When it launches, the Chevrolet Volt is poised to become the next Toyota Prius, the poster boy for environmentally responsible motoring. And while it might be what mother earth and the Obama Administration want, you can be sure it's not what the 77-year-old Camaro-loving head of GM's marketing department wants. No, Bob Lutz wants high performance vehicles and is prepared to deliver them as long as there's demand.
Lutz has even gone so far as to explicitly state that a high-performance version of the Volt plug-in hybrid is not out of the question. In an interview with Fox News, Lutz was asked if Chevy might build a Volt SS. Lutz replied: “I would not discount that as a possibility."
The reality of building a high performance Volt is actually very real, with the trade-off being less impressive fuel economy and range. Currently many manufacturers use conventional hybrid systems to deliver the performance of a larger engine with the fuel economy of a smaller one. One absurd example is BMW's X6 ActiveHybrid that makes 480-hp and gets 24 mpg.
That being said, it's more likely that a high-performance version of the Voltec powertain would be offered in the Cadillac Converj coupe, which was recently reported to be heading for production.
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Report: Don't Rule Out High-Performance Volt SS says GM Marketing Boss Bob Lutz on AutoGuide.com
Report: Don't Rule Out High-Performance Volt SS says GM Marketing Boss Bob Lutz
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