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Frankly I haven't researched the Volt as at the rumoured $40,000 price the car is irrelevant to me personally. After the gummint's rebate it's still $32,500 which is about double the most I've ever spent on a vehicle, and that's before I swore off new vehicles.
However looking at the vehicles out on the road it appears money is no object for many, as they are willing to mortgage their houses or make payments for 5 years to have something new and shiny. So there should be many potential takers if the marketers can hit the right "buttons".
It would help if they'd price match Prius, which Edmund's says has a national base MSRP of $22,000 for '10. They aren't "equals" but I'd wager Prius is Volt's major competitor- initially at least.
On the other hand Prius plug-ins may come on the market at about the same time but from what I've seen they aren't competitive with Volt's claims in price or performance... yet.
It depends on how much dino fuels cost when this car launches. $2 gas and new vehicle buyers will still flock to Silverados; $4 and they'll give Volt a look. Even at $4/gal fuel is not the major cost of operation for the average U.S. motorist so maybe that has something to do with why many motorists just don't care about fe, in spite of all the whining when fuel prices go up.
I like the notion of plug-in hybrid i.e. full electric mode taking care of most motoring- which is relatively local putzing around- but not leaving you stranded after the initial charge is gone.
After that is where I get conflicted. Seems to me ICE>genset>battery>motor would suffer more conversion inefficiencies vs. a proper ICE>gearbox. I haven't found/GM hasn't released fe figures for that mode. Somewhere I saw 56/60 mpg which makes me think gee, an old Metro or VW diesel will get me that and I don't have to spend 40 large.
Also I believe in the K.I.S.S. principle and am a bit leery of all hybrids because of that.
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