The Auto Writer

Many of the social media specialists in my team departed for home today, shortly after our breakfast Q&A with GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner which was immediately followed by a similar type session with GM’s VP/Quality, Jamie Hresko. For those who were catching later flights, the chance to visit the GM Advanced Design studio in Warren, MI came up, so I took full advantage of this opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at the Chevrolet Volt concept. What I learned from the visit was well worth my time.

The Volt: GM’s Next Generation Electric Car

For those of you not familiar with the Volt, it is General Motor’s current generation electric car, the one that they fully expect to bring to the marketplace by November 2010. The GM Advanced Design studio is the nerve center for the building of this vehicle which GM says is critical to their future plans as well as important to help reduce our nation’s dependency on foreign fossil fuels.

Bob Boniface, Manager of the Volt Design Team

Bob Boniface, the GM executive overseeing the Volt project escorted us through the design studio, but our cameras had to be left outside. Clay model mockups of the Volt were present, therefore GM insisted that we take only notes and avoid peeking underneath the canvases hiding the models.

45 people are assigned to the Volt project including creative designers who develop interior and exterior layout concepts and send these computer files over to math sculptors who are tasked with defining the size and shape of the vehicle components. Boniface said that the work that this second group of people are tasked with is much like what the Pixar people do when they work on a movie. Once the math sculptors have completed their responsibilities, then the files are sent to milling machines which read the data and cut and form the clay to create the vehicle mock up.

40 Mile Range & More Sophisticated Than A Plasma TV

Key points of our tour stressed by Boniface is that the Volt must be highly aerodynamic in order to squeeze out range (targeted 40 miles per charge), with all of that fine tuning taking place in an aerodynamic tunnel. Boniface said that the car must be a conversation piece in that it “makes your neighbor’s 60 inch plasma look dated.” In addition to the obvious environmental benefit, GM hopes that the Volt will shift the public’s perception of the company radically from being the builder of the Hummer to being the manufacturer of electric vehicles.

Boniface says that his team is on target with the Volt, but stopped short saying that the entire project will roll out as planned. The matter of getting the battery technology right is still a concern, but as far as his design team goes they are on time.

Getting A Sneak Peak at the Clay Model

We did get a sneak peek at the grill portion of the clay model as well as the right rear tail light. The look of the grill is different from that of the Volt on display at the auto show, with an umistakeable Chevy face and sport headlamps.

Boniface said that the consumer cost of the Volt must be kept in check as a $50,000 vehicle would defeat its purpose. GM hopes to have the Volt on a road near you within three years, but at prices that start below $30,000. If General Motors can pull it off, then the Chevrolet Volt could be the defining vehicle of this generation.