GM fights off criticism of Volt

Wasn't the whole idea of the Volt to be a pure EV? Also all the hype was based on it. This kind of kills all the buzz around it completely. It's just another Prius.

Here's the deal. We begged for them to do something like this and the after they do it, we critize them! That's the American way. Americans need to push GM higher and not downgrade it because a lot of jobs depend on GM's success with this. As for Edmunds, Motor Trend and Popular Mechanic, of course they hate the Volt because they are sponsored by gas guzziling compnaies, duh!

I was always well aware that GM was doing this to try and one up the Prius. There is one thing that has puzzled me, I could have almost sworn that when GM announced the production Volt they were calling it a Plug-in hybrid, then some time during the development they started calling it an extended range EV? I do think that GM is trying to make the Volt look better than it really is. And really they wouldn't be facing criticism if they would just call it a Plug-in hybrid, it does burn gasoline.

"I do think that GM is trying to make the Volt look better than it really is" .....nailed it

In the wise words of Jay-Z, "F--k critics they can kiss my whole 455hole!" It seems that people want to do nothing other than bash GM. Who the hell cares that its not EV? What matters is end result! If this thing can really achieve 230mpg, GM will be miles ahead of the competition.

This is regarding the Prius and taken straight from Wikipedia: "An HSD transaxle contains a planetary gear set that adjusts and blends the amount of torque from the engine and motor(s) as it?s needed by the front wheels." There is a Direct Mechanical connection between the engine and the drive wheels. On the Volt the engine powers only the Generator and there is no mechanical link for the engine to directly power the wheels, like on a Prius. I don't see what the critics are complaining about. Sure under hard acceleration possibly the batteries cannot keep up, then the engine fires up to produce the extra juice needed to make merging and lane changes safe.

The fact that the words "criticism" and "volt" are in the same sentence on a well known auto news site will alone ripple off and cause a general dislike of the car and GM itself. Just you watch on the other sites and magazines if they say one thing bad about the volt after all of this hype it will cause GM stocks to fall. Then again if GM is smart they will come back with something to help uf forget... if they are smart. My money is on ford to do well the next 10-15 years at least to be #1

Come on! Does it really matter what the technical definition of the car is? The whole reason this -and any hybrid/EV- exists is for fuel efficiency. As long as the Volt produces great, -scratch that- FANTASTIC efficiency numbers, who the hell cares what it's called? As everyone probably does and should know, small output turbo diesels are putting out VERY competitive efficiency numbers. And at the end of the day, they're cheaper and probably better overall for the environment because of the lack of lithium and other battery associated chemicals. Plus, the Volt is already old technology anyway. Go diesel!

all this hype........like a lot of ppl going to jump on it and pay a premium price........i would buy a Prius if i wanted a hybrid......there is no point paying for such a high price. The gas saved on a hybrid is only advantageous when its driven for 10 years or more, for this Volt.....the price is way over any hybrid that it doesn't really save you any money even if you only use a little bit of gas once a while to charge the batteries.......all in all, its a good product, but price does not justify it. thats of course is my own humble opinion....

Silly noobs, the volt is a joke..For one electricity last time i checked was not free, secondly the 2.3L engine is not very efficient. This car gets roughly 60mpg when you charge it from your home power outlet based on electricity cost/fuel cost, and once the engine kicks in to give you electricity the figures go down to around 53mpg. Also for the price of this jazzed up piece of crap cobalt you can buy a FULLY loaded Jetta TDI and still have 15000$ left over, which would get you diesel for 367,000km. So you can buy a TDI Jetta which will be much more reliable, and drive it for free for roughly 18 years for the same price as a volt.

The truth of the matter is that the concept of an extended range EV has its merrits. I am a true petrol head and love the old american iron and european cars. But from a purely efficiency driven motive this is the way to go. I forsee some varient with a small capacity diesel being developed that could have the real would capacity to offer 230mpg. The issue with the Volt is that this was sold to us as the reason why we as Americans had to bail GM out. This car will re-write the automotive future from price point and efficiency. Now the truth comes out and it is far from the promises made. Everyone that is critisizing has the right to. GM "over promised and under delivered" all the while taking our money and paying off an in-efficiet and overpaid work force that was the reason of their demise. My criticism come from all the dirty deals that were made with our tax money and the bond holders that invested their retirement money got sacrificed for the unions when the unions were the reason for the failure of GM. This car once again represents to me the inabbilities of the union and Government to deliver on any of their promises and their constant abbilities to drive exspenses through the roof with dirty back door hand shakes. I personally will never again by a single GM product based on the raping of the US taxpayer and the theft from the US citizens that invested with their money in the bonds and got sold out for the betterment of the union and its position in the company.

if you took note to the pic you would see that the Ferrari in the pic is Pre-1990's and if you read any of the info in my profile you would see I only prefer 1987 and below Ferrari's. Any of which would not have a sniff of GM MagnaRide suspension. If you also read as to how I expressed myself you would see that their technology is not what I was attacking. I was attacking the ideals that the Government and the Union live by and how it is okay to fleece the American tax payer and the Private individuals that bought the bonds on the premise that if the company would ever go bankrupt, their investment would be asset backed in the sale of the company and its proceeds. As with many articles that were written on this case, they were sacrificed for the betterment of the Union and its employees and constituents. The laws for the bankruptcy were completely rewritten and altered for the Union under the promise of protecting thousands of jobs. Well curiously they still bought out thousands of job contracts, which in essence put those people out of work, and payed off the retirement packages that were to large and exspensive to begine with. Then after getting to take care of their long time dues payers they were gifted the largest controling portion of the company second only to the US Government. I was a GM stock owner and was one of the many left out to dry while the unions and the politicians all got taken care of. Let me ask you BM, how much stock did you have in GM when it went bankrupt??? Or are you a union guy that has payed his dues and now feels he has a right over all those that planned for their retirment by making what they thought were smart investment moves based on the laws put in place to make sure even through a bankruptcy they would be able to recoupe some of thier losses throught asset sale of their investments as much as they could. The unions have been the demise of the US auto manufacturing sector for years and yet they were handed the second largest portion of control in one of the companies that their mismanagment helped lead to its initial failure. You can buy your GM products and enjoy them all you want. The product is brought to you through corruption,greed and utter mismanagement.

i just don't know why GM is creating bad publicity for itself... 230 miles/gal? i mean come on did they not think EPA was gona give that a NONO... probably if you drive like a grandma and counter act every accelertion with a brake to regenerate energy..and keep driving down hills... personally I'd stick with the Prius..even if the gov is giving a coupon to buy from the government... whatever man... that's no coupon considering prius decked out costs under 30.. why would I get DISCOUNT to buy a car for same price lower quality and first year model... sorry guys my two cents I know it's a little harsh.. and then they got that cruz that competes against the Civic...umm so why are you advertising a car on tv saying as shown $23K... isn't a fully decked out Civic EX or a Corolla XLE run under 20 still? ...humm Japanese bread and butter quality or American attempt at ripping you off with a first year model car.. I don't know guys which would you choose in that class?

If I could buy one in the UK - I would. I could drive it to work and back EVERY day and never use the combustion engine. Try doing that on a Prius!

Critics are stupid, it IS an electric vehicule, and it doesn't matter that it has an onboard generator! Would you call an EV car in France a nuclear car? An EV car in China a charcoal car? (most of French & Chinese electricity comes from nuclear powerplant & charcoal respectively)

For the price I would just get a hybrid. How the hell is going to want to spend 30000 for these?