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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Post-Crash Index-Moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (24765)	6/8/2011 1:28:26 PM
From: John Koligman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 119360

Try and get one for list, or for that matter at all <gggg>. Just as with the Vette being offered with 8k-10k discounts, the Volt is being gouged, so pricing is similar even with the tax credit. When the credits go away these will be a tough sell to the masses until the battery tech gets way cheaper. Regards, John PS - And ya better hope the software guys didn't make too many mistakes on this one... Chevy Volt has 10 MILLION LINES OF CODE, more than a Boeing 787 ... Jan 22, 2011 ... General Motors’ Volt—the electric car that could redefine the company—is about to hit the road and now details about its engineering innards are starting to emerge. Make no mistake about it. The Volt is more software and CODE than anything else. The car, which GM hopes will give it an edge on rivals, has 100 electronic controllers, 10 MILLION LINES OF software CODE and its own IP address. A car in the 1980s was roughly 5 percent electronics. The Chevy Volt is 40 percent. GM likens the product development for the Volt to a rocket program. On Monday, IBM and GM outlined Big Blue’s role in the engineering OF the Volt. In a nutshell, GM used IBM’s Rational software to design and test the Volt in its 29 months OF gestation. IBM got into the automotive design industry two years ago via its acquisition OF Telelogic. GM used that technology to develop its cars. With IBM tools, GM developed its algorithms as well as overall tool chain. Meg Selfe, director OF embedded systems at IBM, said Big Blue worked closely with GM engineers to develop processes and lend engineering expertise. IBM’s efforts with GM were a separate engagement from its outsourcing deal with the automaker. Self said the partnership on the Volt wasn’t about information technology. The collaboration was all about engineering and embedded systems. IBM helped GM standardize its vehicle design on fewer software tools and used its supercomputers to test Volt battery packs and its 161 components in various conditions. Micky Bly, GM’s executive director OF electrical systems, hybrid electric vehicles, batteries and OnStar engineering, said that the automaker had to transform its DNA to a “software centric platform.” “We can safely say that there’s a 40 percent to 60 percent increase in software CODE relative to another car,” said Bly. Everything from the thermal management OF the lithium battery to make it last eight to 10 years to controls for motors to apps to unlock the Volt all depend on software. IBM’s simulation tools allowed GM to speed up the development time so the project stayed on target even as the automaker worked its way through bankruptcy. In many respects, the Volt is a system OF systems and a massive integration project. GM’s engineering challenge is to hide the Volt’s complexity so the driver just has a fun experience. Bly said that GM’s differentiators will come from the technology behind batteries, motors and controls. The rub: You won’t notice those items unless something goes wrong. GM is hoping Volt owners won’t ever need to delve into the software behind the car.

To: tejek who wrote (24765)	6/8/2011 1:44:27 PM
From: John Koligman	3 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 119360

Report: Some dealers price gouging Chevy Volt up to $65K by Sebastian Blanco Even though some Chevrolet dealers were warned not to sell the Volt above the MSRP, there is a distinct trend around the country where some dealers are trying to make a few extra (thousand) bucks off the popular plug-in vehicle. In fact, Ward's Auto found a dealer in Florida that is listing a Volt at $65,590. That's a wee bit more than the car's $41,000 suggested retail price. We heard about the possibility of sky-high mark-ups last year, but it turns out there's very little General Motors can do in this situation. As GM's Tony DiSalle told Ward's Auto, "there isn't a mechanism to prevent that from happening." Motor Trend also found Volts around the country priced at $46,923 (MI), $47,700 (CA) and $49,000 (NC). Guess this is why you should never trust MSRP, huh? Our advice would be to keep shopping until you find a dealer willing to honor GM's specified asking price, even if that means waiting a little bit longer for your future plug-in machine.