General Motors’ shift from an internal combustion engine-producing company to one that makes electric motors is sputtering. EV sales are up, but growing slower than expected. The company’s next-generation Ultium platform, in particular, isn’t meeting expectations. GM’s new electric trucks and SUVs seem perennially delayed — or full of buggy software.
I think I have an easy solution to a lot of these problems: bring back the Chevy Volt.
Remember the Volt, GM’s scrappy Toyota Prius fighter from the mid-2010s? The company was lauded when it first came out in 2010 as a prescient bet on vehicles with electric powertrains. And it was undeniably a very good hybrid. The first-generation model got 36 miles of electric range before the gas kicked in, while later versions would get a whopping 53 miles of electric range.
They can’t just turn the Volt tap back on. Suppliers aren’t supplying the parts anymore, GM likely doesn’t have the dies/stamps anymore, it’s all gone save for low volume replacement parts. They’d have to design it new from scratch. And that is a 4 year process, from design concept to production.
Know what else they can do in 4 years? Ramp Ultium. And that’s what they’re going to do.
You’re not wrong, it’s just not as simple an idea as one would think.
You don’t think they could make a die in 6 months with cad drawings? It’s not like they’ve forgotten about and deleted all relevant documents about a vehicle they designed.
I know for a fact they could. But again, would they invest the required billions to retool for the Volt, an old design, or spend that same money ramping Ultium? Same timeline, same money, but in one instance you end up with a 10 year old design of a compact car and the other you end up with the most modern vehicle they can make. It’s not even a question.