Volt still on target for 2010

Every now and then, you get the impression that Bob Lutz and Rick Wagoner don’t often compare notes.
 
This past Thursday, General Motors Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner told the press that the Chevy Volt couldn’t be guaranteed for 2010. 
 
But today, in a posting on GM’s FastLane blog, Vice-Chairman Robert Lutz says the company is “holding tight” to the 2010 target date. 
 
Perhaps there is no more to this than a difference in emphasis. The two comments are not actually inconsistent with one another.
 
But there does seem to be a difference in tone, one of can-do optimism from Lutz vs. one of hedging from Wagoner.
 
Coming from the two top executives of the company, the difference is startling. Presumably, both know the same facts and have the same information about the company’s progress and plans, on the Volt and everything else.
 
General Motors has a lot riding on the Volt, and not just in terms of money. 
 
If they are able to produce the car in volume and it works as advertised, the Volt will do more to dispel GM’s stumblebum image than anything else the company possibly could do. Moreover, it will give the company a level of technological credibility that will make Chevrolet an American hero. Americans have become used to having foreign companies do it first, or do it better, or both. Building the Volt isn’t just building a car. It’s building a car that Toyota knows it cannot build. If GM pulls it off, it won’t matter how many cars Toyota sells in a year. The Prius will be yesterday’s news, and the Volt will be the focus of everyone’s attention.
 
Don’t think for a spilt second that GM’s not committed to the Volt, despite Mr. Wagoner’s apparent ambivalence. Hybrid technology is where GM is going in the future, and the Volt is a way of establishing GM’s image in the public’s perception as the hybrid technology leader.
 
That is, it will if GM pulls it off and introduces it, ready to go, in 2010.