Jalopnik: Chevrolet Volt

Did feds delay public disclosure of Chevy Volt fire risk to protect GM sales?

Mike Spinelli — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:00:00 EST

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crashed a Chevrolet Volt back in May, the car's lithium-ion battery burst into flames in June, and the agency acknowledged the fire to the public and launched a safety investigation in late November. Why the six-month time-lapse? More »

Is the Chevy Volt a sales flop?

Ray Wert — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:30:00 EDT

General Motors has repeatedly claimed a sales target for 2011 of 10,000 units for the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt sedan. But, nine months into the year, they've only shipped 3,895 off the lot. In fact, in September sales numbers, released an hour ago, GM sold only 723 Volts. Will GM fail to meet its own sales predictions? More »

Nissan Leaf outselling Chevy Volt 2 to 1, can GM catch up?

Justin Hyde — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 11:45:00 EDT

In the sales slap fight between the all-electric Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid, the Leaf has the Volt by the wrists and asking why it keeps hitting itself. Chevy's response: Wait 'til next month. More »

GM engineer gets 3,108 mpg in his Chevy Volt

Justin Hyde — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 10:00:00 EDT

Officially, the Chevrolet Volt gets 60 mpg when running on electricity and gasoline. But one GM engineer who ran electric-only mode for several weeks traveled 1,554 miles on half a gallon of gas — or 3,108 mpg. More »

New York's finest turn a Chevy Volt into a cop car

Justin Hyde — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EDT

The next time you forget to feed a meter or misunderestimate opposite-side parking in New York City, your ticket could come from this: the first police Chevrolet Volt in the country. More »

Chevy dealers are not scamming taxpayers on Volt tax credits

Justin Hyde — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:30:00 EDT

This weekend, a conservative group claimed taxpayers were getting scammed on Chevy Volt tax credits by dealers, proving the Volt wasn't nearly as popular as General Motors or the Obama administration says. Sorry to disappoint Rush Limbaugh, but they're wrong. More »

How Bob Lutz saved GM from Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and itself

Justin Hyde — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 12:00:00 EDT

In his new book, former General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz calls Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and other right-wing critics of GM "reckless" for their hatred of anything linked to the Obama administration — including the Chevrolet Volt. Here's our exclusive first drive review of the soon-to-be-published book. More »

Forbes attacks Volt, omits shilling for oil industry

Justin Hyde — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:45:00 EDT

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In the latest issue of Forbes magazine, writer Patrick Michaels trashes the Chevy Volt and General Motors, saying the Volt is the socialist evil Ayn Rand warned of. What Michaels doesn't mention? How the oil industry pays his bills.
More »

Chevy Volt price gouging hits less-than-astonishing $4,000 atop price tag

Ray Wert — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:15:00 EST

Ward's Auto claims dealers across the country are dropping mark-ups as high as $4,000 on Chevy Volts. That's a bit less than the $50K mark-up we saw on Corvette ZR1s. More »

How the Chevy Volt gave one reviewer his largest electric bill ever

Justin Hyde — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 16:45:00 EST

Edmunds' Inside Line editor Karl Brauer put $4.16 of electricity in his Chevy Volt, then hit a long, climbing California road. At 25.8 miles, the battery was spent, an energy-mile per dollar equation similar to a full-size pickup. More »

New York Isn't Ready For Electric Cars

Mike Spinelli — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 14:30:00 EST

After picking up a Hertz Chevy Volt, we found the Big Apple's electric-car infrastructure is still woefully inadequate, and rife with confused parking-lot attendants. Thankfully, the Volt's got a backup engine. With the Nissan Leaf we'd have been screwed. More »

GM Recycles Gulf Oil Booms Into Chevy Volt Parts

Ray Wert — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:00:00 EST

General Motors will be recycling oil-soaked plastic booms deployed in the Gulf of Mexico into parts for the new Chevrolet Volt hybrid. About 100,000 pounds of boom material are being repurposed as radiator air deflectors. Ironic? A little. [Reuters] More »

