New Models: Chevrolet Volt: its European relations

General Motors is to launch the Chevrolet Volt in Europe by 2012.

GM has also confirmed that other Vauxhall and Opel models sharing the same Delta platform - also to be used by the new Astra and Saab 9-3 - will use a similar extended-range electric powertrain. Although an initial batch of left-hand-drive, US-built Volts will be exported to Europe, right-hand-drive models are unlikely to arrive until 2012, when European production starts.

The Volt has a conventional four-door saloon bodystyle, but its Vauxhall and Opel counterparts will have a layout preferred by many European buyers: a Zafira-style MPV configuration. A few styling clues have been suggested by the five-door Opel Flextreme concept car (Frankfurt Motor Show 2007) - although the real deal is unlikely to get a pair of Segway electric scooters in its boot.

article continues below

While the original Volt concept featured a small 1.0-litre petrol engine, working only as a generator to recharge the batteries, the US-market production car has a larger 1.4-litre unit. This is less down to the need for a larger-capacity unit - the 1.0-litre is perfectly adequate since it does not actually drive an axle - than a cost-cutting measure, since the 1.4-litre will also be fitted (with turbocharger) in the Chevrolet Cruze, a model to be built alongside the Volt in Detroit. Using the same engine in both cars simplifies production and supply - as well as reassuring Americans for whom a 1.0-litre may be a leap of faith too far.

However, a 1.0-litre petrol engine is likely to feature in the European-built Volt; the three-cylinder unit as in the Corsa and Agila is being considered. This will allow General Motors to price the Volt more in line with Chevrolet's European positioning as a value-for-money brand (ie cheaper than the range-extended Vauxhalls and Opels, which will probably get a small diesel engine, as in the Flextreme). It will be competitively-priced - the premium charged over an equivalent conventionally powered Chevrolet (such as the Cruze) will be no more than £1,500-£2,000, we hear, a sum easily recouped by the much lower ongoing running costs.

Specific details of the European-market Volt and related models have not yet been finalised, but work is well underway and General Motors is also in discussions with government bodies and relevant agencies over issues such as recharging infrastructure, taxation, formal rating of carbon dioxide output, company car tax incentives and other such issues. It is aiming for Band A tax classification in the UK - free annual excise duty - as the Volt has returned just 40g/km of carbon dioxide in tests to the official European standard procedure. In GM's own tests to this cycle, it is also returning around 175mpg (combined).

While only the Volt and the Vauxhall/Opel MPV have been confirmed for production so far, GM is planning the application of the range-extended electric powertrain in other vehicle line-ups. It could easily be fitted on other models based on the Delta platform, for a start: an extended-range Saab EV should not be ruled out. However, the initial applications will be in larger vehicles - such as the four-door saloon and Zafira-type MPV - as until the size of the battery pack can be reduced, it would compromise load-space and cabin-room in smaller cars.

Meanwhile, check out the Chevrolet Orlando 'concept', to be revealed at the Paris Motor Show. This seven-seater, which goes on sale next spring, is the sister model to the next-generation Zafira - and thus the Vauxhall/Opel extended-range EVs as well. The Paris show car is a fully working prototype, right down to all its electrics and its functioning powertrain; very little will be changed for the production car and it will keep the Orlando name.