Will they or won't they sell it by 2010? It seems every day there's another version of when Chevrolet's plug-in electric – gas hybrid Volt will hit the streets. In March, GM Car Czar Maximum Bob Lutz said GM would have a running prototype by the end of 2007. The septuagenarian also said The General had "an internal target of production in 2010." Last month, Lutz said, "well, maybe not." This month, GM CEO Rick Wagoner said, "well, maybe not." The very next day, Bob Lutz said "oh yes, we will." Aware that GM's served-up more waffles than IHOP, Autobloggreen wants to set the record straight. "When a product program is still three or more years from production and contains technology that may or may not work, [the chairman] has to equivocate." Why "even the outspoken Lutz has never actually said that GM 'will build' the Volt by the end of 2010." So, never mind Maximum Bob's November promise at the LA Auto Show that GM would have the Volt on the road by November 2010. In conclusion, Autobloggreen tells Volt watchers "Depending on what happens between now and then [the end of the decade], the Volt will be produced 'on time' or not, but you won't hear it officially until much, much closer to that time." And there you have it (or not): we'll see the Chevrolet plug-in gas – electric Volt in some form some day. Eventually. Maybe.

You have to admire Bob Lutz' chutzpah. After his boss publicly backpedaled on when we might finally see an operational Chevy Volt electric – gas hybrid vehicle in the showrooms, he goes on the GM FastLane blog wishing the Volt a happy first birthday. How something that has yet to be birthed can have a birthday is beyond me. Maximum Bob brags about everything done since they announced their intent to build something with batteries to sell someday:

– Shuffled around 600 scientists and engineers
– Signed three contracts for battery development
– Begin testing a couple of batteries
– Opened an E-Flex design studio

And in spite of media reports of him having said otherwise, he insists "we are holding tight to our 2010 deadline." Ahhhh, the optomism and hope that comes with the start of a new year. Or the miscellaneous ramblings of a madman. We report. You decide.

At the risk of flagellating the proverbial deceased equine, the Volt's development team is falling right in step with what Rick Wagoner is saying about its possibility of seeing a showroom floor in 2010 (well, DUH!). Lyle Dennis, editor of www.gm-volt.com (no affiliation with GM) asked Rob Peterson, spokesman for the E-Flex development team, what he thought about all the negative press surrounding Rick's recent reneging. "I think people are reading more into this than what's really there. Program timing for the Volt has not changed, nor has our commitment to this program." But, taking a page from the boss' playbook, he added, "we continue to work aggressively toward our 2010 internal target, but that date is dependent on the availability of battery technology…. Only through rigorous testing of the battery…will we be able to accurately determine where we are in the development of the battery and the ultimate production date of the Volt." So there you have it: it's all about the batteries. And when they don't make their originally proclaimed date for whatever reason, they have an excuse already prepackaged and waiting on the shelf. Pretty convenient, huh?

Bob Lutz said it last month. Rick Wagoner confirmed it this month: you won't see a Volt on the road until after 2010. According to The Detroit News, GM's CEO had an online chat about GM's 100th anniversary yesterday. During this e-schmooze, Wagoner said "We continue to put massive resources into production as soon as possible. 2010 would be great, but (we) can't guarantee that at this time. We'll keep you posted regularly on our progress." He wouldn't say exactly why they were backpedaling so fast on their promise to have the plug-in electric Hail Mary hybrid on the road by 2010, but Rabid Rick did say they were still working on the design of the production version and testing battery packs. Even though the current Volt looks nothing like the production model– the brass is tap dancing around the design of the tweaked production version– GM still uses the "cobbled together" (Maximum Bob's term) concept car in its ads as if it was readily available for purchase right now. But then again, GM's doing the exact same with the Malibu so why should we be surprised?

Going one better than Jerry Flint's Lutz-lust, Newsweek's Keith Naughton nominates GM's Car Czar for canonization. The business reporter's prose soars to celestial heights, enshrining Maximum Bob as the savior of the American auto industry. Yea, verily, Maximum Bob single-handedly "seeks to redefine the automobile with the Chevy Volt." And lo, St. Lutz' road to Damascus was full of potholes. "When Lutz first proposed creating an electric car in 2003, the idea 'bombed' inside GM, he says. 'I got beaten down a number of times.' So in 2006, Lutz formed a skunkworks team of engineers and designers to quickly cobble together the Chevy Volt concept car, which became the star of the 2007 Detroit Auto Show." Cobbled? Ye of little faith!
"And then he persuaded the brass to greenlight the Volt for production by arguing that they must try to seize the green high ground from Toyota." Uh, I thought Lutz WAS the brass. Anyway, Naughton perpetuates the myth that the Volt will hit the market in 2010 and sell below $30k– a piece of PR prognostication that Maximum Bob has recently abandoned. Still, it's nice to know St. Bob's journalistic acolytes are still willing to make that leap of faith, even if he isn't.

GM Car Czar Bob Lutz sat down with journo Jerry Flint for a major chin wag. Forbes' finest asks Maximum Bob about his employer's two-mode hybrid system; Flint wonders if the system costs costs more than $10k per vehicle. "Well, at least," Lutz admits. "And we're not selling it for that." Oops! So will the inherently unprofitable technology help GM achieve its federally-mandated 35mpg by 2020 fuel economy targets? Nope. "Even with that, we get a full-sized Tahoe sport utility to 22 miles per gallon, which is 50% to 60% better than anyone else [?], but is still only 22. So where are we going to get the other 13 [mpg]? We don't have a clue, and throwing another 10,000 bucks at it isn't going to do it either." As for GM's next Next Big Thing, the electric – gas Chevrolet Volt, Lutz backpedals so hard he falls over. Flint bears the bad news: "On a scale of 1 to 10, he says his confidence level is a 9.5 that GM can build the Chevy Volt. The production date is another matter; Lutz's confidence drops to a 5.5. 'We're holding people's feet to the fire for the very end of 2010 into 2011. But that can slip, depending on how the development goes.'" In short, "It probably won't be a flawless launch." So, it's business as usual at GM.

For those of you who haven't yet sniggered, many industry observers are skeptical that Chevrolet electric – gas hybrid Volt will meet its publicly declared 2010 showroom target. So that means that Maximum Bob's AP "news flash"— "Automotive industry icon Robert A. Lutz wants to retire from General Motors Corp. after the company brings a plug-in electric car to market"– is unintentionally humorous. As the report inaccurately (accurately?) points out, "The company has set sometime in 2010 as a loose date to roll out the Volt." In advance of this momentous if Camaro-like announcement of the 75-year-old Car Czar's golden parachute unfurlment, the AP plays it both ways: icon worship and realistic assessment. "Lutz, who was hired in September of 2001 to reinvigorate GM's lackluster product designs, is widely credited with a resurgence in GM vehicles after two disastrous years in which it lost market share and more than $12 billion." And then "Still, GM sales are down 6.1 percent for the first 11 months of the year, with car sales dropping 8 percent and truck sales off 4.8 percent from the same period a year ago." But our favorite bit is this: "'You never know about your health. You never know about the needs of the corporation,' he said in his office at the company's design center. 'You never know what the board wants to do, or Rick wants to transition to a younger team. All of those things are possible.'" If Bob doesn't know what the board wants to do, who does? 

GM's one two three green light campaign to leapfrog the competition with its E-Flex plug-in electric – gas (in that order) hybrid continues apace, The General has just opened a new design studio dedicated to the Chevrolet Volt and its antecedents. According to the press release, GM's new Warren, MI-based E-Flex Systems Design Studio will house 45 designers, sculptors, design engineers, scientists and administrative staff in a greener-than-thou environment. That would be a reused space kitted-out with sustainable carpet, energy efficient florescent lighting and window shades, rugs made of 100 percent wool and Cradle to Cradle-certified furniture. While we still haven't seen the new-look Volt, The Motley Fool (of all people) tell us that GM designers have already cut 30 percent from the concept's wind drag. "The easier it is to push this vehicle through the air, the less energy you use," said Nina Tortosa, the Volt's aerodynamic development engineer and [possible] future author of Aerodynamics for Dummies. Anyway, the Volt's design director is pleased with his new digs. “There’s a lot of history in this building,” said Bob Boniface, “and I feel we’re making our own history by designing a whole new generation of vehicles that don’t require gasoline." I guess someone forget to tell Bob about the gasoline part of the Volt's propulsion system…

Now we know where GM is going to get the technology for the Volt's drivetrain: the Easter bunny. BusinessWeek reports that Bob Lutz escalated the war of the war of words between GM and Toyota at a meeting of the Western Automotive Journalists association. According to Lutz, Toyota's executive VP of R&D and product development said that the Volt is just an advertising ruse with battery technology that's "completely wacky." Max Bob's response? "Let's wait for the Easter Bunny," referring to his dream claim that GM hopes to will have a test mule with the Volt's drivetrain on the streets by spring of 2008. Maximum Bob also hinted that the General's the victim of a Japanese conspiracy. Japanese companies failure to bid on GM's battery proposals indicates "Lithium battery technology is being husbanded in Japan. It's like a secret weapon." Continuing his trip down paranoia lane, Maximum Bob blamed ethanol's bad press (re: questionable economic and environmental benefits) on a "multi-million dollar smear campaign" by the American Petroleum Institute. "They make it sound like ethanol is taking food out of the mouths of babes [and causing] taco riots in Mexico…" Let's just hope Santa Claus brings GM's Car Czar a clue for Christmas.

