From TheCarConnection.com via cnet news.
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Web site The Car Connection on Tuesday managed to get its digital hands on photos of the what is said to be the production version of the Chevy Volt, the much-ballyhooed plug-in hybrid from General Motors.
The photos were made available on GM’s media Web site unintentionally, a company representative told The Detroit News. They were quickly taken down from GM’s site after The Car Connection posted them.
Perhaps the most striking aspect of the photos, besides the fact that the product managers feature prominently in many of them, is that there is a significantly different look between the supposed production version and the concept car.
Whereas the concept car was futuristic and very low to the ground, the photos captured by The Car Connection show a more normal-looking sedan.
Unfortunately, the production model seldom looks as cool as the concept. In fact it’s dull looking.
Very nice. Hopefully the crash test requirements can be loosened up a bit to enable the cool concept car model.
Unfortunately, cars these days need to factor in getting hit by a republican woman in a Hummer using her cellphone.
I want the EV1 back please! 75-150 vs 20 miles to the volt!
Wow, that design is completely underwhelming.
Maybe if they produced concept vehicles that were more practical to produce, the buying public wouldn’t become so disappointed. Sales might even improve. This just proves, once again, that advertisement is always about hype and not substance. I really don’t see why the concept shown would be so hard to produce; except that the type of performance the propulsion system would give is an insult to the supposed potential power suggested by the original design. The only thing sadder is this publicity stunt of their.
Cool, they took a hot car and turned it into a econobox.
Wow, the concept car got beat-up by the bland stick somewhere.
F U GM, we arent all cross-eyed.
Well, is this Saturn Ion 2.0 or Chevy Cavalier 3.0? Either way, not worth 30000$ as announced. Now, let’s look back at that Honda Insight for 18500$ announced few days ago…
SOP – take something rather hot looking and turn it into a Malibu snoozer. Generic. Maybe it’ll come with a free loaf of white bread.
And they want to sell it for $40k+.
Prius… $25k…
Honda’s… $23k…
yea… these are gonna sell like hot cakes.
Of course they want it to fail! They want to go back to selling testosterone ladden Trucks and SUVs.
What’s the front grill for (in both cars)? I guess the expect it to be a hot item!
They really should call this the Vapor, since it’s pure vaporware. It’s astounding to me to see GM actually running ads for a nonexistent car, with fine print saying something about estimated deliver years in the future. Are we supposed to just feel good about GM so we go out and buy the gas-guzzlers they actually have in their stores?
In the upcoming Transforms 2 movie.
http://tinyurl.com/5nn3nk
GM sure is trying hard not to become vaporware.
Good-bye GM… I hardly knew thee…
The last hope has faded away.
One thing missing from EV’s is the real cool factor in an affordable package.
This is neither.
Are they sure this isn’t just a picture of the Malibu Hybrid model? It looks identical.
I never liked the “concept” model. It reminded me of some low rider pimp-mobile. It also looked a lot heavier than it should be for something trying to be economic on fuel (or charge). The “production” model is probably just a CGI touch up of an existing model (i.e. not real). Blanding it down, is no doubt GM’s strategy for killing sales for it. They could just as easily put batteries and a motor in a Corvette or Firebird style body, and sell it. The power train doesn’t dictate what the body styling must look like. But the automakers have been using the “economy” label, as an excuse to make plastic car bodies. I see them all the time with cracks and rips in them. Whereas the SUVs and MiniVans are more sheet metal. Buy a domestic subcompact and get screwed. That’s how they’ve been rewarding the fuel conscience customers.
Why can’t GM put an attractive skin on a car? Their cars are the most whorendous looking objects ever created… well the cobalt is ok. They really should stop hiring adult glue sniffers as designers.
It’s amazing how closely the shape of the wheels is to the concept car version!
Ugh, this is a brand new car showcasing ground-breaking technology? You would not be able to find it in a suburban grocery store parking lot.
The only company that seems to be able to make decent looking cars these days is Chrysler. Unfortunately, Chrysler cannot seem to bolt the things together in any reliable way.
4 & 8, Seems like they were concerned over aerodynamics and not using as much exotic materials to keep the cost down. Click on the video to the right to see GM’s explanations for the changes (whether you accept them or not): http://tinyurl.com/6mve4k I’ll wait and see what this car has to offer (or not) other than looks before I cast judgment.
6, Could be worse. It could have looked something like a Prius. Although I do prefer the concept car, at least the production model of the Volt looks more like your typical family car which probably makes it appear to be less of a niche item, but more importantly they’re doing thing probably because it’s cheaper to recycling known designs.
10, Not an apples to apples comparison. I think I read somewhere the battery alone is something like $13k. Remember this vehicle drives its first 40 miles from the battery when fully charged.