Will the Volt Revive the Chevy Brand (and Detroit)?
The Toyota Prius has established itself as the most dominant alternative-fuel vehicle currently in the market (and has held that acclaim for a few years now). The Nissan Leaf, with all the excitement it's generating, is poised for a similar fate. And with other manufacturers entering the fold, prospects for the American auto-industry, particularly with regard to their electric vehicle models, are looking grim. Chevy, however, thinks otherwise.
Last tuesday, a Chevrolet Volt was made available for test-driving in San Francisco, and the overall responses were positive:
"The Volt is going to make people reconsider Chevy and GM again," Tony Posawatz, Volt vehicle line director, tells me as a group of journalists and influential electric car enthusiasts waited for their turn behind the wheel. He's talking about people like me. My first and last American car was the 1979 Chevy Monza I owned as a teenager. An overfed Vega, the car was a mechanical nightmare and I soon replaced it with a Volkswagen Rabbit and then a succession of Hondas and the Toyota RAV4 I currently drive. Over the years, the only Chevrolets I have driven have been rental car fleet castoffs that did nothing to improve the impression made by the Monza. But getting behind the wheel of the Volt, it's clear this is not my grandfather's Chevy.
Sounds promising. Though the general media sentiment today seems to largely ignore the forthcoming Volt in favor of foreign models, maybe (just maybe) Detroit can make a statement that it's still a force to be reckoned with.
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