My dad just got a Prius.

Let me say this again, my father, the retired PennDOT highway engineer and fan of big American sedans, has a Prius. My father, a lifetime Chevy man with aspirations for a big white Cadillac some day when he becomes too old to see past the dashboard, now has a dark metallic grey Prius.

Of course, it wasn’t his choice. His company replaced his fleet Mercury with a Prius. Surprisingly, however, was how much he enjoyed it. I have to say, up close, it isn’t so bad. I can’t ride in it comfortably, at least from the passenger’s side: no legroom. In order to fit both he electric and gas motors in the same engine compartment, it seems they’ve pushed the dash a bit back on the passenger’s side. Otherwise, nifty little car.

He even recommended that I buy one. Now, with the New Year, I have a new job, one with a tiny, three-mile commute. We’re a one-car family and I plan on biking in once the weather Springs up a bit. Along with the New Year and new job, I’m also expecting a new baby, so we’re not exactly in the market for a new car.

That said, with all the end-of-the-year turmoil in my own life, I didn’t follow the bloodbath that was going on at my favorite electric car company, Tesla Motors. According to ousted co-founder, Martin Eberhard, it is a bit of a massacre over there. (Tesla can’t get a car off, SpaceX has yet to successfully get a rocket off, I’ll have to check on Solar City to see if Musk has a trifecta of failure coming. With Tesla craziness, I doubt I’ll be buying their mythical family model as my next car.

Meanwhile, I’ve had great hopes for Chevy’s Volt (especially after Bob Lutz hawked it on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me last year), which promises that the first 40 miles are electric-powered. I like the idea of a plugin-hybrid, especially since my commute is so short — three miles to the office, three in the other direction for the gym, and I could go all day. (Combine that with a flex-fuel, and I’ll start an ethanol plant in the backyard).

Wired has an interview with Lutz and designer Bob Boniface that is worth checking out (via the Instapundit, props y’all). I love this exchange, which is why, from a PR perspective, Bob Lutz is one of America’s Greatest Execs:

Bob Lutz, vice chairman of GM: Styling-wise, we’ve got it sorted out. We’ve done all the wind-tunnel optimization that’s resulted in the car looking a little different from the concept. The hood’s gotten shorter and the windshield’s got more slant. The drag coefficient’s where we want it.
WN: Where exactly is that?
Lutz: It’s in the mid-twos. When we put the concept in the wind tunnel, it was a disaster. We could almost put it in the wind tunnel backward and get a better result.

He’s taken a from-the-hip approach to the development of the Volt that I find refreshing. Also glad to hear that they’re sticking with the batmobile-styling of the Volt (although, I worry if that will also mean a heftier price tag). The Prius is fragile looking, but passable. The Civic Hybrid was horror-show — covering up the rear wheel made it look like something from a cheap 70s sci-fi show. The Volt concept looked fierce, but we’ll see how the real one turns out.

While it seems that they’re going for a 2010 rollout, it will be priced higher than I’d prefer: closer to 40k than the original quoted target of 30k. Hrm. Well, I wouldn’t buy the first model year, anyway. There’s bound to be problems.

But here’s a prediction I can get behind (emphasis mine):

Lutz: GM’s credibility is rapidly returning and it’s beginning to be reflected in the marketplace. But there is no doubt you’d like to be able to leapfrog Toyota and come out with a car they aren’t ready to do. There’s nothing magic about the technology. Two or three years after the Volt is introduced, everybody will have something like it. We’d just like to be first for once.

Please, lets hope.

GM’s also taken an interest (i.e., dumped a ton of money) in fuel cells, which don’t really excite me too much. (My god, I’ve drunk the Zubrin flavr-ade! Again!)

UPDATE:

Had a though as soon as I hit save. Lutz calls this GM’s “moon shot.” I really hope not. We haven’t been back to the moon in over thirty years.