First Chevy Volt For Sale Auctioned For $225,000

Justin Hyde — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 19:15:00 EST

Spurred by a jolt of last-minute bids, the first Chevy Volt built for sale by GM fetched $225,000 in an auction to benefit Detroit Public Schools. That's some pricey joule-ry. [Freep] More »

EPA Red Tape Keeps Chevy Volt Off The Road

Justin Hyde — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 10:45:00 EST

General Motors execs say they're ready to start shipping the first Chevy Volts to dealers, but can't because the EPA hasn't given it a fuel economy window sticker. Probably finding just the right font for "Your Mileage May Vary" [AutoNews] More »

The Post Where We Welcome Motor Trend Back To Reality

Ray Wert — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:45:00 EDT

Todd Lassa brings Motor Trend back to reality over this week's Chevy Volt dust-up by reminding us it's about GM's credibility. [MotorTrend] More »

Chevrolet Volt: First Drive

Justin Hyde — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 16:15:00 EDT

After four years of planning and three years of hype, we've finally driven a production Chevrolet Volt plug-in "hybrid." We expected some character from the most obsessively engineered vehicle in GM's history. We didn't expect so many personalities at once. More »

Ferraris Do Not Enjoy Running Behind Hypermiling Volts

Justin Hyde — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 14:30:00 EDT

What can we tell you after a few hours in a Chevrolet Volt? It's possible to get 55.4 miles of all-electric range driving like the accelerator's hitched to a land mine. Also, Ferrari 458 Italia owners lack patience. More tomorrow. More »

POLL: What The Hybrid Is The Chevy Volt?

Ray Wert — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EDT

On today's Chevy Volt drive, our Justin Hyde has learned there are situations where the Chevy Volt's premium gasoline-fueled engine kicks in to motivate the wheels at speeds as low as 30 MPH. What then, does that make the Volt? More »

Chevy Volt: Lies, Damn Lies And Statistics

Ray Wert — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 09:00:00 EDT

Let's clear up one thing. Yesterday's story on the Chevy Volt did not claim the Volt was a bad car. More »

The Hidden Cost Of The Chevy Volt's $490 240V Home Charging Unit

Ray Wert — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 09:35:00 EDT

Buying a Chevy Volt? Get the 240V home charging unit for just $490... plus the $1,475 installation cost. [GM] More »

How GM Will Use Fear To Sell You A Chevy Volt

Justin Hyde — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:30:00 EDT

General Motors has asked for a U.S. trademark on the phrase "range anxiety," for the purpose of "promoting public awareness of electric vehicle capabilities." Get ready for GM to question whether you can trust your family in an all-electric car. More »

Chevy Volt Drinks Premium Gas

Ray Wert — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:45:00 EDT

The Chevy Volt drinks premium gas. [TTAC] More »

REPORT: Chevy Volt Priced At $40,000

Ray Wert — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:45:00 EDT

General Motors makes pricing official today at noon, but Bloomberg's reporting GM's "Jesus Car," the Chevy Volt, will be priced around $40,000. Must be true — it's the same price Bob Lutz told Letterman last year. Moving on... [Bloomberg] More »

Pres. Obama Gets Into The Best Car Government Money Can Buy

Ray Wert — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:20:00 EDT

U.S. President Barack Obama gets out of a Chevrolet Volt following a groundbreaking ceremony in Holland, Michigan today. He reportedly asked "When can Americans buy one?" We already did, Mr. President. We already did. More »

The Volt Won't Need Gas Engine For Highway Driving

Ray Wert — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:00:00 EDT

Slow down, it appears the Volt will not need its gas engine to "go fast" for Europe. [TheCarConnection] More »

Will The Chevrolet Volt Be Available Nationwide In 2011?

