I think GM is getting it right!

[solar_dave]

Sat Down with the wife and was surfing the cable, Volt owner adds all over the place, Bravo GM. Me thinks the push maybe on.

Major points, car is quick, never goes to gas station, fun to own. Saves money.

[flmark]

My wife is tired of me yelling at the TV for every episode of Hawaii Five O- "Where's the Volt!!??" There is a blatant GM product placement announcement at the beginning of every episode. But I am BAFFLED as to why, if GM is making a point of this product placement, they do not prominently display the Volt. Gas is OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive in Hawaii and, combined with solar PV, the Volt would be PERFECT for the state...and the TV show. And as I have written before, the stealth of the vehicle would actually allow them to sneak up on the bad guys.

[daryllafferty]

I've been irritated lately by the blatant ads that Toyota has been inserting into TV shows, in particular "Bones". While driving down the highway in a Prius, the passenger asks, "What was that beep?" The driver replies "The Toyota Prius has Adaptive Cruise Control so it can adjust the distance from the car in front. The beep was telling me it detected a car." (Something like that). It was so distracting and so obviously an ad that it totally pulled me out of the mood of the show.

Then on "How I Met Your Mother" this week I saw a couple of the main characters getting into a Volt, but nothing was said about it. In fact, as they were driving down the highway, you could clearly hear engine noise! Maybe it was to indicate that it was in extended range mode, but if GM was behind the product placement they didn't do a very good job of selling it.

I'm glad GM didn't make it a blatant ad like Toyota does, I hate that, but they could have done more than they did.

[Brian Loves Cars]

daryl, I can feel your pain.

I've been a long time GM product sympathist and also, at times, enthusiast. I have at times been stunned if not bewildered at how they can do something so awesome, or almost awesome, and then proceed to impair its success.

The ultimate example is probably the C6 Corvette Z06. When it was released for the 2006 model year, it came with a poor set of tires and some very cheap-o shocks. It still beat everything within 5 times its price or so, but as the years went by other companies re-did their cars and it fell from grace. Only in its last year or two of production did they offer different shocks and tires from the factory. It took them 5 years, 3 in which the car was routinely beaten in comparison tests, to change the shocks and tires. It wins again.

If any of you are rolling your eyes, don't, sports car people care about this stuff and kids do too. They wasted a chance to leave an impression with an entire generation of potentially future corvette buyers over...

not being able to put a decent set of tires or shocks that cost more than 3 bucks to build on the thing from the factory.

Why? I sure hope they don't do the same thing with the Volt. And seriously, the realistic way to go about not committing marketing malpractice with the Volt is getting the public at large info on two things

1. What real world drivers get for MPG and operating costs. I spend about a buck to charge this car, and in my town with the places I need to go, I can get 50+ miles on any decent day. 675 miels since I used gas. Lifetime MPG >90, and it'd be 100 if when I first got the car I hadn't forgotten to plug it in a few times. 122 average at voltstats.net

2. How nice this car is. It is every bit, in my judgement, as nice a ride as an A4 or C class. Its not a Prius, its not a Civic. Its an incredibly nice car. As others on the forum have said many times, it should have been a Caddy.

[dwl]

I enjoyed the last owner commercial I saw where they called it a 'rocket'. I'd be a little worried about them overstating it and drawing the wrong kind of attention. But pointing out that it doesn't drive like your mom's Civic is important.

[AySz88]

Anyone have the video of the new testimonial commercials? A quick search on Youtube didn't show it.