The Stars Come Out for the New Volt

By Sean Spear

What do Paris Hilton, Torri Spelling, and Lance Bass have in common…besides being TMZ bait? Apparently it is a love for environment-friendly cars making their debut in Hollywood. Such was the case at Quixote Studios in WeHo Monday night, where the all-new 2016 Chevrolet Volt took center stage in a studio featuring DJs, dance club lighting, lounge chairs, and a free-flowing bar.

Billed by Chevrolet as an exclusive reveal event, the atmosphere was decidedly more a private party vibe, with a car sitting off to the side. However, once the celebs started arriving and paying attention to the car itself, you then got the sense that the marketing team was thinking creatively about how to revamp the image of the car.

The ‘first-gen’ Volt has been a consistent but less than stellar seller. As an officially electric vehicle that just happens to have a back-up gasoline generator under the hood, consumers seem to take a confused pause when considering purchasing the car. Then coupled with its relatively short EPA-rated 38-mile all-electric range and 300+ miles range-extending back-up generator that pours electricity back into the battery pack after depletion, it is not considered a ‘true’ electric vehicle like its closest sales rival, the EPA-rated 84-mile range electric-only Nissan Leaf. Still, Volt owners, who give the car the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the industry, say that this power combination is exactly what makes the car the most useful to the average driver. There is no such thing as ‘range anxiety’ with a Volt. Despite these pluses, the polarizing looks (read Chevy Impala cool from the front but Honda Insight geek from the back) and $40K price tag of the initial run of first-gen have never helped its mass appeal.

“We looked at how we could make the car more ‘familiar’ in appearance, while building on the platform’s concept.” said Jason Ditman, GM Chief Engineer for the Volt’s Drive Unit. And so this is where the celebrities seem to come in. If GM can make the car look less ‘aging electric nerd’ and more ‘chic energy-conscious nerd’, then the car may sell more like the sales-leading Prius and less like the sales-lagging Leaf. Having a few fashion-forward Hollywood celebs oogle at your new car certainly can’t hurt.

Images (left-to-right): Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott check out the 2016 Chevrolet Volt (photo by Michael Buckner for Chevrolet); Chevy Volt 2.0 (photo by Sean Spear for LA Car); Volt interior (Sean Spear for LA Car); Actor Kellan Lutz next to the new Volt (Michael Buckner for Chevrolet); Paris Hilton and Nick Hissom attended the party (Michael Buckner for Chevrolet). The writer is Contributing Editor for LA Car. More images and information on the 2016 Volt can be seen at LACar.com and Facebook.com/lacarcom.