Posts Tagged ‘Chevrolet’

The Chevy Volt, GM’s extended-range electric vehicle, is set to hit the pavement in select cities in the next six months. You can reserve your own Volt online, but what if you want to see and feel it in person first?

The Chevy Volt will be on tour this fall, with several stops across the country for you to get up close and personal with the car that GM promises will revolutionize the way we drive.

The “Volt Unplugged” tour includes a fleet of six Chevy Volts that will be available for test drives. You will also have a chance to meet with a team of engineers, designers, and others who will be on hand to share details on the Volt’s technology and story.

So which cities are on the tour?

• Oct. 9 and 10 – Seattle
• Oct. 13 and 14 – San Francisco
• Oct. 16 – 18 – Los Angeles
• Oct. 20 – San Diego
• Oct. 22 and 23 – San Antonio
• Oct. 24 and 25 – Houston
• Oct. 28 and 29 – Miami
• Oct. 30 – Orlando
• Oct. 29 and 30 – Washington, D.C.
• Nov. 1 – Raleigh, N.C.
• Nov. 5 – 7 – New York City
• Nov. 18 – 20 – Chicago

Don’t worry if your city or state is not included on this tour or on the first wave of production vehicles this fall. The Volt will first be sold in California, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan, and Washington DC and General Motors plans to sell the Volt nationwide 12-18 months later.

You can register for your own test drive on ChevroletVoltage. Just be sure to come back and let us and other Honksters know how you liked the car!

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Miss Electric, Ph.D., loves driving clean, green machines. Follow her at MissElectric.com.

Interested in the new Chevy Cruze but not sure if you’re ready to step away from the segment-leading Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla? GM has you covered with a new plan that asks 3,000 dealers to buy a new Civic and Corolla and have them on hand for comparison test drives at the dealership.

Chevrolet is clearly confident about the new Cruze. With ten air bags and top scores in European crash tests (US test results are pending), the new compact sedan promises high levels of safety. And with special sound-deadening glass and acoustic mats, the cabin will no doubt be quiet and refined. A new 1.4-liter turbocharged engine promises up to 40 miles per gallon on the highway for the special Eco model, too.

Chuck Russell, vehicle line director for Cruze, told Automotive News that the new Chevy sedan has more shoulder room than the competition and offers many of the premium features you’d normally find in a midsize car. He expects the car to appeal to folks who want to downsize without losing any gadgets or gizmos. Prices will range from $16,995 to $22,695 with shipping included.

But the big challenge will be in managing three test drives at one dealership. Sales consultants don’t like to leave the lot for long periods of time because it cuts into their selling time. There are bound to be headaches if a customer drives all three cars and then walks away.

Still, the offer to cross-shop all three cars at once is enticing. And if the 2011 Cruze is as good as GM says it is, Chevy’s got nothing to fear.

Were you one of the first in line for the iPhone? Are you drooling all over your glossy new iPad? Do you have to have the latest and greatest gadgets before anyone else?

If so, I have good news for you because automakers will soon be releasing next-gen technology that will transform the way we drive.

It’s part of a coming wave of new cars that will (finally!) offer options beyond the dinosaur internal combustion technology that’s been around for the past 100 years.

Like many new technologies, however, these future cars will only be available on a limited basis at first.  Field trials of the all-electric Mini E and hydrogen fuel cell Honda FCX Clarity, for example, were limited to Southern California and the New York metropolitan region last year.

These prototype test cars were leased to early adopters for a specified time and then returned to the manufacturers for continued analysis.  Ideally, these trials are intended to help Mini and Honda create even better production cars for the rest of us to enjoy.

Three new cars, the Nissan Leaf, the Chevy Volt, and the Ford Focus Electric, are slated for production in the next year. In addition to cutting-edge technology under the hood, these cars will feature advanced dashboard, navigation, and wireless communication technology that you will not find in standard gas-guzzling machines. They will also come with their own SmartPhone applications for maximizing energy use and minimizing charge costs. For example, this video gives you a taste of the Chevy Volt Wireless App.

How do you get a “car of the future”? This time it won’t be just Californians and New Yorkers who get to show off their new toys: early adopters in several other regions across the country can look forward to getting in on the electric drive action.

Those regions include:

- Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga, TN (for the Nissan Leaf)

- Los Angeles, CA (for the Chevy Volt and Ford Focus Electric)

- San Jose and San Francisco, CA (for the Chevy Volt and Ford Focus Electric)

- San Diego, CA (for the Nissan Leaf)

- New York, NY (for the Ford Focus Electric)

- Austin, TX (for the Ford Focus Electric)

- Phoenix and Tucson, AZ (for the Nissan Leaf)

- Portland, Eugene, and Corvallis, OR (for the Nissan Leaf)

- Seattle, WA (for the Nissan Leaf)

- Detroit, MI (for the Ford Focus Electric)

Early adopters in these regions can expect significant city and state purchase incentives (in addition to the well-publicized $7,500 federal tax credit). In many regions, these folks can also qualify to get a free charger installed in their home for juicing their new electrically-driven wheels. Officials in these cities are working with manufacturers to establish a new public charging infrastructure, as well.

But what is it like to be an early adopter for these future cars? How does one join this energy evolution? In the next few weeks, I hope to interview some first-movers in the electric car field for our Honk readers. Stay tuned for an inside perspective from those who are on the front line of next-gen mobility…

Dr. Shannon Arvizu is a clean-tech strategist and educator. You can read more at MissElectric.com

It doesn’t get much more American than baseball and Chevrolet.

General Motors is trying out a new marketing tactic with a Chevy-branded exhibition version of Flick Baseball Pro.  The app is available for download on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch and allows users to play 3- or 9-inning games with “life-like control of pitching and hitting via the accelerometer.”

The automotive tie-in comes courtesy of the Chevy Dugout portion of the app, where players can learn more about Chevy vehicles, like the iconic Corvette or hot-selling Equinox.  Fans who enter the dugout can also enter for a chance to win a trip to the 2010 All Star game.

Yes, this Americana-laden promotion is a bit cheesy.  And yes, there is some schlepping of products involved.  But as far as marketing and advertising is concerned, GM may be on to a grand slam concept here.

The baseball fan wants a fun game to play.  The automaker wants exposure to an audience that’s receptive to its message.  When GM sponsors the app – which normally retails for $2.99 – both parties benefit from the transaction.

That’s a nice change from billboards and television commercials where viewers are frustrated by the distractions and advertisers are frustrated by the lack of attention paid to their messages.

And while sponsored content is not exactly new in the marketing world, GM is among the first to offer a sponsored app like this for the iPad.

The Detroit automaker was also clever to tie into social media with a feature by Plus+ that allows players to brag about their baseballs skills to friends on Facebook.  This makes it convenient for users to share and it increases the chance for the app to go viral and spread to a larger audience.

If this app succeeds, it’s likely that other advertisers will jump in with sponsored content of their own.  But hey: if you’re going to be advertised to, you might as well get something in return.

Will fuel cells be the next to kill the electric car?  Conventional wisdom says of course not.  GM has been talking about fuel cells for years and they have brought our more than a handful of concepts over the years.  What do you think the future of the fuel cell is?