The Volt cheerleaders at GM-Volt.com have given The General a chance to explain away the controversy over CEO Rick Wagoner's $30k price pledge on their new plug-in gas electric hybrid Volt. And the spinmeisters have grabbed it with both hands. "I now have official confirmation [from] GM spokesperson David Darovitz that 'there was an unfortunate misunderstanding that resulted in inaccurate information published,'" Dr. Lyle Dennis faithfully reports. "He also went on to say 'we are not in the position to speculate on the retail pricing of the Chevrolet Volt.'" Not after that debacle, you're not. Anyway, Dr. D. provides a helpful update on GM's efforts to use your tax dollars to help the Volt compete with the Toyota Prius. "Last week a new bill called HR 6049 was passed again by the house, allowing $5000 in plug-in tax credits for a car like the Volt with a 16 kwh battery. It allows $3000 as a base plus $200 per kwh over 5 kwh up to a maximum of an additional $2000. It may soon go before the Senate." Although volt.com's blog post on this misunderstanding displays a roll call of Senators who championed/shot down the last attempt at same, so that Volt supporters may lobby on behalf of a Volt subsidy, members of TTAC's B&B who wish to email their senators to oppose this legislation might find the list equally helpful. That said, Dr. Dennis didn't link the list to the Senators' email. Oops! 

The price for the 2010 Chevy Volt has been going up. Once pitched as a direct Prius competitor, the mostly-electric Volt is now expected to sticker for around $40k. Not kosher, as Toyota's hybrid stickers just north of $22k. Automotive News reveals the General has a plan: make you pay for it. No, not "you" as in Volt customers– "you" as in American taxpayers. GM is hoping to get a $7K tax credit for "extended-range electric vehicles." That would put the plug-in electric – gas hybrid Chevy Volt's price within spitting distance of the Prius' Monroney. I guess when Slick Rick stated "we want to bring the Volt to the market in 2010 at a price of less than $30,000," "we" meant GM and the taxpayer. (Of course, when he said "we want to make money on the Volt from the beginning," the taxpayer was nowhere in that picture.) As for product readiness, an unnamed source says "We still have a lot of development and testing to go." Let's hear it for representative democracy. 

GM's Vice-Chairman has (characteristically) been all over the map about the Volt's price. The Winner of TTAC's Bob Lutz Award has pegged the plug-in electric – gas hybrid's eventual sticker at everything from "around $30k" to $48k to $2.99 plus tax (just kidding; what's the bet there won't be any tax). And now Maximum Bob's boss has finally added his two bits on the Volt's msrp. In an interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine, GM Chairman Rick Wagoner threw down the gauntlet. "GM has a clear goal: we want to bring the Volt to the market in 2010 at a price of less than $30,000." Want. Not will. But wait there's more! Wagoner also says that "unlike Toyota, we want to make money on the Volt from the beginning. And the obstacles to that are reducing the price of the batteries and convincing the consumer of the advantages of the Volt." Profit? As in sell the Volt for more than it costs to make, from the get-go? Toyota didn't make a dime on the Prius for many years (the exact margins are unknown). Will Wagoner even be around to eat his words? Place your bets here.

Channel 4 reports that GM will unveil their Next Big Thing, the Hail Mary upon which The General's hope for an American ressurrection reside, in Paris. Oui, c'est la vérité! "Chevrolet will also make an announcement in Paris [this autumn] over production of the Volt- another car on the Delta platform. The Volt will be seen in Paris in US production specification, with its electric powertrain and auxiliary petrol engine said to be very similar to that of the original concept. GM is planning also to offer a version with a diesel engine, as in last year's Opel Flextreme concept; this may be sold as a Vauxhall or Opel, with the petrol-electric Volt taking the Chevy badge." So, a diesel Volt avec un peu de badge engineering. More importantly, we'll finally get to see the discrepancy between the chopped show car's heavily advertised look and the production-ready hybrid's design. Frank's money is on a new Malibu-esque retread. Can GM Car Czar Bob Lutz sing? Why or why do I love Paris? Because my love is near. [thanks to Dinu Uscatu for the link]

Would it be churlish of us to suggest that GM Car Czar's Volt-related pronouncement is the most unintentionally ironic statement we've ever heard? Never mind then. Anyway, in a characteristic burst of unbridled bravado optimism, Maximum Bob Lutz is declaring a major victory in his employer's efforts to kick Toyota's ass with the electric – gas hybrid Chevrolet Volt. "Today is the first day [Volt drivetrain mules are] running on the street on battery power," Maximum Bob proudly told Edmunds Auto Observer. What's more, GM's Hail-Mary-on-wheels is "reliably meeting its objectives. Even with a rough calibration, even with the wrong drive unit, the wrong body, etc. etc., it has been hitting its 40 miles on electric power." Hey, who put the wrong drive unit on this thing? Anyway, the winner of TTAC's 2008 Bob Lutz Award didn't mention the speed used to achieve this triumph, and Edmunds didn't ask (surprise!). But who's quibbling– other than us? And we're just glad Bob's back to trash-talking the press and Toyota. Bob says the Volt [test] triumph shows "the fallibility of Toyota and the American press, which is totally enamored with Toyota… When we say lithium-ion is good and Toyota says they don't trust them and they are unproven, people say we're taking a huge risk." Huh? Toyota has already announced that lithium ion cells will power the plug-in Prius as of 2010. Oh right, we forget stick to the spin. Sorry, we were too busy gazing longing at all things Toyota.

