{"id":5839,"date":"2010-10-12T10:59:25","date_gmt":"2010-10-12T14:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=5839"},"modified":"2010-10-12T10:59:25","modified_gmt":"2010-10-12T14:59:25","slug":"the-volt-rolls-out-to-a-media-goregasm-national-review-10-12-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2010\/10\/the-volt-rolls-out-to-a-media-goregasm-national-review-10-12-10","title":{"rendered":"The Volt Rolls Out to a Media Goregasm (National Review 10.12.10)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine the U.S. government offering $7,500 to well-off buyers of a BMW 3-series convertible, and an additional $2,000 to buy fuel. Imagine the outrage. There you have the problem with the Chevy Volt.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the midst of a slow economy and voter <\/span>anxiety<\/span><\/span>, the U.S. government is preparing to roll out its green electric-car program starring Chevy\u2019s plug-in hybrid. While GM has offered the car for media drives, the <\/span>collective Goregasm <\/span><\/span><\/a>from the press hides the fact that the high tech, silent, undoubtedly cool electronic gizmo is a $41,000 plaything for the blue coast jet set.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI drove a pre-production Volt,\u201d writes one reviewer with the <\/span>Boston Herald<\/em>, \u201c(and it) proved to be a far better vehicle than I was expecting, an undeniable <\/span>engineering<\/span><\/span> <\/span>coup for GM. The biggest surprise may be how well the Volt handles. The T-shaped battery pack is placed very low in the chassis<\/span><\/span>, and the lower the extra weight is, the better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The trouble with pressie car reviewers is the cars are free. Sure, the Volt handles better than the $17,000 Chevy Cruze with which it shares a platform \u2014 but if it\u2019s handling you want, you\u2019ll drop your $40 grand on a BMW. Or an Audi A5. Or any number of vastly superior vehicles in that price range.<\/span><\/p>\n

And that gets to the nub of the issue. The Volt \u2014 and its expensive electric stable mates \u2014 are rich niche cars for DiCaprio & Co. Which is why the Toyota Prius\u2013dominated hybrid market has never eclipsed 3 percent of cars sold. Which is why the U.S. government is desperately offering a $7,500 tax credit to buy it and another $2 grand for a fast-charging station.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Volt strikes us as the closest in concept to the winning formula of the Prius,\u201d <\/span>writes <\/span>Car & Driver<\/em><\/span><\/a>, which \u2014 unlike their media brethren \u2014 has managed to maintain some <\/span>perspective<\/span><\/span>. \u201cThis is without a doubt the most important new car since the advent of hybrids in the late \u201990s, and GM has nailed it. Is this the handing off of the Prius\u2019s very illustrious torch?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Volt is evolution, not revolution. That is, it\u2019s the new green fashion statement. It\u2019s the new Prius.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine the U.S. government offering $7,500 to well-off buyers of a BMW 3-series convertible, and an additional $2,000 to buy fuel. Imagine the outrage. There you have the problem with the Chevy Volt. In the midst of a slow economy and voter anxiety, the U.S. government is preparing to roll out its green electric-car program […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5839"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5839"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5841,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5839\/revisions\/5841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}