Sam Smith — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 09:00:00 EDT

According to conflicting reports from GM officials, the Chevrolet Volt may not be available for purchase nationwide by the end of next year as originally promised. Backpedal much? [GM-Volt.com] More »

OnStar, Google To Make "Jesus Car" More Divine

Ray Wert — Tue, 18 May 2010 07:00:00 EDT

OnStar announced today they're officially working with Google to deepen OnStar's mobile app development and expand the reach of OnStar's "eNav service." Basically, it'll attempt to make the Chevy Volt even more "Jesus Car"-like than before. More »

Flog a Volt at Milford, See If It's As Beige As We Think It Is

Wed, 05 May 2010 15:30:00 EDT

Does the Chevy Volt have a chance to make the Prius its beige bitch? Enter Wired.com's Volt Challenge and you could win a chance to flog one at Milford. [Wired] More »

Opel Ampera: Volt No Longer Robin, Now Nightwing

Ben Wojdyla — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:30:00 EST

The Opel Ampera's basically a Chevy Volt wearing a domino mask, and after seeing this first production-version image we realized the superhero it's playing is Nightwing, a grown up Dick Grayson to the Volt's boy-wonder Robin. Comic book likeness below. More »

Chevy Pickup Trucks Get More Internets Than Chevy Volt

Ray Wert — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:30:00 EST

Earlier this month GM announced "Chevrolet Wi-Fi" by Autonet Mobile as an option on seven Chevy vehicles including the Silverado pickup. Weirdly, despite the Chevy Volt being, like, the most technologically-advanced vehicle ever built, it won't get the option. More »

Chevy Volt Dance: Worst. Automotive Marketing. Ever.

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:20:00 EST

GM, we need to talk. Your new cars are good, you've got interesting tech features and your quality's competitive. Crap like this Chevy Volt dance undermines all your efforts. We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you. More »

Chevy Volt: There's An App For That

Ray Wert — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST

From our first test unit test drive, we knew the Chevy Volt would be a seriously technologically advanced electric car when it debuts next year. Now GM's saying they've built Blackberry and iPhone apps to control some vehicle functions. More »

The Chevy Volt Song: No, We're Not Kidding

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST

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We will see even more hype surrounding the Chevy Volt as we approach 2010's unveil. Introducing the Chevy Volt song, debuting during the LA Auto Show's first public day. This isn't a joke. Yup, it's gonna be a long year. More »

Chevy Family Photo Op: Mass-Marketing MPG And MPG For The Masses, Together At Last

Ben Wojdyla — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST

GM just dumped an unnecessary presser letting everyone know the officially-official US-spec Chevy Cruze debuts at the LA Auto Show along with its 40MPG 1.4-liter turbocharged, direct-injection inline-four. They also mentioned the still-over-a-year-away Chevy Volt for the 25,761st time. More »

REPORT: GM To Build Cadillac Converj Electric Car

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:55:00 EST

The Detroit News has learned the Cadillac Converj will be going into production right next to its extended-range electric platform mate the Chevy Volt. More »

Legion Of Chevy Volt Testers Take Leisurely Drive

Ray Wert — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EDT

A slew of Chevy Volt pre-production engineering units took a test drive near Toledo, Ohio earlier this week. Of course GM PR was also on hand to take a slew of pictures documenting the ~~marketing~~ engineering exercise. Gallery below. More »

EPA Backs Away From GM's 230 MPG Chevy Volt Claim

Ray Wert — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:23:43 EDT

We aren't the only folks thinking GM's 230 MPG EPA Chevy Volt fuel economy rating's rather fantastic. Apparently the EPA thinks so too, issuing a statement saying it "cannot confirm the fuel economy values claimed by GM." [EPA via GreenCarAdvisor] More »

Pre-Production Chevy Volt Plugged In, Testing In Real World

The Auto Insider — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:00:00 EDT

The first pre-production Chevy Volt "Integration Vehicle" was completed this week ahead of schedule. Looks like GM's putative four-wheeled electrified savior is getting closer to reality. More »

Chevy Volt Mule: First Drive

Ben Wojdyla — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:00:00 EDT

Yesterday morning we finally hopped into a Chevy Volt mule with outgoing GM product czar Bob Lutz for a spin around the Warren Tech Center. What's it feel like? It's utterly unremarkable and appliance-like. More »