“The Chevy volt is claimed by GM to be a fresh new technology to put GM ahead of all competitors. Unlike a hybrid which is driven directly by both a gas engine and an electric motor, the Volt is only directly powered by its electric motor”
This is the problem with GM…continual lying which makes them difficult to trust with 25 billion,
The Volt is OLD technology. Series hybrids were here first around the diesel electric locomotive and other common industrial uses. They are betting the public doesn’t get it. The parallel hybrid used in the Prius is the more efficient way to use petrol. Series is efficient only if you can provide outside charging to a battery that will accommodate your expectations (range).
The NiMH battery that is still used today in Toyota rav4 EVs after many years of use and still, with a 10% loss in charge retention, yields 80 miles per charge. Check it out yourself…also research why no more of these batteries are available for replacement or new Volts for the next several years.
This perpetual lying sounds like a Bose commercial. Excuse me !
By the way…as stated, displacement arguments for ICs are mute when you throw an electric motor for motivation into the mix. They now become generator motors with different engineering considerati0ns.
This reminds me of the scene in the movie Casablanca where Claude Rains tells Rick He’s shocked to find gambling on the premise,and is then given a fistful of money. Gm builds lousey cars,that’s right lousey cars.This a surprise? Even if you took away the pension costs,the retirement cost and ther debt they still can’t compete with Toyota or Honda for quality. Name one car they make that people say I gotta have one? Time to go boy’s.
I've read through 41 posts, I think a lot of you are overanalyzing. Ann is not hating on GM, she bought a Malibu and sounds like she's reasonably happy with it. She's just saying, you know, it'd be EASY for GM to fix things to some extent:
* Have dealers know about the product. Going to one dealer, having them know *nothing* about the car on the lot... I don't expect them to when *I* buy a car, because I'm buying used, and noone can know everything about every car from the last 30 years. But they should at least have a pamphlet or *something* to cover the new cars they sell. And having additional dealers (that have the car in question on the lot) not even call is not good. This costs basically $0 to go from a negative buying experience to positive, if her experience is typical it will not help sales at all.
*Bluetooth -- it would be smart to keep features across the hybrid/non-hybrid line as much as possible. Bluetooth is light and not power-hungry, and the kind of person who'd buy a hybrid is more likely to use in-car bluetooth than normal I think. This is right, it's silly for the hybrid to strip something like this out.
*spare tire & heated seats. I give these a pass, the hybrid batteries are probably where the spare would go, and heated seats are probably heavy and power-hungry, possibly not compatible with a hybrid. If this is one where the engine shuts down at idle, you probably couldn't heat the seats then for risk of draining the battery (since most hybrids have the 12V regular battery and hybrid batteries separated.. for instance, a Prius with full hybrid batteries can still need a jump start 8-).)
*Mileage. This Malibu Hybrid is a first step, but it's true I would have hoped they boosted the mileage more than they did. I'm not sure if replacing the 4-speed with a 6 will do much with a hybrid though, if the 6 gears are just closer spaced, an electric motor doesn't really have a "sweet spot" in terms of RPM like an engine tends to, and the electric motor can help pull the engine through any RPM ranges where it starts losing power or burning excessive gas. Excluding maybe the Prius, Insight, and Civic Hybrid, GMs cars are pretty competitive MPG-wise with the products of Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan, etc, (look at the "new", more accurate ratings used the last few years and you'll see what I mean.) But they'll have to keep improving the MPG to remain competitive (there's a lot of "pie-in-the-sky" research going on, it'll be interesting to see what pans out.)
It’s tiring listening to people bang on GM. The are a corporation just like any other, no more, no less. They have obligation to their share holders just like any other. If they build a less reliable brand than Toyota by some ones judgement, it is still built to a market. Maybe it’s for the rental car business or corporate fleet use where turn over is greater. The difference is in the financial obligations incurred through union negotiations over the years. That will, in time work it’s way out.
Cars that last and small fuel efficient vehicles IS NOT where the profit is for Toyota or GM. If we expect them to be made by GM, it WILL require govt. intervention regardless of the economic situation.
Just stop blaming them and get on with a realistic discussion of where the money comes from…stop bogus wars which destroy infrastructure, and foreign oil consumption.
The only real hero in this whole mess is Ralph Nader. He has had it right all the time. Let GM, Ford and Chrysler build what ever cars that want; just don’t falsely make claims about their capabilities and safety. Let the free market reign, but only when the consumer has the absolute truth in product expectations.
The problem has been, corporate truth in advertising cannot be enforced by a government that continually engages in lies and deceit itself. I hope we are turning over a new leaf.