The Chevy Volt Won't Follow the Toyota Prius Family… Yet

Oct. 04, 2011 3:47 PM ET by Matthew Wilson Industry News / 15 Comments

The Volt isn't expanding until 2015, according to the Head of GM Europe.

According to recent reports, the Chevrolet Volt isn't a family man. At least for now. Toyota has taken their Prius hybrid platform and created the Prius v, the Prius c and a Plug-in for next year. Chevrolet, however, is doing no such thing, at least until 2015. Apparently GM is so focused on the Volt being successful that they don't want to compromise its value by shortchanging attention to the car.

"We won't do it with this generation, and that will run to 2015. You'd have to wait until after that until you see it," said Head of GM Europe Nick Reilly. Technology is incredibly expensive for the Volt's powertrain, as battery costs have just been reduced to around $8,000 apiece. Two possible spinoffs in the future are being mooted, the Cadillac ELR concept and the Chevy Orlando based-Volt MPV5 concept.