GM CEO Ed Whitacre In A Chevy Volt
We may not even have to wait until November for the Chevy Volt. According to CEO Ed Whitacre, the car could be released this September or October. The lucky initial states will be California and Michigan as well as the District of Columbia. Looks like a road trip to Michigan is in our future.
From the Detroit Free Press:
Ed Whitacre, General Motors chairman and CEO, wants to bring the electric-drive Chevrolet Volt, which GM is betting can improve the automaker's image and ignite excitement for the company, out ahead of its planned November launch, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Whitacre, who took over as CEO about a month ago, alluded last week to his desire for the Volt to come out early.
"I wish it were on the market today. We're going to push as hard as we can to get this vehicle out there. It's a complicated process," he told the Free Press in a one-on-one interview last week.
While GM hasn't officially announced the Volt's base price, Whitacre said it likely will cost customers about $32,000, including tax breaks.
"This is a bold journey for us. We want to do this for the environment. ... We think this is part of the future for us," he said. "We're putting a lot at risk here, but we're going to do it."
Since taking over as CEO last month, Whitacre has pushed a lot of changes throughout the company, including a discussion about bringing out the Volt early in a limited fashion, so long as GM can ensure it's up to quality standards, according to two people familiar with the talks.
"It could be late September, October," a person familiar with the planning said.
The proposal is seen as a way to get additional customer feedback about the new vehicle before a big rollout.
The number of vehicles that could be sold early would be small.
"Our plans haven't changed. We plan to bring the Volt to market by the end of this year, but everything has to be right -- from engineering to bringing our vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities online," Rob Peterson, a GM spokesman, said in a statement.
Production at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant of early test versions of the Volt is slated to begin around April. Those vehicles will be used for further testing prior to the official production launch later in the year for customers.
GM says the Volt will be able to drive 40 miles on an electrical charge alone with an onboard generator producing electricity to power the vehicle after 40 miles. That generator will be powered by gasoline.
The company isn't planning a nationwide rollout of the Volts at first. Rather, it has said it will initially begin selling the vehicle in specific markets because it wants time to see how the cutting-edge product performs.
California has been identified as an initial market. Detroit and Washington, D.C., also are believed to be early markets.
In his interview with the Free Press, Whitacre talked about driving the Volt for the first time. "I was prepared for something like a golf cart. This is no golf cart," he said. "This is very powerful, a lot of acceleration, it feels really solid and it goes fast. It's a very impressive car."
In Texas, Whitacre's home state, he predicted the car will do "very well" in the metropolitan areas such as Dallas and Houston.
Meanwhile, Whitacre said he was looking forward to his first visit to the Detroit auto show, which begins Monday for the news media. In earlier comments to reporters, Whitacre seemed uncertain as what to expect.
"I asked the question ... 'Do we sell any cars at the auto show?' And nobody replied to that," he said.
But in his interview with the Free Press, Whitacre said that he understands the show is a great chance to highlight current and upcoming vehicles. "This is a new GM. I look forward to it," he said.
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