Chevy
Volt hated by bipolar America
Friday, September 12, 2008
Too
Prius like?
As if that's a bad thing. Yet, the Internet and the Chevy
Volt Nation are up in arms. This is not the Chevy
Volt that debuted at NAIAS in 2007.
"Huge disappointment," and an "unlikely
love child of a one-nighter involving GM's concept and the
Prius" are some of the criticisms that AutoObserver
reported.
For many of these critics the Volt was the anti-Prius, an
American-made bad ass electric muscle car that would put
America back on top of the auto world. A vehicle that
would allow Americans to continue to act like Americans,
but without the guilt. We'd no longer waste gas, instead
we'd waste electricity, which is so much more 21st
century.
But now the damn thing looks a fricken Prius.
And as hard is it might be to believe, there is a reason
the Toyota
Prius, the Honda
Insight, the Honda Clarity and the Chevy Volt share
many design cues, line and angles.
No, it's not because Toyota came up with the coolest car
design ever in the Prius.
Toyota just did what it always does. Toyota makes sense.
It seeks efficiency - the antithesis of American auto
design. Thus, Toyota came up with the most comfortable,
4-door aerodynamic design for a passenger vehicle that it
could. It acted, dare I say, logically, which is so damn
illogical to American design.
Americans are simply bipolar when it comes to the
automobile. We're driving contradictions, which probably
explains why the Big 3 are so screwed up.
Americans don't buy cars for transportation. That makes
too much sense.
We buy cars to look cool. Our cars present us to the
world, even if they tell lies. And we love telling lies,
especially when those lies can make others think we're
actually better, more than what we really are. It's NOT
about what's inside. It's about what I drive and how I
look.
Even more important, your ride can be the greatest babe
magnet in the world. And there is no doubt the Volt was
going to be a better babe magnet than the Prius. The Prius
is for smart chicks, for crying out loud, and everyone
knows they don't put out on the first date.
Yet, when we go to the gas station we complain endlessly
about the high cost of gas - still half the price of
Europe's gas. We just can't understand why it so expensive
to fill up a SUV that is only a little bigger than our
apartment. It just doesn't make sense. We just can't
reconcile the obvious fact that gas guzzling wastes gas.
We're so damn bipolar.
Hence, America now hates the Volt. It makes sense, and
making logical sense is just too complicated for our
bipolar condition.
While some say GM over-promised and under-delivered, the
goal was ALWAYS a 4 door, 5 passenger vehicle that could
achieve 40 miles of electricity per charge. ALWAYS.
The original design couldn't meet that goal, and GM chose
function over form, or at least the perfect balance of
form and function. Same performance as the original
concept, just not as much bling. Sometimes, intelligence
has to trump vanity.
Nonetheless, I'm glad there are so many Volt haters, now I
probably have a legitimate chance of getting my hands on
one much sooner.
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