Diverging Visions For The Volt Mean That Nobody Gets What They Signed Up For

In Detroit today, Chevy plans to unveil whatever hasn't already been seen of its much-anticipated Volt. It's fair to say that the company has a lot riding on the car, which won't be available to the public for another two years.

GM's original plan for the Volt was a car cheap enough to put in every driveway in America. What we think we're going to end up with is a very expensive car that will grace many fewer American driveways, but will only cost about $0.05/mile if you can afford to get into one. Then again, if you can afford to get into one, the $0.05/mile v. $0.15/mile or even $0.50/mile probably isn't a real issue for you.

Automakers are scrambling to put hybrids in their lineups, promising prices as low as $19,000 for the average buyer. Mercedes just announced that it will deliver its first hybrid S-Class in 2009 for just over $100,000. MB is a little late to the game; they'd been playing with diesel engines all this time, but promise that the S-Class will deliver an mpg of about 30.

It's clear that there are two mindsets forming around hybrid vehicles: one for the customers, who envision lower acquisition and operating costs, better fuel economy and better CO2 emissions; and another for the manufacturers who are desperately seeking a return to profitability.

Unfortunately, with $100,000 hybrids that get 30 mpg and $40,000 plug-ins that would benefit most consumers only if they were $20,000 cheaper, these two visions aren't going to intersect where they need to - in the dealer showrooms. The manufacturers need to reconcile their hybrid visions more carefully and reform them into what the customers want.

Customers want cars that don't cost a lot to get into and operate, that deliver better fuel economy than what's available today and that do a better job of reducing harmful CO2 emissions. A $40,000 Volt that excels at fuel economy and emission reductions isn't going to do much good for the consumer who can't break an extra $800 per month out of the family budget to pay for it.

Perhaps GM will spend the next two years figuring out how to reduce the cost of the Volt. If they don't, the car will be relegated to collector status and consumers in 2058 will wonder why such a brilliant idea that might have made a real difference never caught on.