a surprise but has “been in the works a while.”

Frank will be replaced by Doug Parks who is currently the vehicle line executive of the global compact architecture, upon which the Volt is built, and has already seen through the launches of the Chevy Cruze and Opel Astra in Europe.

According to Peterson, Weber has “taken the Volt from theory to starting to put all the pieces into place.”  He also notes that Parks has the specific skills and experience to take the car from where it is to actual launch.

Weber is highly thought of in the organization which is why he was given the Volt project in the first place, and this like most assignments at GM are for 3-year intervals.  By going to Opel and getting a promotion, GM continues to benefit from and applaud Weber’s skills.

Peterson reminds us the key players in the Volt program such as Andrew Farah who carried electric car experience from the EV-1 days and Tony Posawatz who was part of the Volt planning since 2006 are staying in place.

I was able to reach out to Frank for comment. I asked if this had anything to do with the Volt program.

He graciously replied:

“How could it be connected to the Volt program? We delivered ahead of schedule, the cars are performing extremely well and we have an outstanding GM team that has inhaled the mission of the electrification. The Volt has transformed the industry, GM and myself. This program will always be very close to my heart.

There will be more opportunity to say good-bye.”

For fun I have included one of my favorite Frank Weber videos going back to late 2007: