Hybrid Car Review

Bob Lutz, vice chairmen of GM global product development, has been interviewed a lot by various news outlets, bloggers and online services about the Chevy Volt. Wired took their series of interviews and compiled them into one comprehensive interview.

And despite how I feel about the overhyping of the Volt, I know that people are interested in where the Chevy Volt is and whether GM can do what they say. So, here's what I got out of the Wired interviews.

The biggest news is an update on the possible price tag. Although Lutz wanted a price tag around $30,000, his internal team is saying they can't do it, at least on the first generation. Currently, the range for the price is hovering somewhere between $30 and $40,000.

GM is looking for a 'moon shot' with the Chevy Volt. While Lutz feels that if they are not first to the table with this technology "... it's not fatal. But if it does work, it will be sensational and it will have the same sort of symbolism."

Seems like they are very serious about building a Volt and are pushing very hard to meet an internal November, 2010 deadline. GM would "just like to be first for once."

According to Lutz, "There's nothing magic about the technology. Two or three years after the Volt is introduced, everybody will have something like it." But at the same time, they have had to "invent a lot of stuff" to make everything work. They had to work on the instrumentation, the heating and cooling, electric air-conditioning, control algorithms, etc...

The design has had to change a bit. So the production vehicle will not look like the concept Volt. (See some other videos and pictures of the Volt)

GM's top goals seems to be 1) hitting the November deadline and 2) making sure the range works out.

Some other things you should keep in mind about the Volt: The Chevy Volt will be produced in Detroit. GM has already floated the idea of renting the battery pack on the Volt.