18th Oct 2010, 10:14
You are missing the point of the Volt entirely then. The Volt was never ever marketed as an all-electric car. There was also never any claim in regards to it having a gas engine that got anything above normal fuel economy for a smaller 4 cylinder 1.3 liter engine, which is what the Volt has.
The reason the Volt was designed as it was is due to the fears tied to range anxiety. If you buy the all-electric Nissan Leaf with its 100 mile range then therein lies the problem: If you have a long commute then if you run out of juice, too bad. If you want to take a long road trip... then again, too bad. Once it runs out of battery power then you're out of luck. GM realized that many people are skeptical about electric cars, mostly over the fear of running out of power. Heck. A lot of Americans still go on and on about how awful the Prius is, even though it's proven to be a highly reliable vehicle and has been on the road for 11 years so far.
The Volt is a compromise between an all-electric car and a gas powered car. Something like 70% of all Americans drive less than 40 miles per day. Thus that was the target range for the Volt's battery which GM met. So perhaps 40 miles isn't as long as say the Leaf, but you'll never have to worry about running out of electric power, because after the battery is dead a gas engine kicks in.
In addition, let's say that you are one of those 70% of Americans who drives less than 40 miles a day to work. If so, then you would hardly ever use the gas engine. The MPG of the gas engine would then be a non-issue wouldn't it? The MPG rating on a car like the Volt is extremely reliant on the owner's driving patterns. If you bought a Ford Focus for example, it's going to get exactly the same MPG all day long, around 30-35MPG. The Volt, on the other hand, might not use any gas for a week with maybe the occasional use of it on a long family vacation. Simply put, the two cars are not comparable.
As far as the Volt being the failure, GM has already received so many orders for the car they are ramping up production to 50,000-60,000 units next year. The Volt and other like it are going to become the new norm for what we will eventually be driving.
Those of you going on and on about how wonderful cars like the Crown Vic are, a car that incidentally is going to cease production, are a bit behind the times.
16th Oct 2010, 12:35
GM builds some of the world's best cars, such as the world-class Corvette, the world's fastest sedan (Cadillac CTS) and the great looking Volt. However Ford has the world's highest rated hybrids in the Fusion and Lincoln MKZ. I think the Volt needs more range on the batteries and a lower price to be successful, but I expect those issues will be addressed in the future in order to compete with the far more economical hybrids such as the Fusion.