Jammer -
I can go off-topic at the drop of a hat. Wow, look at that ... a hat! Did you see that? It just dropped for no reason at all, must be gravity or something ... I think the short-term purpose of the Volt is as a kind of
loss-leader. The 1st gen Insight was a loss-leader for Honda. I have read that one reason for the Insight was to "get there first" with a hybrid (at least in the USA, the 1st gen Prius was already selling in Japan in 1997).
If the Volt can prove itself from a technology POV, then all or part of the tech can be migrated into other products. Even if it fails, it will (hopefully) help GM engineers cut their teeth in preparation for a "Volt II". From my POV, it's the external economics of the car business that make everything so scary. As many here will attest, GM should have been building a Volt-equivalent ten years ago.
I'm crossing my fingers for the Volt to succeed, but the only (new GM) car I will be seriously considering in my future is a Cruze.
CarloSW2