By Christina Rogers; The Detroit News ~ Oct 10, 2010

Chevrolet formally introduced the 2011 Volt to the press today, releasing for the first time some new information about the car’s power train, trim levels and battery technology, and offering a detailed look at what customers might get when the vehicle goes on sale later this year.

While General Motors Co. has been hyping the car since its auto show debut in 2007, it will begin its media roll out this week with some 150 journalists, auto industry analysts and bloggers arriving in Metro Detroit today for their first spins in the car.

“The Chevrolet Volt can be the only car you own,” said Mark Reuss, president of GM North America, in a statement. “The Volt delivers it all: a revolutionary propulsion system, progressive styling, industry-leading safety, premium amenities and user-friendly technologies, and spirited driving dynamics.”

GM describes the Volt as a five-door, four-passenger sports sedan.

The $41,000 plug-in vehicle, which is equipped with both a 16-kilowatt hour battery and range-extending gasoline engine, will come with a standard trim level and two optional packages — a premium version and one with rear camera and parking assistance technology. Volt buyers also will get five years of GM’s OnStar service, which includes automatic crash response and theft protection.

The car will have a top speed of 100 mph and go zero to 60 mph in less than nine seconds, the automaker said. Its electric-gas propulsion system, which GM is marketing under the name Voltec, offers a low speed torque of 273 lb.-ft.

GM insists the Volt differs from other hybrid vehicles, in that the car can travel 25 to 50 miles powered solely off the electric battery. Once the battery is mostly depleted, a 1.4L engine kicks in adding 310 miles to its range. The battery comes with an eight year, 100,000 mile warranty and has undergone more than one million miles of validation testing since 2007, GM said.

The Volt battery pack consists of 288 cells arranged in a 5.5-foot long, T-shape configuration weighing 435 pounds, which will be manufactured in Brownstown Township. GM engineered and designed ninety-five percent of the 161 battery components.

In addition to the battery warranty, GM is offering three-year, 36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper coverage and roadside assistance for up to 5 years or 100,000 miles.

The Volt will come in six exterior colors including silver, black, gray, red and white. The interior will include two, full-color screens — one of them a touch display, a Bose audio system and a 30-gigabyte hard-drive for storing music.

In addition to revealing new details about the Volt, GM also said today it has invested more than $700 million in eight Michigan plants to manufacture the car and its components. The automaker will begin building Volts for the retail market in mid November.

Included in those investments: $336 million at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant where GM will assemble the Volt $43 million at Brownstown Battery Assembly, where it will make battery packs for the car $202 million at Flint Engine South where it will build the Volt’s 1.4L engine and a 1.4L turbocharged engine for the Chevrolet Cruze.

Additionally, GM’s battery cell supplier LG Chem and subsidiary Compact Power, have begun construction on a $304-million battery plant in Holland, Mich.

The first Volt reviews could start popping up on air and online as soon as today. NBC’s Today Show is expected to run a Volt review Monday morning.

“This is a coming out party,” said Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of the Green Car Journal and editor of GreenCar.com. “So much focus has been directed at the Volt. This an extraordinarily high-profile launch.”

GM, however, has hardly kept the Volt a secret. It’s displayed the car at industry events and prominently featured it in press material. For months, GM workers have been driving the Volt — with little or no camouflage - around Metro Detroit as part of a 250-vehicle test fleet.

But the Detroit automaker is now turning up the volume ahead of the car’s arrival in dealerships later this year.

“This is the beginning of a bigger approach to reach out to the customer,” said GM spokesman Rob Peterson.

For the media, the two-day program includes a chance to drive the car on area roadways, a visit to GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant where the cars are built and a tour of the Warren tech center.

The group will include journalists, bloggers and auto industry analysts from across the country, and some from Europe. They’ll arrive in waves over the next 10 days.

GM hopes to get the Volt into the hands of would-be buyers, as well.

Last week, it kicked off a series of events on the west coast, which give customers a chance to try out the Volt at home and on roadways, Peterson said.

The auto company also is a major sponsor at the Business of Plugging-In conference this week in downtown Detroit. The conference focuses on vehicle electrification.

“A lot is resting on this,” said Cogan, who is sending one of his staff members to the drive event this week.

“GM has clearly thrown everything it has at the Volt program and it shows.”

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