Everyone’s favorite blowhard talk radio host tore into the Chevrolet Volt, criticizing it as a product that “nobody wants”. Rush Limbaugh, the infamous talk radio host, mocked General Motors as “Obama Motors” and criticized its range as well as its $41,000 sticker price.

Limbaugh criticized the $7,500 tax credit offered by the government, stating that “Obama and the government are admitting nobody wants this.” Limbaugh also erroneously referred to the Volt as being capable of only running on electrical power for 40 miles, ignoring or omitting the fact that it has a traditional gasoline engine that will enable it to operate once the battery is exhausted.

“That 40-mile range has to include you getting home, and staying home three to four hours to charge the thing,” Limbaugh said. “It’s (a) 20-mile range.”

Limbaugh also admitted to taking advertising money from GM when they were being bailed out by the federal government.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

The Truth About Cars appears to have dug up an interest but troubling fact about the new Chevrolet Volt; it requires premium gasoline.

Despite being able to go 40 miles without consuming a drop of gasoline, Chevrolet’s environmental savior plug-in hybrid needs the top shelf dino juice for some inexplicable reason, despite the fact that its “gas engine “range extender is a wimpy 1.4L four-cylinder engine putting out 80 horsepower. The Volt’s $41,000 pricetag and requirement for premium fuel are shaping up to be  a couple of big strikes against a very promising product.

[Source: The Truth About Cars]

General Motors’ Australian Holden brand remains the choice of hooligans down under, as police in the Australian state of Victoria announced that 46% of cars impounded under their “hoon” laws. Ford is the second most popular with 16.7% of the impound share, while Nissan is third with 7.8%.

Holden’s Commodore has been Australia’s best-selling vehicle for decades, and the rear-drive chassis and plentiful supply of turbo six-cylinder or General Motors V8s means that cheap, powerful Holdens are easily affordable for young Australian enthusiasts.

Australian police have taken to crushing vehicles confiscated in cases of reckless driving if they are deemed “unsafe”. One police officer cited a vehicle without “ABS brakes and airbags” stating “I cannot, in good conscience, send that vehicle back into the community.” Many older Commodores (such as the VL series pictured above) did not come with these features, but remain immensely popular with young gearheads.

Despite their old-school muscle car flavor, North Americans stayed away from the two Holden models sold in North America, the 2003-2006 Pontiac GTO (based off the Holden Monaro) and the 2008-2009 Pontiac G8 (a rebadged Commodore SS).

[Source: Drive.com.au]

Shortly after announcing the pricing and specs for the Chevrolet Volt, General Motors has put a Youtube video up on the video sharing site touting the features and benefits of GM’s new plug-in hybrid. We’ll spare you a recap of the video but we’ve embedded it into the post below the jump. You can already guess what it’s going to say based on the screenshot.

[Source: Youtube]

General Motors has announced that their Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid will be priced at $41,000 when it goes on sale later in November 2010. The Volt is also entitled to a $7,500 tax credit given to buyers of electric vehicles, which brings the price down to $33,500. The MSRP includes a $720 destination charge. Fully loaded, the Volt will cost $44,600, or $37,100 with the tax credit.

Customers can also lease the Volt for $350 per month with $2500 down payment. The lease lasts 36 months. Dealers in California, Washington DC, Michigan, Texas and New York will be taking orders starting today, with delivery expected in November, 2010. The Nissan Leaf, the Volt’s main competitor, has the same monthly lease payment but requires only a $2,000 down payment.

With standard features like Bluetooth connectivity, a hard-drive based audio system and a navigation system, a backup camera, leather interior and rear parking sensors the Volt can be had with some fairly premium equipment. We’ll have ours in the pun-tastic Viridian Joule Tricoat.

General Motors just sent us this sparse press release to let us know that Chevrolet Volt pricing is being announced tomorrow at 12 noon EST. We know that the government will be chipping in with a $7,500 tax credit if you buy a Volt, but beyond that, it’s anybodies guess as to how much it will cost.

We’d love to hear what you think the Volt will be priced at. Leave your guess in the comments and see if you beat Autoguide’s prediction of $29,999 after the credit. The winner gets a smug sense of self-satisfaction.

