Are they putting the Volt into production? The last time I checked, it had been removed from the "Future Vehicles" section of the website.
I'm following the Volt pretty closely, and here's the cuurent status as far as I can remember and string things together:
1. Production to start in late 2010 with approximately 10,000 cars to be made first year and 60,000 second year.
2. Price: "Just under $40,000" (I'm guessing $39,995). GM should be close to breaking even at that point, but won't be making a big profit if any. They expect to increase profit as volumes go up and costs come down (since the technology is so unique, there should be a lot of room for cost savings as they learn to do things better - as opposed to more traditional components which have already been pushed to very low price points).
3. GM is pushing hard for government subsidies (and government reps are talking as if they intend to help on that end), and they hope that assistance will help reduce price (with tax breaks going either to consumers or directly to GM)
4. All indications are that the batteries are working very well, and if there are problems, it's likely to be components other than batteries (though I don't know if either of the two competing suppliers have been officially chosen yet - they may try to give them both some business and have them both develop and refine concurrently). Still expected to have a 40 mile all-electric range.
5. Latest rumor is that there may be roof-top solar cells to help charge battery (I'd expect this to be a costly option if it happens).
On an interesting side note, Toyota has been crapping all over this from the start saying that lithium ion batteries aren't ready for prime-time and they'll continue with nickel metal hydride. But recently They've made a major turn and are talking up lithium ion and plug-in hybrids. I'd expect a lithium ion Prius around the same time the Volt really gets going . . . but I also expect GM's design to be more forward thinking.
GM's method of driving all the wheels electrically and using the range-extending engine basically as a generator is a cool idea and gives it more of an ability to go all electric or replace the ICE engine with a fuel cell.
Toyota's got a great position, but I don't expect their next generation Prius to be as big a leap as the Volt. That will help them in terms of offering a more reliable and lower cost Vehicle, but GM's ballsy move could propel them to the technological lead (if they can do their homework and make sure this very novel technology doesn't have too many dramatic, news-making failures.
This is GM's moon-shot, and I'm hoping they can pull it off.
*pouts* :lol:
Corvettes - which don't even really count as chevy as the the car gets total white glove handling from the rest of the products.