Want a Chevy Volt? Audi president thinks you’re dumb

The Chevy Volt has long held the interest of many as being a solution to the volatile nature of gas prices. It promises to deliver 40 miles of driving powered by electricity before switching to a gasoline range extender. Audi of America president Johan de Nysschen thinks that’s bull and considers the overall value proposition of a Chevy Volt ridiculous.

GM has become pretty clear with its expected pricing hovering around $32,000 or a little above, AFTER a government tax credit of $7,500. de Nysschen has a point when he claims that spending that much on a car puts it pretty distinctly in the luxury range. By extension and economics that means that the Chevy Volt is targeted toward the elite, and it’s everything but a mass scale solution to paying for gasoline.

Audi has its fair share of cars targeted toward the elite too, and it’s ironic that de Nysschen is taking such a strong stance on the Chevy Volt’s price range. Dramatic words attract attention though, and he certainly is garnering that. Beyond the sniping, de Nysschen has a few points worth considering.

Audi supports diesel engines because of the long distance and low carbon emissions they’re capable of. Right now the majority of electricity in America is generated by coal, which could result in an overall increase in carbon emissions if everyone were to switch to electric cars right now.

But that’s temporary as sun power plants and wind turbine farms pop up across the country and begin to shift electricity production away from fossil fuels. The mechanics of transporting electric power over the grid are also much different than putting it inside trucks on the road or on trains. Taking out all of those transport vehicles out of the picture would singularly eliminate volumes of carbon emissions.

de Nysschen also makes a point that the Chevy Volt will have plenty of competition, and we’ve already seen that from the likes of Toyota, Nissan and Ford.