Prius, Move over! GM Volt gets 230 MPG
We should expect a number of changes happen in the next few days at General Motor as it merges out of a short bankruptcy. First, starting today, car buyers can buy, haggle with new or used GM cars at http://GM.eBay.com from the comfort of their home. This is the fruit of a new exclusive partnership between eBay and GM.
In addition, today GM drops another bomb announcing its gas-electric Chevy Volt will get an estimated unprecedented 230 mile per gallon for city driving when it goes on sale by the end of 2010.
Note: the MPG figure expressed in electrical terms when compared with the similar cost using gas engine, the performance of the Volt will be 25 kilowatt-hours for 100 miles. (5 cents a kilowatt hours).
Users should expect a price tag around $40,000 when it goes on sale.The car will qualify for a $7,500 federal tax credit.
Moving forward GM is promising to further reduce the cost of future generations, particularly the battery system, that GM is investing heavily in the research and manufacturing.
[Via CBS/CNET]
After the bankruptcy GM had to come out with a game changer.
I wouldn’t say this is a game changer. Unless you’re talking about the GM/eBay deal, but I don’t think you are.
This isn’t a game changer because other people are already doing it. Nissan’s poorly advertised Leaf is even more efficient, despite drastic shortcomings in their marketing campaign. There’s also the Tesla. GM just threw out a number that will soon be cut down by the EPA and cut again when it actually gets out on the road.
I think I’ll wait to see how the Volt does on the consumer market before coming to my final verdict, but for now I’d just like to be among those saying the 230 figure is not what it appears to be.
However, I’m skeptical of pretty much everything. You may find this video a little more fair to the Volt: http://www.newsy.com/videos/all_charged_up_over_the_volt. I appreciated how they offer arguments both about the greatness of the car and why it may be over-hyped.