I admire AMG. The German uber-tuners are the world’s largest purveyor of $100k+ automobiles, and deservedly so. Meanwhile, Alpina has been tweaking BMW’s in a similarly monstrous fashion since 1961. Unlike AMG, Alpina remains independent from the corporate mothership upon which it depends (although it builds its models at Bimmer’s factories). Hence Merc sells 25 AMG cars for every Alpina and brings AMG’s to market in strict cadence with their “normal” siblings. Hence Alpina sells Americans their B7, an M7 in all but name, only when they’re good and ready to do so. So now they’re ready. Are we?

Who killed the electric vehicle? Range and recharge times. Alt propulsion supporters are happy to compromise “normal” modern day purchase parameters– a car’s looks, acceleration, cargo capacity, passenger space, safety, towing, convenience, range, price, etc.– to cater to their political or environmental beliefs.  Mainstream consumers are not. In other words, GM’s EV1 was not a mainstream vehicle. Hence its demise. The question for GM’s E-Flex Propulsion people now becomes: will the Volt EVer be ready for prime time? If so, will it be ready in time, or will transplant technology pass it by? Press play below for Part two of my interview with E-Flex Propulsion Systems' Line Director Tony Posawatz. 

When Chevrolet unveiled their Volt plug-in concept car at the Detroit auto show, skeptics derided the effort as a pie-in-the-sky PC PR ploy. The Volt project’s credibility certainly wasn’t helped when the company had to backpedal from GM Car Czar Bob Lutz’ 2010 production prediction. (Maximum Bob going off half-cocked at an auto show? Now there’s a surprise.) At the risk of whipping Tesla’s true believers into another self-righteous frenzy, I decided to call GM’s E-Flex Propulsion Systems to see if they’d firmed-up their plans. The project's Vehicle Line Director, the appropriately named Tony Posawatz, was happy to oblige. Click play below for part one.