Quote:
Originally Posted by LatinVenom
I guess I am in the minority, I like it as a DD.
That leaves the other toys for the weekend and other special times.
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Ah, but why have two when you can have one that does both jobs? With the design of the concept you had the best of both worlds - a really nice looking car that could pass as a sporty driver for fun, plus the economy of a plug-in gas-electric hybrid. Not only that, it was a vehicle that inspired passion from a lot of consumers who wouldn't otherwise touch a PGE and filled up a lot of waiting lists. This was to be a impassioned thrust by GM to make a car people really want to drive, reconnecting them with emotion and the car sales it drives. Not a bad idea.
So what did they do? They
optimized it to make it slightly more efficient. The result is one less seat, a battery pack through the center of the cabin a la RX8 drive shaft, and a shape that inspires car salesmen to try that much harder to sell them. It's a daily driver, sure. It's an optimized DD that will get just about 40 miles on a charge, probably 2-3 more than with the old shape, because of Cd changes. Well, that's great, save for most commutes are not going to be at higher speeds where Cd really matters. So now you have a decent tech demo for the tree huggers and leave the other folks who wouldn't otherwise touch a hybrid with something they still won't touch. Additionally, the Volt's cost is still up in the air, so no telling if it will be affordable for most consumers, be they tree huggers or people who still want to buy the weekend toy(s).
I'm sorry, but if you want to do something like this, make it the second generation car and sell it in addition to the concept. There's plenty of room for more than one Volt in the lineup. Earlier adopters have deep pockets and will pay for the privilege of driving new tech on a hot body. Everyone else will buy a decent car with the added efficiency. Not only that, but that decent car better be decent in price, and the best way to do this is to up unit production rates and get those economies of scale. That's a sensible strategy, not taking a hot idea and neutering it.
