GM released pictures of the production Volt

[gasman]

unfortunately there is'nt one without a picture of a GM exec. in front of it. it will be offically unvailed next week, this is prohibably the most important vehicle in the history of GM. it will either make or break the company

I like it, but the rear appears to look like they stole it from a 90's Subaru SVX. the front screams Chevy though. I like it,

looks better then the upcoming Chevy Cruze. which I feel was a major disapointment in the style department,

Edited September 8, 2008 by gasman

[Lownslow]

quality rental styling

[MrObsessive]

Sigh........... Not a bad car but why must the A pillars be so friggin thick??!!

Wonder how long it'll be before someone has an accident and sues GM for lack of visibility?

I'm also tired of the stylists bowing to the altar of the aerodynamic gods........

I sooooo long for the days when car styling was so much cleaner (and masculine) with thin pillars and airy interiors.

BTW, Autoblog has a bunch more pics giving you different views.......unfortunately, there's some engineer standing in the way for the most part.

[James Flowers]

One ugly car.

[JAFFA]

So is this another Dae-Woo, or is it a REAL Chevy?

And please tell me it will be a fullsize car!?

[MrObsessive]

So is this another Dae-Woo, or is it a REAL Chevy?

And please tell me it will be a fullsize car!?

Reading up on the Volt, it looks like it's a full Chevy/GM effort. I don't think Daewoo has anything to do with it. It also appears this will be a Chevrolet exclusive------I haven't heard about any other GM divisions getting a hybrid of this sort.

But knowing GM, that all could change in a hurry!

Size? It looks like it may be Malibu sized.........definitely smaller though than the Impala.

[LVZ2881]

is the volt supposed to be an electric car, or is it a hybrid gas/electric like the Prius??....

[Joe Handley]

is the volt supposed to be an electric car, or is it a hybrid gas/electric like the Prius??....

Hybrid electric more along the lines of the Green Goat rail road switcher than the Pious. I do like the cars styling, but still think the concept car looks better. When I heard that the production model wasn't going to look muhc like the concept, I was expecting it to look more like the Caliber for some weird reason

[Harold]

This points up the problem (at least one of them) with the direction of automotive design over the last ten or so years. Edge Design (there's an oxymoron). What a horrid, tasteless direction to go in. From the Cadillac CTS to the Ford (con) Fusion, all anyone wants to crank out are variations of Origami-on-acid ugliness. There has been a total loss of proportion. Now we have tall cowls, thick body sections, too-short roofs (think 300) and cars designed around oversized tires. We used to call the '71- '73 Mustangs "Muspigs" because they were so fat and heavy, but the new Mustang is bigger still, and looks like a caricature of the 'Stang (as did the unlamented Mustang II). The G6 is a stylistic nightmare, though not on the same Tremen- Induced Nightmare scale as the A$$calade or the New CTS (or whatever they call that mess now). To me. (dr)Edge design has created garbage that looks like it was stolen from the set of "Judge Dredd". As for the thick A-pillars, you need to experience a Dodge Caliber and the major blind spots they create. OK, I'm done ranting for now...

[MrObsessive]

Harold, those things you mentioned about car styling are just a few of the beefs I've had for quite a while since the worship of FWD came to be some 25+ years ago.

One MAJOR problem I've had with FWD is why must the front wheels be so darn close to the front of the door leaving that ugly hump in the foot wells inside?

Not too mention that way too goofy front overhang that looks terrible especially on large cars. You mentioned the Caliber which I think has styling just short of Aztec ugly!

We went from the gorgeous front drive 1966 Olds Toronado to some of the hideous front drive abominations rolling around today??

Now I drive a front drive car (Saturn) which is a good car in of itself, I just wish I had more choices in a small rear drive car instead of the myriad of cookie cutter front drive ones.

If this Volt had more of a "masculine" look instead of being somewhat feminized (my opinion) I might warm up to it..............but to me it just looks like Prius II by Chevy.

[Harry P.]

Why does the concept version look NOTHING like the production version? What's the point of a concept if it has nothing to do with the production version? It's a pointless waste of time and money. People get all hyped up about the concept, but GM apparently never had any intention of taking the concept Volt to production. I hate the concept, but still, why bother with a concept if the production car looks nothing like the concept? What's the point?

Chrysler did the same exact thing with the Charger. Concept version, very cool, two door, slick. Production version, four door pig. Nothing at all like the concept. What gives???

[evilone]

i think i seen them here during race week

they were in camo

and there were 6 of them

[MrObsessive]

Chrysler did the same exact thing with the Charger. Concept version, very cool, two door, slick. Production version, four door pig. Nothing at all like the concept. What gives???

When Car and Driver first ran the illustration of the coming '06 Charger 3 years ago......the torrent of hate mail that they got was unequaled before or since. Folks were very upset that Chrysler showed that oh too cool concept, only to be let down, and mighty hard when the production car showed up.

I think in reality what happened is Daimler had bought Chrysler right about the time the concept was making the rounds. I suppose the Germans didn't like the styling of the concept Charger, and based the production Charger on the Super Hemi 8 show car instead. (Another hideous one! )

So much for apparent good taste those Germans have!

Anyway, the rest is history as we know what Chrysler's up against now. Apparently the Volt is a kind of make or break car for GM. If they don't get this one right out of the box, we won't have to worry much longer if their cars are looking close to the concept or not.

They will be out of business!