Chevy Volt Less Than Electrifying

(MoneyWatch)  Awww.

Photos of the production version of the Chevrolet Volt leaked the other day, with versions appearing on thecarconnection.com and a number of other sites. Based on the pictures, it's a disappointment, compared with the concept car.

Based on the leaked photos, the production version bears a family resemblance to other middle-of-the-road GM cars. It's not bad-looking, but it lacks the pizzazz of the futuristic concept car, which seemed to combine "sporty" and "ecological," two terms you don't see together very much, this side of a Tesla Roadster, which sells for $109,000. Presumably, that's a heck of a lot more than the Chevrolet, which likely goes on sale next year.

The Volt is a plug-in hybrid, which means its gets a greater range than today's hybrids because you can re-charge it with ordinary household current. Other hybrids, like the Toyota Prius, use their onboard, internal-combustion engines to recharge their batteries.

However, the Volt looks like less of a rolling billboard for GM, or more importantly, for its "green"-minded customers. A Toyota Prius makes an unmistakable statement, even if it's a bit of a nerdy statement. It can't be mistaken for anything else on the road. But the Volt could hide in a crowd. It's possible that it has more curb appeal in person than it does in the pictures.

I'm usually pretty forgiving of styling, unless something is as horrendous as the Pontiac Aztek. I understand the trade-offs between a sexy but impractical concept car, versus a build-able, feasible production car that shares parts from the corporate parts bin. But the Volt really is a letdown versus the concept car.

The guys at a Los Angeles Times blog put it this way: "Hear that? It's the sound of an underwhelmed army of car geeks, trying to hide their disappointment about the looks of the long-awaited production Chevrolet Volt."

I've been harping for a while now about GM selectively leaking sneak peeks, and bits and pieces of future products like the Volt, to pique interest, to demonstrate that GM is more on the ball than they are given credit for, and maybe as an inadvertent sign that the company is getting a little desperate for some recognition. By the way, these latest pictures seem to be a genuine goof, not leaked accidentally-on-purpose, but you never know.

Having seen the pictures, the bits and pieces of the Volt were better-looking than the whole.