TTAC commentator Bunter1 sent us a link to Design News: "Accelerating Engineering Innovation." And that's what GM's doing with its oft-delayed, highly-touted electric – gas plug-in hybrid Hail Mary (a.k.a. the Chevy Volt). As anyone who follows such things knows, it's the batteries, stupid. It's a point well worth repeating. "To an engineer, it looks obvious. Gasoline packs 80 times more energy per kilogram than a lithium-ion electric vehicle battery. It holds 250 times more energy than a common lead-acid battery. So, it’s a no-brainer. Batteries can’t possibly deliver the energy needed to power the future of the auto industry, right?" Readers tempted to shout "Right!" are, obviously, corrected. Scribe Charles Murray places the effort to create a commercially viable electric vehicle somewhere between implausible and very, very difficult. The big news is text-embedded: the director of the Materials and Processes Lab. at GM Research Labs is not cool with his bosses' 2010 timeline for Volt production. “The big risks we have to overcome if we expect to see widespread implementation are quality, reliability, and durability,” says Mark Verbrugge. “We’d like to get at least three to four years (of testing) on these batteries.” But won't. And what does THAT tell you?

Is GM abandoning hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle hype development in favor of battery-powered electrics? Newly enriched Car Czar "Maximum" Bob Lutz seems to be hinting in that direction. In an interview with PetroZero.org, the Volt's godfather indicated The General is considering building a Volt. No seriously. Building a Volt "without engine and all the plumbing" to meet California's new Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate. The engineers responsible for the test fleet of hydrogen-powered Equinox will be delighted to learn that Max Bob "agreed" that "pure EV was the most sensible route [to meet the ZEV requirements] compared to expensive hydrogen powered fuel cells." But MB didn't stop there. (As if.) He concluded if GM builds an EV Volt, they'd have "a pure electric with more range." More range than what? The EV1? And does this indicate that GM's already working on an all-electric Volt, or is Bob just putting his bid in for next year's Bob Lutz Award? Or both? But definitely not neither.

BusinessWeek's David Kiley didn't take kindly to Holman Jenkins' "pretty tedious editorial" against the gas – electric plug-in Chevrolet Volt. To smack down Jenkins piece in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, Kiley hails the Volt as "a new lens through which the U.S. and world will view" GM. He defends GM's late-to-the-game [theoretical] game changer "because [GM] rightly saw that gas-electric hybrids were an inelegant engineering solution for higher fuel economy." (No comment on GM's eventual hybrid opt-in). Kool-Aid quaffed, Kiley turns on Honda. He lambastes the Japanese automaker for producing "the awkward looking Insight to answer the Prius, as well as the Ridgeline pickup and the Element." Huh? Mr. Kiley needs to get a grip; there are plenty of ways to defend the Volt and/or kneecap his critics. But, like GM, he needs to raise his game, quick.

Poetically enough, The Wall Street Journal's Holman Jenkins wants to know if "GM is a genius or a dolt for developing the Volt." Why would a company that's lost $4.3b in North America the last three years throw billions into developing a car they know will lose money? Jenkins notes that when gas prices dropped after the original federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regs, the standards devolved into "an elaborate scheme engineered by Washington and the UAW to keep auto workers busy manufacturing small cars in the U.S. at a loss, subsidized by the profits of big pickups and SUVs." Jenkins reckons GM– "America's biggest near-dead car company"– plans a similar tactic with the new standards. "[I]t's hard to see why a reformed GM would bother building such a car now unless it's planning to throw its lobbying clout behind a final set of CAFE rules designed to disadvantage its rivals." Then they'll "bribe consumers to drive Volts off the lot" because it'll let them "build and sell other cars bigger and more powerful than the cars its rivals can afford to build under the CAFE rules." And it's all because "GM intends to beat Toyota at its own game of selling bogus green symbolism to Washington and Hollywood." Let's hear it for the home team! 

