DETROIT — Doubters looking for bad omens connected to the launch of the Chevrolet Volt won't find one in the leadership switch on the electric car's team. Doug Parks, the new head of the Chevrolet Volt development team, said on Monday that the start of production remains on track for November 2010, despite a power shift in the executive offices.
Parks will assume his new post on December 2, as GM's global electric vehicle development chief Frank Weber moves back to Europe to join the Opel/Vauxhall senior leadership team. Parks was the global compact-car team leader, working on the Opel Astra and Chevrolet Cruze, which GM pointed out is "the same architecture on which the Volt is based."
Weber and Parks discussed the switch in a Web chat on the GM FastLane blog late Monday. One participant asked Weber: "Are you also bailing out because Volt is not that great as expected?" Weber replied: "It is certainly not connected to the Volt." But he was not forthcoming on exactly what his assignment is at Opel/Vauxhall.
Parks' role seemed to be one of reassuring commander. "Our most recent ride-and-drives inside the company confirm we are on track," he said, referring to the highly hyped electric car. "The Volt is on time and on target. There are no plans to delay production launch." He characterized the executive shuffle as "a natural move."
Parks said GM will begin cold-weather testing of the Volt this month in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada. While neither executive would confirm production numbers for the Volt, Weber dropped one tantalizing tidbit, noting that "you will see in Europe Chevy Volts and Opel Amperas." The Ampera is the sister vehicle to the Volt. But he said there were "no plans to have Amperas in the U.S."
Curiously, competitors such as Nissan are very low-key about the composition of leadership on teams for such products as the electric Nissan Leaf. While Weber is widely known as a Volt executive, the Japanese automaker is much more secretive about who is leading the charge on electric cars in its company.
Inside Line says: GM's executive laundry always seems to be hanging out there to dry, but it does provide us with constant updates on products like the Volt. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
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