Chevrolet News:GM Launches Ad Campaign To Rebuild Volt's Confidence

[William Maley]

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

January 27, 2012

The Chevrolet Volt has been getting a lot of negative press over the past few months dealing with the fire that happened a month after a NHTSA crash test and ensuing investigation. Because of this, General Motors has launched a new ad campaign talking about how the safe the Volt is.

The campaign will include full-page ads in nineteen different U.S. newspapers including The New York Times, touting the safety of the Volt. Also, GM has a new television ad that calls the Volt "the car America had to build."

The launch of the ad campaign coincides with Wednesday's Volt Hearing in D.C.

Source: Bloomberg

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[67impss]

Just think if Old GM would have done that with the Corvair as progressive as it was maybe the Volt would have been the Corvolt

Edited January 28, 2012 by 67impss

[hyperv6]

It is nice to see a proactive GM.

Who knows this added marketing may just keep the marketing fresh on this car. I would love to see them include real owners and how they love their cars and advertise how much gas they used,

I saw Jay Leno uses his Volt daily since last spring and has only used a 1/2 tank of gas, It is the same tank the car was delivered fromt he dealer with.

[ocnblu]

Why should he walk to the mailbox?

[G. David Felt]

The VOLT is awesome and has been unfairly attacked. I am happy to see GM progressivly attacking the moron media.

[mark-petz.com]

I think the public has a very confused perception of the Volt. I work for a GM dealer and even I didnt really undetstand the facts about owning an Electric car. How many kwh does it take to charge the batteries? What does a Kwh cost me on my electrical bill? What would the per km operating costs be compared to a traditional gas vehicle.

Since my dealership has our first one coming in I decided to try and answer all of those questions and put it on my site.

http://mark-petz.com/volt.aspx

How to make sense out of everything Volt. Important Facts:

Efficiency:

-The volt is estimated to run approx 56 kms on a full charge

-After the charge runs out it can then travel up to 600 kms on a full tank.

-A full charge requires 12.9 kWh

-In Ontario 1 KWH of overnight charging costs 6.2 cents

Therefore it will cost .79 cents to fully charge the batteries and you could then travel up to 56 kms with no gasoline.

-That same trip in a Chevrolet Malibu would be $7.35

-That same trip in a Toyota Prius comes to $2.80

Costs:

-The Volts MSRP's range from $42,995 - $50,000

-The Ontario government offers a rebate of $8,231

-Financing and Leasing options are available

Charging:

-Charging with the optional 240V charger takes approx 4 hours

-Charging on a regular 120V outlet takes approx 12 hours

[Drew Dowdell]

Your kwh charge sounds a bit low. It sounds like you're only counting generation and not delivery charges and taxes. Your overall premise is right, but I think your calculations might be using rates that are too low.

[PurdueGuy]

Your kwh charge sounds a bit low. It sounds like you're only counting generation and not delivery charges and taxes. Your overall premise is right, but I think your calculations might be using rates that are too low.

Here in Idaho we pay 4-5 cents per kwh.

[Drew Dowdell]

Generation and delivery?

[smk4565]

They have been advertising the Volt a lot, especially during NCAA tournament. Seems like a lot of money to spend on a car that doesn't sell. And I know you need to advertise to sell a product, but I feel like GM keeps pumping money into the Volt trying to save it, when they could be advertising products that people actually buy.

[FAPTurbo]

They have been advertising the Volt a lot, especially during NCAA tournament. Seems like a lot of money to spend on a car that doesn't sell. And I know you need to advertise to sell a product, but I feel like GM keeps pumping money into the Volt trying to save it, when they could be advertising products that people actually buy.

I think the advertising serves two other purposes. One is to show up the 'Who Killed the Electric Car' nuts and people who have it in for GM. The other is to counteract the more recent assault on the Volt by the political right in America that (incorrectly) view the vehicle as some kind of machination of Obama's presidency.