I was in a new Focus on the weekend and it got me thinking. One, it is like the starship Enterprise inside! They really have nailed the wow factor with all the lights and screens and the theater lighting with colour selection is really cool. And I like the blue and red colours of the instruments, SO, I was thinking why can't we have different skins for our displays in the Volt? I think all the information is great, I wouldn't want to loose anything or add anything but I'd maybe like something with a different colour pallet. I'm not a big fan of grass green and blue but something with the electric blue and some neon reds would look better with my interior/exterior colour selection. All the backlit buttons are fine too, I don't want to change that but the screens... the options could be as limitless as the individuals who own the cars. My thought is GM could make up a selection of skins, sorta like the google themes, that could be set and downloaded via Onstar through your MyVolt.com page or selected in a menu in the car. Or have a skins generator on MyVolt.com and you could design and upload your own!! I'm not sure what the cost to develope something like that would be but it sure would add to the seriously cool factor of the Volt and be a nice counter to how good Fords interiors are getting. And as they say (Rusty will cringe at this) it is just a software issue after all, it should be easy to do!:cool:

How did the Focus compare to the Volt in roominess? Did you like the ride? Or were you just inside it without driving it?

I was just in it I didn't drive anywhere so I don't know about the ride. Once you are in the car it is roomy but I don't think more than the Volt. One thing that did bug me about it was how low the A-pillar is. It reminded me of my mom's intrepid. I'd bang my head on it every time I'd get into the car. I'm not sure if I could live with that. Getting in and out of the Volt was much easier. I was in it at night and the interior lighting is impressive to look at. I'll have to check one out in the light of day to see if that still holds up. North American cars are finally getting some nice interiors for sure!

And as they say (Rusty will cringe at this) it is just a software issue after all, it should be easy to do!:cool:

*Sheesh*... Where did I get the rep? :- )

I think GM adding a meta language (like XML) to define skin appearance would be a fine idea. The upload/download through myvolt.com and OnStar seems reasonable. Adding a skin editor to MyVolt.com seems like a great way to auto-generate XML files for users.

The trick for GM is to figure out how to monitize it. After all, it's just a software change. But in this case it's a software change I'd think they'd want to cost justify with a continuing cash stream. Most of the "it's just software" ideas I'd want them to add should be free (like current kW) IMHO. They're at a competitive disadvantage missing those.

This one I'd think they'd really want to turn into a cash flow...

I'm surprised the Volt doesn't have the mood lighting of other GM models. Our '10 Outlook has a cool red led mood light over the center console area. Others have them in the footwell.


FYI, here is a chart of the Volt/Leaf/FocusEV/Prius dimensions:
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In my opinion, there needs to be some oversight of the colour schemes for the instrument panel. I can see some folks designing a theme that looks really cool on their computer, but becomes unreadable in direct sunlight, and that can be a safety issue.

Good point therfman. You could have day and night versions for the skins that would be different when the headlights were turned on so as to maximize readability.

Thanks for the chart MTN Ranger. So yes inside they are almost exactly the same. I don't think you could notice the differences. The A-pillar is sloped back much more though. I literally wacked my head twice getting into the focus. Really disappointing for an otherwise really nice car.