[Source: General Motors]

Hit the jump to read the official press release

PRESS RELEASE:

MEDIA ADVISORY: Chevrolet to Provide Details on Volt Pricing, Ordering Process
2010-07-26

DETROIT – On Tues., July 27 at 12:00 p.m. ET, Joel Ewanick, vice president of U.S. marketing – General Motors Co., will announce pricing and ordering details for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt at the Plug-In 2010 conference in San Jose, Calif. Deliveries of the Volt will begin later this year at participating Chevrolet dealers in launch markets.

A press release providing full details on the order process and pricing will go live on media.gm.com at 12:00 p.m. ET.

Before Chevrolet’s Cruze compact sedan has even launched in Canada or the United States, the automaker has already sold 340,000 units across the globe.

With the vehicle already on sale in Chevrolet has already moved 270,000 units in Latin America and Europe, and another 70,000 units in Australia and South Korea, where the car is badged as a Holden and Daewoo respectively.

In North America, GM delayed the Cruze repeatedly, taking another 18 months to bring it to market. While no explanation has been given, the Cruze is perhaps GM’s most vital product moving forward (more so than even the Volt), and nailing every aspect of the car is likely a reason for the hold up.

Stay tuned for Autoguide’s first drive of the Chevrolet Cruze coming soon.

[Source: Left Lane News]

The 2011 Ford Mustang has upped the game with its superior driving dynamics, and the Dodge Challenger is getting more power this year to go along with its ultra-faithful retro styling. Not willing to be left behind, Chevrolet is readying the most extreme Camaro yet, the 2012 Z28.

Powered by the 6.2L Supercharged V8 used in the Cadillac CTS-V and Chevrolet Corvette ZR1. GM somehow felt it wise to affix a label to the dash stating that this engine, along with a six-speed automatic, was present in the test car, giving us good reason to suspect the Z28 features the 556-horsepower LSA engine rather than the 620 horsepower LS9 engine, but you won’t hear us complaining. The LSA is available with either the automatic or a 6-speed manual, whereas the Mustang Shelby  GT500 offers only a stick.

Expect the appropriate chassis upgrades, as well as the visible big brakes, 20″ wheels and quad exhaust pipes as standard on the Z28. Chevy knows their competition well, and has to make sure that the Z28 will eat the GT500 and SRT-8 Challenger alive if they want to compete in this ultra-competitive segment.

[Source: Camaro5]

With all the talk of environmental concerns, energy dependence and air quality these days, many commercial fleet operators are looking to alternative solutions to power their vehicles and perhaps save a bit of money in the process. In North America, one of the cheapest and certainly most practical alternatives has been Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). Taxi fleets have been using CNG fueled cars for years and increasingly other segments of the commercial vehicle sector are adopting it, including those that rely on pickups and vans for delivery or contract work.

However, many conversions were traditionally handled, not by the automakers, but outside contractors, which could potentially result in quality and reliability issues, not to mention the fact that such vehicles weren’t backed by the manufacturer’s warranty. However, General Motors is changing all that by performing CNG conversions on it’s full-size vans, the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana in-house.

The vans will be covered by GM’s standard three-year, 36,000 mile  new vehicle warranty and a 100,000 mile, five-year powertrain warranty. In addition, with the CNG conversion, the vans will meet all required CARB, EPA smog requirements as well as federal vehicle safety standards, much like their regular gasoline engined counterparts.

“Our focus from the beginning has been to offer fleet customers a simple ‘check the box’ approach with our CNG Chevrolet Express and Savana vans,” declared Brian Small, general manager, GM Fleet and Commercial Operations.  “Our robust production process is a key enabler and certainly separates us from any competitive offering.”

GM will manufacturer 6.0-liter Vortech V8s for the CNG vans with hardened valves and seats to cope with the gaseous fuel, which will be shipped to the Wentzville, Missouri plant where the vans are built and installed into them, directly on the assembly line.

Part of making effective use of an alternative fuel such as CNG, is being able to successfully store and distribute it and for that, GM has teamed up with Productive Concepts, an Indiana based alternative fuels company, who will also be involved in the engine manufacturing process and helping ensure the required emissions standards are met.

A former GM employee and her husband have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Detroit in an industrial spying case. Ex-GM worker Shanshan Du and her husband Yu Qin are accused of photocopying thousands of documents relating to hybrid vehicle technology.

Prosecutors allege that the couple attempted to pass the documents on to a Chinese company, but destroyed the documents once an investigation began. The two are scheduled to appear in court today.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]