Car Guys vs. Bean Counters - Bob Lutz [73]
Since GE Plastics was working with us on modern automotive composites, Design felt empowered to expand their explorations into shapes that could not easily be produced in metal, but which would be feasible in composites. This held especially true for the glass surfaces, which, assuming successful substitution of polycarbonate for glass, could make some unheard-of shapes possible. A transparent roof was to be part of the theme as well.
This was precisely the type of design we selected for the initial show car: bold in proportion, with a long hood and a compact, compressed passenger compartment. Glass on the doors actually followed the shape of the doors in a way that would have engineers scratching their heads for a way to actually make it work. Inside, the design theme was even more unusual, and while visually dramatic and appropriate for a show car, we knew it would never translate into production. The interior space was more or less dominated by a large rectangular tunnel that ran from the front of the passenger compartment all the way to the back seat, where it branched out, T-shaped, under both rear seats. The team had guessed fairly closely on the size of the individual battery cells and the overall configuration of the battery pack; that was one element of the show car that was destined to survive the massive reengineering as Volt headed for production.
By some miracle, the feverish work on the Volt show car remained largely hidden from the media during the final months of 2006, as the exotic machine came together. The battery, obviously, would remain a dummy: with no intent for production at this point, we obviously had neither selected a specific cell size and type, nor had we settled on a supplier. Volt was destined to make its appearance under battery power, yes, but they would be two twelve-volt car batteries, sufficient to move it on and off the stand at low speed. This later caused one journalist to publish an exposé (shock, horror!) to the effect that Volt was a fake. The power came from conventional batteries.This is, of course, standard practice for just about all concept cars at automobile shows, most of which are mere design exercises with no pretense at reality.
When the big day came at the Detroit show on January 7, 2007, the Volt was a sensation. As I stated in my semiprepared remarks before the assembled media corps from all major nations, the “inconvenient truth” (an unveiled reference to Al Gore’s Academy Award/Nobel Prize–winning fictiomentary) was that this unheard-of propulsion system, enabling 80 percent of America’s daily trips with no fossil fuel use whatsoever, the most technologically advanced vehicle on the planet, was from none other than General Motors. We received television, radio, Internet, and print coverage of record proportions, handily exceeding the previous high-water mark of the Chevrolet Camaro a year before. Volt was the star of the show, eclipsing anything and everything during the 2007 auto show season.
All of the initial coverage was totally favorable. But beloved Toyota Motor Company soon weighed in with strangely negative comments. They had, in fact, been caught flat-footed. To make matters worse, Toyota had selected the Detroit show for the full unveiling of the monstrously large, heavy, and fuel-addicted full-size Tundra pickup, with emphasis on a long-wheelbase, four-door crew cab with huge wheels and four-wheel drive. In short, their stand largely resembled what GM normally did: it emphasized the big V8 trucks!
Toyota immediately labeled Volt a clever but meaningless PR exercise, using a battery chemistry, lithium-ion, which was dangerous, unreliable, and far from ready for automotive use. How much sounder, they trumpeted, was their own homely little Prius using (now eclipsed) nickel metal hydride batteries in their “tried and true, patented, Toyota Synergy Drive” system. Soon after, Toyota invited the world