The Volt, Currently

This is the second post in a series of updates from Matter on GM’s highly anticipated Volt and public rebranding process. The news is: GM is hedging its bets. The company is still working hard to get the Volt out ahead of whatever Toyota is doing, still offering other small cars juuuuust in case the Volt flops (IMHO, it won't), and still working to stoke the target market's anticipation.

Though rushing to finish the Volt for the promised September unveiling, GM is hedging its brand’s bets with other fuel-frugal cars like the cute, curvy Beat and by upgrading its standard sedan, the Cobalt. GM wants the Volt to delight environmentalists and commuters who cannot afford gas--- so much they forget that the Prius, Toyota or decades-ahead Japanese auto efficiency ever existed. And they may get that wish, but a lot is hanging on the September release. Besides that, GM will keep us posted, though refusing to divulge when the next scrap of information (the battery producer) will be released for a public who’s salivating for the Volt.

I can’t help but think of Pavlov’s dog, who eventually displayed physical responses to conditioned expectations.  It seems to me the public behaves similarly. After decades of conditioning to accept inefficient car design, now that we’ve had a taste of what is out there with the Prius, EV-1 and other electric/hybrid options, people are just dying to get out of their fuel combustion clunkers. There is an entire nation of people who want out of oil, and a legion of car manufacturers responding with “Wait for it... wait for it....”