Ahead Of Its Rumored Death, Chevrolet Volt In For Freshening This Year
46
Sponsored Links
The Chevrolet Volt may not be around for many moons to come, but the brand will reportedly execute a refresh for the plug-in hybrid this year. Automotive News reported on Monday that the Volt will be one of three Chevys in for a refresh.
If true, the Volt will join the 2019 Chevrolet Malibu and 2019 Chevrolet Colorado as another refreshed vehicle coming this year. The second-generation Volt, unveiled for the 2016 model year, has soldiered on with few changes since its introduction. The 2018 Chevrolet Bolt EV has also begun to overshadow its green-car credentials. When it comes to a plug-in versus a full battery-electric car, consumers are beginning to choose the latter with regards to the Volt and Bolt EV.
Previous reports indicated the Volt will die in 2022 to make way for General Motors’ sweeping electric-car strategy. The automaker plans for 20 new electric cars by 2023. However, an earlier report suggested the Volt may die in its body style only; the car could become a plug-in crossover instead.
- Sweepstakes Of The Month: Win a 2023 Corvette Z06 Convertible. Details here.
Sponsored Links
2017 Volt is absolutely one of my favorite cars I’ve owned. We’re a family of three, with a 5 year old, and coming from a Jaguar XFS. Loved the Jaguar and was prepared for a huge downgrade in Performance to save some money on gas, and most of our driving is around town where 420hp doesn’t make a GREAT deal of sense. Sure was fun though.
Actually driving the Volt was jaw dropping. Especially after driving the Fusion Energi. It’s quick and fun and accelerates like a freight train, and all on electric. Fit and finish is excellent. We’ve had it for a year and a half, and are on our third tank of gas. That’s just over 8000 miles, and less than 600 on gas.
Not to mention, the lease on one, with a 10k tradein, is about $100 a month. I save more than that on gas.
It’s a small car, but bigger than the XF on the inside, which is in the 5 series BMW market. With the hatch and fold down rear seat, I’ve hauled 18 boxes of ceramic floor tile WITH my wife and daughter in the car.
Yes it’s a car, so I’m not the coolest soccer mom (dad) at the Elementary school, but I’m enjoying my drive a lot more than they are, laughing all the way to the bank and beating them there by a mile.
I live my 2013 Volt! I drive from LA to San Francisco in comfort, quiet and can haul most anything I need. Do that in a Prius or Bolt. Even my Tesla friends lament the time spent charging. GM mongers to do better informing the public about this great car
My sentiments exactly concerning GM marketing. Generation 1 Volts were revolutionary in several ways:
1. Wheels driven by electric motors 100% of the time (with one very small exception)
2. Battery energy management that puts as #1 the health of the battery. For instance, some mornings the firmware makes the decision that the motor/generator should provide the power instead of the battery due to outside temperature. Since the battery is flooded with circulating coolant it waits till the battery is within the safe temperature range for operation. I’m impressed.
3. The car is aptly described as a full time electric vehicle which happens to have a range extending gasoline engine that charges the battery but does not drive the wheels (with one very small exception that in itself is a engineering marvel).
I would safely conjecture, under normal driving conditions, that I can drive from New York to LA faster than a Tesla with no range anxiety. I can make my stops with the same freedom of any other ICE auto and use little or no gasoline when driving locally. I know this is an apples/oranges comparison but fun nevertheless.
I have a Siemens 240 volt charger that lets me schedule charging. This allows me to charge late at night during minimum KWH rates. I feel like i am beating the “Man” at his own game. In reality it is just a “feeling” but I enjoy it.
Congratulations on a lucid, logical and compelling review if you EV with range extender technology. No wonder the Volt is high on sales in the USA! It does two things very well, driving electric and thrifty as to gasoline. Sadly a “brain damaged” typical US citizen must have a 4X4 SUV that never is used in “sport” and drives FWD or RWD 99.999999% of the time and averages 20 mpg. Since GM is a for profit car maker the plan is to use the Volt platform on an SUV or CUV body that will create a higher profit, perhaps to minimize the huge losses of the ill fated Cadillac/Volt ELR. Thanks.
The Volt is NOT high on sales, it continues to decline year after year…The best selling CUV is the Honda CR-V, even with AWD it gets 27mpg city and 33mpg highway…Regardless if it’s a placebo affect or not, people FEEL safer in them…
There was a rumored PHEV Buick CUV and the FNR-X concept yet when GM announced their electrication plan, 20 EVs by 2023 with two coming out in the next 18 months (one is confirmed to be a FWD only subcompact Buick Encore w/Bolt EV gear), there was no mention of PHEVs…Do you have other information?
I bought a new 2014 Volt and put 47K miles on it. The best car I had ever owned !! (And I had owned 19 at that point!)
I sold it 1 year ago, reluctantly, but only so I could buy a nearly new 2016 Cadillac ELR w/ only 5K miles on it (now it has 23K miles, 81% electric). I was completely smitten by the whole ELR concept. Since I never need a back seat, the ELR is so much more luxurious and cooler than the Volt, with noticeably better performance (vs the Gen 1 Volt), so now the ELR is the best car I’ve ever owned!
I love the Voltec drive train, and hope GM keeps putting innovative products like these out there, so I can continue to drive American electric as my daily driver! (I grew up in Detroit, where all the Volts/ELR’s were made in Hamtramck). At current ann. miles driven, if I have 90K miles on the ELR when they are ready to discontinue the Volt in 2022, I will buy one of the last ones, and proudly display my ’16 ELR (they only ever made 537 of them in 2016) along with my 2022 Volt, my 2015 Chevy SS L3 6 speed (OK, it’s Australian!) and my 1968 GTO in my personal car collection/ hall of fame.
Ive been trying to buy a Volt for 5 months, but Henry Ford has evidently possessed GM styling and they dont make any without a black interior (they list 2 other colors; but they dont actually make any), which feels claustrophobic to me in a very small compartment like the Volt.