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Read the rest of this articleChevy plans larger rollout and holiday road trip for the Volt
General Motors was pummeled by the competition in recent years when it came to innovation. They kept churning out inefficient pickups and SUVs while their rivals like Toyota invested in hybrid technology which led to the Prius. However, Chevy’s Volt seems to have arrived at the right time for the carmaker to flaunt their hybrid technology and newfound mojo.
Taking a page from their promotional push at this year’s SXSW festival, Chevy plans on making the Volt available to as many curious car buyers as possible. Their marketing director Tony DiSalle said, “there’s no better way to sell and market the Chevrolet Volt than to put people in it.”
Chevy only had three target areas for the Volt’s rollout and added New York, New Jersey, Texas, and Connecticut to the list this week. Specific dealerships that will sell the Volt haven’t been named but will be identified in the coming months.
Dealers in these areas will be subject to special demands from the automaker, such as having select service and sales staff that can work on Volt repairs and field questions from customers. Other obligations for dealers include an on-site charging station and a Volt on their lot that is only used only for test-drives.
In order to show off the Volt’s electric and gas powered technology, Chevrolet sent the car out on a road trip called the "Freedom Drive” this week. The plan is to take the Volt from its newly announced market of Austin, Texas to New York City during the holiday weekend. The 1,776 mile trip is meant a celebration of their market expansion and a dig at rivals like Nissan’s Leaf.
Due to the addition of the gas powered generator the Volt easily beats the Leaf in terms of range. In its first day of the Freedom Ride, the car traveled 527 miles while the Leaf’s range is 100 miles on a single charge. While a lot of the Volt’s miles were powered by gasoline, many Americans can’t handle the idea of managing their car’s power supply without a easy backup like the nearest gas station.
The Volt may attract gawkers and car enthusiasts during its Freedom Ride but the question of price still remains. Neither Nissan or Chevrolet have announced official price points but the Leaf is expected to be the cheaper option. It will be up to the buying public to see if a gas powered safety net is worth more of their money.
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re: "General Motors was pummeled by the competition in recent years when it came to innovation inefficient pickups and SUVs "
This is a very ignorant statement.
If you had been taking notes "in recent years" you would have noticed GM is making the MOST EFFICIENT pickups and SUV's unlike it's competition who build pick ups that have frames that rust out after just 6 years. Yes Toyota who has been building the most in efficient pickups and the worst vehicles ever made. I know at least 4 people who took their 6 year old Toyota to be inspected and were told they could no longer drive the vehicle because the frame was completely rusted out! There had never been a vehicle made in the history of automobiles that were built this bad. Toyota had to buy back a million trucks made over several years. My 21 year old Chey Pick up was still good for many years of service when I sold it.
Full size Chevy pick ups are getting better gas milage than 4 cyl pickups. GM also has the best hybrid pickup which gets 23mpg in the city while being able to to supply power to a work site or becoming a whole house emergency generator.
While biased journalists put down American products which helps to put millions of Americans out of work... GM is still out selling all other manufacturers by building the most INNOVATIVE vehicles. My Buick CUV is getting better gas milage than my friends Honda CRV and is much bigger. His exhaust fell off while my Buicks stainless steel exhaust will last 20 years or more.
While the American taxpayer is giving Japanese automakers $7500 per car .. the Japanese put huge tariffs on any vehicle we try to sell in Japan. A Chevy Malibu will cost you over $50,000 in Japan.
I do not appreciate "put down" statements by ignorant journalists.
I need my job ... I need my health insurance my job supplies... my wife has ovarian cancer and I cannot do without it.... and these negative statements against the American companies that my job depends on . . are totally ignorant.
GM borrowed 57 BILLION dollars from american taxpayers albeit a UAW bail out. It is common knowledge that GM made ineffecient large vehicles when there was not a market for them and it took then too long to turn around to where consumer demands were met. The UAW took GM down and will continue to take down any manufacturer they get their grubby hands on. Boycott GM and Chrysler and end this hopeless money pit that american tax payers are funding.
This is definitely the right approach by Chevy. If this is managed the right way the car company and the long overdue plug-in-hybrid gas-electric car industry will take off and put our country on the correct path. I wish them good luck.
GM borrowed 57 BILLION dollars from american taxpayers albeit a UAW bail out. It is common knowledge that GM made ineffecient large vehicles when there was not a market for them and it took then too long to turn around to where consumer demands were met. The UAW took GM down and will continue to take down any manufacturer they get their grubby hands on. Boycott GM and Chrysler and end this hopeless money pit that american tax payers are funding.
Feel free to do real research. The Nissan Leaf price point is set at $32,000. Less federal and state incentives, that bring the car down to $20,000 for some states like California.
Has Chevy announced official fuel consumption yet?
If you are interested in buying a Volt - they just released some intial information about allotments. I've done some research which i have posted to my blog as to which dealers have them in San Francisco.
MyChevroletVolt.com
I actually do not own a Chevy but very much interested and intends to invest in one someday. The article was interesting but disappointing to learn that the posters here knows more about Chevy. I'm glad I learned somethings about Chevy from here. This site is awesome with it's informations and have a lot of potential.
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