Hurrah! Chevrolet making headlines again. This time in a good light.

**Whitehouse** · January-10-11, 02:24 PM

Chevy Volt, car of the year in the US!

And Ford also captures a prize.

DETROIT [[CNNMoney) -- The plug-in Chevrolet Volt was named North American Car of the Year at the Detroit Auto Show on Monday.
The Ford Explorer was voted Truck of the Year in the awards handed out during the media preview days at the auto show.

The North American car and truck of the year awards are voted on by a jury of up to 50 automotive journalists from the United States and Canada.
While General Motors acknowledges the Volt won't add to the automakers profits for years, GM has utilized the car as a marketing tool. The Volt appeared in Chevrolet advertising for years before its November introduction.

**bailey** · January-10-11, 02:29 PM

It's nice to see, but now we just need gas to get up to $4-5.00 a gallon to drive demand for the vehicle, bring down price through making more of them, and expand the technology to something besides tiny cars.

**Danny** · January-10-11, 02:51 PM

YAY! Buy American cars, even through some parts are made oversees.

**Mikeg** · January-11-11, 04:08 PM

This guy predicted three weeks ago that the Chevy Volt would win.

muskie1 · January-11-11, 04:40 PM

This is great news for both Ford and G.M. They are both in a great position now with many fuel efficient vehicles to choose from. I hope if gas hits 4.00 again that Chrysler can make it through this,their line of new small vehicles is really lacking. This was the nail in their coffin a few years ago when truck and s.u.v. sale crashed.

**jbd441** · January-11-11, 06:03 PM

GM needs to also put a small gas engine in the Volt. Great car but with a 40 mile range between charges, it will only be good enough for around town driving.

**BagAJellyDonuts** · January-11-11, 06:10 PM

Originally Posted by jbd441

GM needs to also put a small gas engine in the Volt. Great car but with a 40 mile range between charges, it will only be good enough for around town driving.

It has a small engine on board to charge the system as it goes.

It's range is nearly 300 miles between refuels.

BTW, GM is showing the Sonic at the show. It is somewhat smaller than the Cruze. The Cruze ECO is rated at 42 mpg when equipped with a manual transmission. The Sonic is powered by the same engines and weighs 400 to 500 pounds less. It should easily get even better mileage. And it is going to be built in the Orion plant. With engines that will be built in Flint.

**Patrick** · January-11-11, 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by Mikeg

This guy predicted three weeks ago that the Chevy Volt would win.

Of course they said that....they are a right wing think tank but some want to call them Libertarian. They are really a bunch of Milton F. wannabes.

**Whitehouse** · January-11-11, 06:44 PM

Just out of curiosity, who of you have no experience with stick-shift transmission?

**downtown_racine** · January-11-11, 06:50 PM

Yes ! Lets burn more coal and garbage/tires [[thats so green) and power ourselves back to the future......

How about a 1.4 litre "super" diesel in a Volt or Fiesta bodycan that gets 70 miles to a gallon of diesel and makes hardly any emissions. $5 dollar a gallon by 2012 according to the shell oil schmuck.
How about some nuc-u-lar power ? I dont mind coal but what about the future ? Individual fuel cells at home ? Mr. Fusion ?

**davewindsor** · January-12-11, 05:26 PM

Originally Posted by Whitehouse

Chevy Volt, car of the year in the US!

The Volt wins car of the year and yet I still don't know how many times the ion battery on it can be recharged before it's garbage. And how much does it cost to replace that huge battery. Will they warranty that battery for 5 years? The ion battery in my Nokia cellphone charged for a year and then it was pouched and had to be recharged every half day. The replacement battery was $45. My ion drill recharged 50 times and was garbage. It costs almost as much to replace a cellphone or drill battery as it costs to buy a new cellphone or drill that includes a battery..

**esp1986** · January-12-11, 05:36 PM

Just to set the record straight, despite GM and the government's continued praise, this is NOT an electric car... it is a plug-in hybrid.

**Mikeg** · January-12-11, 07:00 PM

Originally Posted by Patrick

Of course they said that....they are a right wing think tank but some want to call them Libertarian. They are really a bunch of Milton F. wannabes.

Not "they" but "he" said that, and his name is Russ Harding, best remembered around here for his past service in Lansing as director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

Regardless of what you think of his current employer or his past boss, he was right with his prediction about the Volt. Your intolerance blinds you from even reading, much less accepting, the prediction as his personal viewpoint. Too many posters around here claim to embrace diversity, except when it comes to diversity of thought and ideas.