The Polk Blog

Ads for the Chevrolet Volt are now appearing in the media in the New York metropolitan area, one of the metro markets that will be among the first to receive the Volt. The launch of the Volt reminds me of what Vice-President Biden whispered to President Obama when Obama was signing the historic new health care bill: "This is a big deal." (Actually, Biden also included a colorful adjective that can't be used in the normal media.) The Volt launch is a big deal. One reason for this is that GM has been playing up the Volt for such a long time: the first Volt concept vehicle was displayed at the 2007 North American International Auto Show more than three years ago, and the first pre-production Volt using the current design was built in June 2009.

To me the Volt launch represents a fork in the road for GM. On the one hand, it is a huge opportunity for GM to improve its standing in the eyes of the American consumer, as well as to strengthen the Chevrolet Division. A successful launch of the Volt would enable GM to leapfrog over its Japanese and domestic rivals and be perceived as one of the industry's most "green" car companies; a successful launch would also put further behind GM its bankruptcy and associated other troublesome occurrences of 2009 (including the disappearance of half its brands); lastly, a successful Volt launch would bring many benefits to the Chevrolet Division, including an enhanced image and greater dealership floor traffic that would parlay into increased sales of other Chevrolet products. Greater floor traffic at Chevy stores would benefit the launch of the important, all-new Cruze compact sedan. While production of the Volt will be severely limited in the near term, Chevrolet can and wants to build and sell as many Cruzes as the market will bear.

On the other side of the coin, if the Volt launch has significant glitches that make their way into the media, GM and Chevrolet's images will be hurt substantially, particularly since both organizations are currently somewhat fragile after the difficult past two years or so. A bumpy launch will probably spur discussion of the EV1 over 10 years ago and that vehicle's travails.

GM needs to get this one right. It's a big deal.   

Posted by Tom LIbby, PolkInsight Advisor, Polk (07.22.2010)