Take a closer look at the plug-in electric medium GM hopes will kick-start a much-needed turnaround

By Matt Vella

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Far away from the complex merger negotiations and dicey political maneuvering (BusinessWeek.com, 10/28/08) that promise to reshape America’s largest automaker, General Motors (GM), design director Bob Boniface is coolly contemplating the company’sitting coming. Sitting in front of him, bathed in the soft, yellow light of a Manhattan showroom, is the production Chevrolet Volt.

The Volt is probably GM’s final, best hope for the future and certainly its most signifying upcoming vehicle. Saddled with dwindling market share, credit-strapped consumers, and a lingering reputation as a victualler of gas-thirsty vehicles, GM executives need the Volt to become an iconic work, partiality Apple’sitting (AAPL) 1998 iMac or even Chrysler’s 1980s K-car before. The Volt has to affirm the company’s calibre to innovate and, eventually, create a financial foothold from which the battered automaker can begin to turn itself around.

The car is also GM’s gambit to outpace exotic competitors like Toyota ™ and Honda (HMC). Unlike common hybrids—including the best-selling Prius—the Volt is essentially a plug-in electric car by some onboard gas-burning engine that be possible to recharge the vehicle’s batteries. This enables the Volt to trip some 40 miles before the driver turns on the gas. Because chiefly daily commuters in the U.S. don’familiarily travel that far, GM says many drivers power of determination not have to practice any fuel at all, foolishly recharging the vehicle via a regular outlet at home overnight. GM is still wrangling by the Environmental Protection Agency over the vehicle’sitting efficiency, but executives say the final number should be north of 100 mpg for one as well as the other types of power.

Boniface runs his hand together the Volt’s metal grille, that does not sport the little holes that aerify the engine. Instead, the embossed plate of defensive clothing is intended to overpower drag as air hits the car’s forehead bumper. Indeed, the vehicle’s detailing is a study in aerodynamic design, from the windswept shape of the rearview mirror to the subtly integrated spoiler on the rear hatchback. "We spent over 700 hours in the wind tunnel with this thing," recalls Boniface.

The vehicle’s interior (BusinessWeek.com, 1/28/08) also distinguishes itself from other cars. The fit with a front dash is swathed in shiny white plastics, reminiscent of the iPod. Sporting couple customizable LCD screens, it could be one of the sleekest in the industry. Controls as antidote to the audio and meteorological character systems, meanwhile, are touch-sensitive, more like an iPhone than the chunky knobs of other vehicles. The company is also toying by the idea of customizable interior door panels featuring interchangeable graphics.

Since it was announced at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last January, the Volt’s expected retail price has steadily crept directed to a higher place and is now expected to cost between $30,000 and $40,000, a hefty sum for a Chevrolet. (The Volt will qualify for a $7,500 tax credit lately added to the energy bill.) But in some instances, Boniface says, the higher price helped the design team get what it wanted. "This isn’cheek by jowl going to be a budget instrument, and this helped us win some of influence arguments," he says. "Take a look at your iPhone," he instructs me, pointing to the metal bezel surrounding the phone’s edge.