After the Chevy Volt makes its U.S. debut, GM plans to sell the  gas – electric hybrid worldwide. GM Car Czar Maximum Bob Lutz has already announced Australian Volt sales will begin "one or two years" after the car's U.S. launch. GM also has their corporate eye on the "very important" European market. But just as the rest of the U.S. will have to wait for California to get their Volts, the rest of the world will have to wait for China. Rick Wagoner says his employer's targeting The People's Republic as the Volt's second market– with one big "if." According to Reuters, GM is "lobbying China's government to provide subsidies for the development and sale" of alternative powerplants. Wagner wants China to provide tax credits and (while they're at it) develop a hydrogen refueling infrastructure for fuel cell vehicles. Of course, much of GM's credibility in such matters (and everything else) depends on a successful Volt launch in 2010, which Rabid Rick admitted is running "down to the wire." God forbid they should release a not-ready-for-prime-time vehicle just to make the deadline…

We just received this photo via email from one of TTAC's Best and Brightest: "This may be out of date, but I figured you may find it noteworthy for the Volt birthwatch series. Just under a year ago, GM had a Volt on display at the Indy 500. The car was likely a non-running example, but nonetheless it was there to showcase GM's engineering prowess so I judged it in that light. What I saw was… not good. Some of the trim on the Volt was rusting! Rust! On such a high profile vehicle at such a high profile event!" As the photo shows, it wasn't just a spot or two, either. Whatever GM's reason for showing the vehicle in this condition, let's just hope the production version – whatever it ends up looking like – will have better quality trim. And that their attention to the detail on this display model isn't indicative of their attention to detail on the engineering side.

Those of you in Chicago, Dallas, or Boston who are anxiously awaiting your Chevy Volt can just keep waiting. In an email to the Detroit Free Press yesterday, the Volt's pater familias Bob Lutz revealed that if when it (finally) goes on sale, it'll be distributed first in California, then in Washington D.C., Florida, New York and "elsewhere on the East Coast." Apparantly the rest of the country gets whatever's left over. However, he warned "that's only current thinking, and the plans could change." Given the rate at which they've changed their minds on everything about the Volt from the styling to the release date, you can count on the final distribution plan looking nothing like he described.

Since Bob Lutz revealed the Volt concept that made the rounds at the auto shows is more aerodynamically efficient going backwards than forwards, we've known there was much work to be done in the wind tunnel (and no, we don't mean the marketing depatment). CBS auto beat reporter Jeff Gilbert got a look inside the Volt development center, and brings us some of the first images of a camouflaged one-third scale model of what just might be the production Volt. Gilbert doesn't think the model is "all that exciting," saying it looks like little more than a Pontiac G6 or (inexplicably) a Chevy Camaro. But lack of enthusiasm for the mock-up doesn't mean Gilbert won't regurgitate GM's lies marketing playbook verbatim, incredulously spouting such obvious untruths as the long-abandoned $30k pricetag. In fact the "GM wants to sell 100k Volts at $30k by 2010" pablum comes immediately after GM's chief engineer for hybrid electric vehicle programs refuses to say that things look good for the 2010 goal. "Well, it's very clear what our target is, and leadership has asked us 'what do you need to make it happen?' and we have not been turned down once," says the sultan of sliderules. Gosh, that sounds like the development process of every $30k car, doesn't it?

Detroit News columnist Scott Burgess has picked-up the proverbial pom-poms on the Chevy Volt's behalf, cheerleading with Nietzschean abandon. "To the hundreds of people working double shifts around the world to make the Volt a reality, every disparaging comment is fodder for the bulletin board. It doesn't defeat them, it inspires them. Somehow, one of the world's largest automakers, facing declining market share, especially in the United States, has a new-found swagger." While it's nice to know that our Volt Birth Watch is doing its bit to help General Motors git 'er done, the word "swagger" sets off that big honking air-horn buzzer they use for basketball games. And if that doesn't do it, GM PR is pushing GM Car Czar Bob Lutz' "challenges of success" story line TTAC identified at its New York Auto Show infiltration: "Thousands more problems could creep up as one solution presents another obstacle. For example, in a car that may not run its gas engine for months at a time, how would GM design it to withstand long periods not running. That also means the gas tank would need special attention to handle fumes normally burnt off by running the engine. 'It's a good problem to have,' Gray said." Meanwhile… "'If I was preparing to produce this car by 2010, I'd be picking out the wood grain on the dashboard by now, not still working on the battery,'" Bill Reinert, national manager of Toyota Motor Corp.'s advanced technology group, told the Los Angeles Times."[thanks to RobKubler for the link]

Neurologist-turned-electric-car-expert Lyle Dennis had a private audience with Jon Lauckner, Bob Lutz' lackey "first deputy." Dr. Dennis inquired about the "expected timing, location, and cadence of ramp-up for initial Chevy Volt production." The good doctor wondered if GM is going to roll out the production Volt with "with a small fleet … or… release it like you did the new non-hybrid Malibu?" Lauckner replied that GM's going to introduce the electric – gas hybrid gradually. "Selected people" [read: GM employees] will drive pre-production versions before GM gradually brings the Volt to a Chevy showroom near… someone. Lauckner didn't mention the effect of this plan on the Volt's production date. And his comment represents an about face from previous statements about the Volt's debut: "It makes no sense if you're ramping up production to have people frustrated because the car is in theory able to be sold in every area but they cant get their hands on one because the amount of volume is relatively small." Such as… the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick Enclave launches? [thanks to KixStart for the link]