The Detroit Free Press reports GM's Vice Chairman of Global Product Development's most recent product prognostication: the Chevy Volt wil be "on the road" by November 2010. The comments came after the usual Lutz blusterfest, during which GM's Car Czar trash-talked Toyota. Or was it TTAC?  Anyway, Bob promised that his employer will have a test Volt on the road in early '08, and then couldn't resist adding "About Easter, we'll find out who's right and whose credibility takes a hit." Yes, well, there's a big difference between getting a hand-built prototype on the road and producing said vehicle. Considering Chevy's just taken delivery on experimental battery packs from A123 and LG Chem, considering how long it will take to gear up production of thousands of said  battery packs, considering that GM has had to totally redesign the car, and considering how long it'll take to gear up for production and train the line crew how to assemble a radically different drivetrain, you might think Lutz would reel back the rhetoric a bit. Or not. After all, spin doctors have families to feed too.

There's a lot riding on battery-maker A123's high energy capacitors. Their technology must be improved, tested and perfected for GM's Chevy Volt to make the transition from vaporware to showroom smash. According to Red Herring (how ironic is that?), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and five blue chip companies have placed their chips on the Massachusetts-based high-tech firm: Procter & Gamble (think Duracell), Alliance Capital, Motorola (think cell phones), Qualcomm and General Electric. Not to mention YOU, the American taxpayer. OnPoint, the U.S. Army's investment arm (I'm not making that up) gave A123 a financial boost during its fourth, $40m round of venture capital fund raising. Earlier this week, existing (that's you again) and new investors added another $30m to A123's kitty. And yesterday, GE scored two Department of Energy projects worth $6.8m to "accelerate the development of plug-in hybrids." A123 will perform the research on GE's behalf. Meanwhile, A123 has a drop-deadline of 2010 to get the Volt's batteries ship-shape. If GM loses face on this one, A123 will find it a lot harder to raise funds in the future.  

"I would be surprised, shocked and dismayed if we decide not to do it." "It" is the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid, and the speaker is Bob Lutz, quoted in the New York Times. Unfortunately, time waits for no man, even Maximum Bob. It's a little over two years until 2010, when GM has promised they'll have Volts on the road, silently whizzing around on their lithium-ion batteries. Except they still haven't developed a Li-Ion battery capable of powering the car. And once they finally have a viable design, auto industry economist Walter McManus surmises "when they break ground on a plant to make batteries, two years later the Volt will come out." In the meantime, GM is already advertising the Volt on TV, but with the disclaimer "Not yet available for sale" in small print at the bottom of the screen. Perhaps they should listen to Tony Posawatz, vehicle line director for the Volt, who admits "Until the product is done there is always some degree of uncertainty. No such batteries exist today, but our confidence builds as days go on." And as days go on, the clock keeps ticking down to 2010. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Toyota's not the only one questioning GM's logic in pushing for plug-in hybrid technology. Honda's CEO Takeo Fukui told the Wall Street Journal that plug-ins don't have enough environmental benefits to interest his company. In fact, GM's Hail Mary Chevy Volt makes little sense. In a news conference, Fukui characterized plug-in hybrids as "a battery electric vehicle equipped with an unnecessary fuel engine and fuel tank." He added that Honda could easily develop a plug-in hybrid but won't because "I don't think that would contribute to the global environment, to reduce [global warming gas] emissions." Yes but– Fukui hinted that Honda is developing a battery electric vehicle. "Assuming that we can come up with a really high-performing battery that we are working on currently, I think a battery electric vehicle [that uses such battery technology] would actually be a plus from an environmental point of view." Given Honda's engineering track record, GM and Toyota both better watch their backs.

Take that Toyota! Not only is GM going to bring us a lithium-ion-powered plug-in hybrid by 2010, but they're going to produce an entire family of electric vehicles. So sayeth GM Car Czar "Maximum" Bob Lutz in Frankfurt. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) described Lutz' remarks as "the latest salvo in a combined product-development and public-relations campaign… to dispel the image that it has its corporate head in the sand when it comes to advanced vehicle technology, oil prices and concerns about greenhouse-gas emissions." Lutz also said GM wants to build its E-Flex vehicles alongside mainstream models; a common chassis would accommodate either a conventional or alternative-propulsion powertrain. The WSJ cautions that the Volt– and any other electric vehicles in GM's future– depend on battery suppliers, and "it isn't yet certain the suppliers will come through." OK, Toyota– your turn!

The gloves are off; GM's Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and Toyota's U.S. VP for Communications, Irv Miller, are having an alternative powerplant smackdown. On a company web site today, Miller wrote "the advanced lithium-ion batteries that the Volt would use, batteries suitable for the long-term rigors of everyday automotive use, don't exist" while pointing out the Prius uses "market-ready" technology. Lutz, never one to let facts come between him and his opinions, still insists the Volt will be ready for the market in 2010. He countered Miller's remarks in an interview with Bloomberg at the Frankfurt Auto Show: "People have a very simplistic [view]: Toyota … are saving the planet from certain destruction, whereas General Motors … is the anti-Christ that's trying to plunge us into the abyss. The only way we can get out of that is by being more environmental and leading with more environmental technology than Toyota." Uh, hello? Bob? It's hard to lead when you're relying on technology that doesn't exist yet– and that the competition has publicly stated they'll also adopt, you know, as soon as someone invents it.