As I said a couple weeks ago, I truly loved and enjoyed my Volt every day I drove it. It may not quite be in the same class as a Model S, but the car still gets looks and questions from interested people regularly. If it would be practical to have a third car once my Model S arrives, I would keep the Volt no question. Chevy Volt remains an amazing car with highly-innovative and affordable plug-in EV powertrain technology, which absolutely bests other plug-in hybrid EVs coming from anyone else right now (my opinion). The Volt has driven me to work, roundtrip, for over 30,000 all electric miles. I may be driving a Tesla soon but I will always be a huge fan of, and rooting for, this car.
But GM’s lackadaisical promotion of the Volt these past 3 years has been disappointing. It seems as oil fell, so did GM’s enthusiasm and advertising budget for Volt. Like many Volt drivers, I was proud to lease and be a small part of GM’s post-bankruptcy reboot. But GM has not yet seemed to fully embrace EVs. The Volt has been viewed by many conservatives as just another condition of the government bailout, a handshake between GM and the Obama administration to sell a low-emissions car in return for the rapid structured-bankruptcy. Any GM exec will tell you that’s not the case, but only time will tell with 2016 Volt and the coming Bolt if GM’s culture is evolving on EVs.
I maintain this belief: if GM had put even 1/4th of the advertising effort into Volt that Nissan and BMW puts into their EVs, GM could have sold thousands more Volts than it has. Volt has a ton of great things going for it, and yet the buying-public only hears about it these days on news programs or at car shows. There has been almost zero effort made by GM to answer various Volt critics and myths. This situation has been discussed by Bob Lutz, the man who first PM’ed the beginnings of the Volt and got the car launched, that the Volt is a victim of cheap oil and conservative-backlash. This reduced Volt to simply being a marketing halo for GM’s technical and engineering capabilities. GM needs to show that it believes in these cars as much as the fans and owners do.
One other minor gripe I have is not specific to my Volt: GM’s culture and attitude towards tech in your dashboard. Until recently GM’s view of infotainment systems was “once it’s done, it’s done” and no further enhancements are possible once you drive off the lot. So while the next Volt year model received Siri hands-free and other software and firmware updates to the infotainment system, I sat with essentially identical hardware that was stuck in 2012. GM has said it will work to produce over-the-air updates in the future, which is good because most car-makers’ software-engineering game is horribly lame and out-of-touch with what is possible. GM can have the most awesome looking in-dash systems in the world, but if they don’t design them as updatable platforms the world will pass them by.
But it’s not all bad and there is some really good news here for Volt! GM’s pricing and range improvements for 2016 Volt could, despite the weak marketing efforts, result in a lot more people leasing or buying this amazing car. And that’s a good thing for all EV drivers. With Volt’s second-gen efficent, yet more subdued, design there is a chance for greater mass-appeal and GM could end up with a hit on their hands — as long as the marketing goes beyond product-placement in a Disney movie, of course.
And no matter what anyone says about Volt, its innovative Voltec drivetrain is here to stay: Voltec engineering is the foundation for several hybrids throughout GM’s fleet including Chevrolet Malibu and the new Cadillac CTS hybrid. And 1st-gen Volt lease-returns will continue to be a standard-bearer on roads for some time to come. So whether GM executives and conserviative media care or not, their opinions won’t much matter as the Volt will continue to serve happy owners.
I do want to also sent a shout-out to Friendly Chevrolet in Dallas. While I have long been a loud critic of the dealership system and it’s flaws, Friendly Chevy dealership defies my view and has been nothing but awesome to me. If you live in the Dallas area and plan to buy or lease a Volt, Vette, or anything else you should give them a shot at your business because they will treat you right.
I am bullish on the Volt and I remain a huge fan. It is a great car and it’s my hope I will still see late-model Volts and other GM EVs out there long after my Model S wears out its first battery pack. Tesla cannot be the only long-range EV innovator in the world. GM is a good company with a great past, but they also need to double-down on EV tech and software engineers to have a great future.
Originally published at julianwest.me on May 9, 2015.