Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
James Delingpole ·
March 22, 2012 at 11:02am
Apologies if you've seen this already. But this inspirational ad leaves you in no doubt as to why the Chevy Volt is the greatest automobile in US history. (H/T David Arnold)
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Dec '10
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
Thanx for brightening my morning James!
Sep '10
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
I think it's a mistake for conservatives to continually heap scorn on the Volt. Yes, it's subsidized. So was the Concorde. Would you have turned down a chance to fly on the Concorde? Gas is $3.79 where I live, and electricity is cheap. Electric cars are quiet and clean. Can't we think of something better to criticize? Or are the optics of GM bailout/ poor sales/ appeal to Whole Foods shoppers just to much of an empty rhetorical net for "conservative" pundits to ignore?
Something tells me Hayek would have found bigger fish to fry than the Volt in times like these. I know where James is coming from, and he's an inspiration for me on the subject of the tyranny of the eco-cult. And yes, the USG wasted money on the GM bailout. Consensus all around. But the money's spent, and here we are left this product which is actually kind of amazing, in my opinion. I'm saving for the Cadillac version (ELR).
Let's leave it to the left to throw out babies with the bath water.
Sep '10
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
The Volt costs about $40,000. The Chevy Cruz (gas version) costs about half as much and gets over 30 mpg. Cue the Jeopardy theme music while I decide which car makes more sense.
Dec '10
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
Gotta come down on Mark's side on this.
The reasons we scorn and ridicule the Volt are:
Other than that, it's a great car!
Feb '11
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
James, this was hilarious. I think some people dislike the Volt being mocked because it seems like such a small part of crony capitalism, but, sometimes it is the smallest of things that are the most persuasive (e.g., "The Bridge to Nowhere", etch-a-sketch, etc.).
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
@christian rishel I think you're being too generous to the Chevy Volt in particular and the Obama administration and crony capitalism in general. As for Hayek, Hayek - and Von Mises - are turning in their graves over this grotesque misallocation of resources. Here's where I set out the case against General Motors and near the bottom you'll find a link to a Dollar Vigilante article spelling out exactly why the Chevy Volt is a crime against economics, decency and the taxpayer.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100142896/general-motors-the-unacceptable-face-of-corporatism/
Feb '12
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
I think that this technology is vital to our future and it would work, if not for the pervasive influence of the Stonecutters.
Mar '11
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
This is the key to beating Obama: mockery!
Nov '11
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
Obama should decree (I mean mandate) that all cities over, say, a million people (or just LA and NYC) ban all autos except electric. Problem solved, meaning it would be very funny to watch. I've always wondered why the rest of the country have to give up their trucks & SUVs because of pollution in the mega-cities.
May '10
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
I don't care how slick the ads are - I'm just not ready to trade in my Trabant.
Sep '10
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
James, thanks for your response and for the quote/link. I've read your excerpt and will read the Dollar Vigilante article when I have a bit more time.
I think perhaps you misunderstand my point. I don't favor the bailout; I share the concern about misallocation of resources and malinvestment. The bailout was bad policy, and the Volt is a handy symbol of that bad policy. Complete alignment, I think.
Where I think we conservatives put ourselves at risk is maligning the car itself. It's futuristic. It's different. If you prize quiet and cleanliness (as I do for aesthetic, not political/eco-extremist, reasons), it's an interesting car.
There are 3 basic marketing archetypes: appeal to fear, "me too," and aspirational. The left overweights "me too," applying peer pressure instead of logic. The right overweights appeal to fear. This is why Fox News is sustained by ads for gold brokers.
The young do not respond to appeals to fear. As conservatives, we need to find a way to speak to the dreams of voters. For some, it's having a futuristic car. Was Apollo a malinvestment? Maybe. But it wasn't a comical mistake.
Jul '10
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
I'm holding out for a tribrid.
I understand that sticking a sail atop a car is a particularly promising innovation in the great plains states. Just pop her in neutral, & make sure you keep some lime juice on hand for the commute.
Apr '11
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
Everybody's down on the Volt, but it's the only viable electric car on the market.
And where was this outcry when mini-vans started polluting the highways?
Apr '11
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
I wonder how long it would take for their power grid to collapse plugging in all those new electric cars?
Could the power grid of any major city handle the load if just 10% of its population switched over?
Are we mining more coal to meet the coming increase in demand of coal fired power plants?
Are their a number of new nuclear power plants coming on line to meet the increase demand in electricity?
Sep '10
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
It is a toy for the upper class. The subsidies are not merely a misallocation of resources, they are a perverse form of regressive redistribution.
Dec '10
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
Felix: Everybody's down on the Volt, but it's the only viable electric car on the market.
And where was this outcry when mini-vans started polluting the highways? · 34 minutes ago
It's not an electric car - it is a glorified hybrid. It's range on electricity only is half that of the Nissan Leaf. So it's neither an electric car nor is it viable.
And comparing it to min-vans is a specious argument.
Nov '11
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
Give Me Liberty
I wonder how long it would take for their power grid to collapse plugging in all those new electric cars?
Could the power grid of any major city handle the load if just 10% of its population switched over?
When it reaches 40 below or more where I live everyone wants to plug in their vehicle (or run it every few hours or it won't start until it warms up to -20). I remember a cold snap we had and everyone was trying to plug in where I worked, and the power kept going out, so we'd all run out and unplug. Come to think of it, I am sure there is some OSHA rule about all those extension cords...Otherwise, exactly my point and Californians will never give up their cars.
Edited on March 22, 2012 at 5:45pmMay '11
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
I am adamantly opposed to these sort of subsidies but I enjoy the free golf cart that the government gave me in 2009.
Edited on March 22, 2012 at 6:01pmApr '11
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
The Great Adventure!
Felix: Everybody's down on the Volt, but it's the only viable electric car on the market.
And where was this outcry when mini-vans started polluting the highways? · 34 minutes ago
It's not an electric car - it is a glorified hybrid. It's range on electricity only is half that of the Nissan Leaf. So it's neither an electric car nor is it viable.
And comparing it to min-vans is a specious argument. · 19 minutes ago
I didn't compare it to mini-vans. I compared the reaction of people to the Volt to the non-reaction of people to mini-vans. If people are going to criticize each others automobile choices, let's be consistent.
And the Volt actually has 3-4 times the range of the Leaf, it's just not all based on electricity. I think GM is smarter developing a car that can actually get you where you're going and use electricity, as opposed to a car that only uses electricity but that may conk out half-way to where ever.
Apr '11
Re: Why you should invest in a Chevy Volt
I forgot to add that the Volt doesn't require 8 hours of charge time to get going either.