Volt could go to trend-setters first

Volt could go to trend-setters first

General Motors Corp. executives are discussing launching the Chevrolet Volt first in politically important and trend-setting markets on the coasts when the vehicle makes it to market in late 2010.

Vice Chairman Bob Lutz told the Free Press by e-mail Monday that the early plan for distribution of the Chevrolet Volt is to begin with California, followed by Washington, D.C.; Florida; New York and elsewhere on the East Coast.

"Of course, that's only current thinking, and the plans could change" as the electric-drive car is still more than two years away, Lutz said.

The Volt, introduced as a concept car in Detroit in January 2007, is expected to get 40 miles of range from an overnight plug-in charge, followed by more than 400 miles using a gasoline generator to charge the battery.

The concept has caught the imaginations of thousands of citizens otherwise unrelated to GM, including Lyle Dennis, a neurosurgeon inspired to launch the Web site

shortly after the concept vehicle was first shown.

Dennis posted Friday what he labeled a spy photo of a 1/3 -scale version of the Volt camouflaged in masking tape, and a poor-quality illicit photo of the vehicle's front cockpit. The photo of the scale model was legitimately shot by WWJ-AM (950) reporter Jeff Gilbert.

Still, it gives some hints to changes to the vehicle's design, including the rounding of the front end and sharper corners in the rear to make the vehicle more aerodynamic.