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At GM's "blogger town hall" at the end of yesterday's Chevy Volt unveil , the General's Vice Chairman and product czar, "Maximum" Bob Lutz , made mention to a Volt feature we hadn't yet heard about, and is even more techie-cool than the iPod-like interface on the center stack. Apparently, the Volt will "know how far you are from home" using what we're assuming is an on-board GPS system. The plug-in electric extended range hybrid's computer will then use that distance, along with route information, to determine how long the car needs to run the gas engine to charge the on-board battery pack, allowing the vehicle to truly maximize fuel economy. Even if you're not drinking the GM Kool-Aid, you've got to be wow'ed by a system like that — as long as it actually works. Read the full quote from "The" Bob after the galleries and the jump below. "with the Volt, you never have to worry you use the full 40 (mile...
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Following word this morning the production version of the Chevy Volt will be shown in September, we hear the rocking-down-electric-avenue Lutz-mobile will also be featured in Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen . Although there's no official word if the Volt will actually be a Transformer, but given its guts and looks, it's just begging to become some kind of electric-themed Autobot. The Volt would join the Trax and the Beat as not-yet-available Chevy vehicles featured in the movie. Jalopnik Snap Judgement : This may be the reason why they're hurrying up the production look of the car. They've got to beat set filming times, right? [ Reuters via TFW2005 ]
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Let's put our hands together for Rick Wagoner , the CEO and Chairman of General Motors, who just discovered how to clean up after his s**t-loving Vice-Chairman, "Maximum" Bob Lutz. It was exactly a month ago when we first told you about product czar "Maximum" Bob's claim that global warming was simply a crock of...you know...stuff and finally Wagoner is ready to touch on the topic. Wagoner told reporters in Washington that Lutz's comments about global warming "weren't coming out of the company." When asked what he thought about global warming, Wagoner essentially said that the temperature is indeed rising. Yes, Wagoner, winter is fading for spring, I would hope the temperature would rise. I'll admit, I'm being a little rough on him and for that, I apologize for my crockery. [via WSJ ]
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Don't break open those piggy banks yet, Volt fanatics. The Greatest Car Not Quite Yet on Earth isn't close to being ready, and that $30,000 price tag we told you about is a crock, but not that kind of a crock . The latest price figure is putting the Volt mystery mobile at $35,000. The reason behind this $5,000 price hike originates with the stereo and the windshield wipers. Wait, what? galleryPost('chevyvoltpr', 3, 'Chevrolet Volt'); The Volt engineers have apparently had to dump a lot of money into redesigning the audio set-up, windshield wipers and similar systems so that they won't drain the Volt's super magnificent lithium-ion 40-mile battery. See, what happpens when you ditch the alternator, kids? All hell breaks lose and GM's gearheads get stuck in triple-overtime with Bob Lutz's hot breath on their necks. [ Autopia ]
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Agree or disagree with the sentiments of GM's product czar Bob Lutz, you have to respect him for his frankness. In our experience, it's fairly easy to identify a total crock of shit like global warming once you take into consideration the complex interactions of geophysics, global weather patterns and complex high atmosphere chemistry involved in climate change, which Lutz surely has. We're not here to make a statement on the science of climate change, and if Lutz wants to sell us shitboxes like the Cobalt and giant SUV's with mild hybrid systems stuffed into them all while flying his MiG around for shits and giggles we're fine with that. But then again, if the Vice Chairman of Global Product Development thinks this about climate change, it kind of makes a lot of GM's latest marketing a total crock of shit, too. [via D Magazine ]
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We've heard numbers , seen the commercial , heard about production and seen the live pictures , but the idea of the Volt being the real deal remains questionable to a lot of industry observers. Definitely not Martin Eberhard, however. Tesla's founder and former bossman is a believer. In a post on the "Tesla Founders Blog," Eberhard was quick to throw his full support behind the alleged electric wonder known as the Chevy Volt. He continues to praise the vehicle, its chief evangelist Bob Lutz and all of the technology involved in the conceptual design of the car, especially the battery. And yes, Eberhard did indeed say that he would drive a Volt if it were available today. Nevertheless, the original posting on the Tesla Founders Blog was quickly removed. Fret not: Google has done its job saving the cache and making it available for the world to ponder and/or mock. [ Google Cache via GM Insider News ]
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Suck it Ed Begley, Jr! Maximum Bob Lutz says that the Chevy Volt, which he also promised wouldn't look like the Volt concept, is going to be road tested early next year and put into production by 2010. Said Lutz, "When [people] think of GM, the iconic brand is, unfortunately, the Hummer." And now the iconic image is going to be the Volt? Really? A vehicle that can only go 40 miles on electric power? Lutz later admits that, you know, they totally blew it by not developing a hybrid sooner and thus losing laps in the "green car race." Thankfully, the Escalade hybrid is helping them make up much needed ground with its stunning 18 MPG! [ Reuters ]
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