• Detroit Free Press, Wednesday, July 28, 2010 10:52 AM

The Chevrolet Volt's base sticker price will be $41,000 -- before a maximum $7,500 federal tax credit -- as opposed to the $32,780 sticker price for the all-electric Nissan Leaf car. But, Greg Gardiner points out, the $350-a-month, three-year lease on the Volt is just $1 more than what Nissan is asking for the Leaf. The down payment on the Volt is $501 more, too, however. Both vehicles make their debut in November.

"These two cars signal the beginning of a revolution," says University of California Davis professor Dan Sperling, in that they will reduce fuel cost to about 2 cents a mile from 7 to 13 cents a mile in a conventional gas-only vehicle.

The Volt has a 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine that offers up to 300 miles beyond the 40-mile battery range. "We are an extended-range electric vehicle," says Joel Ewanick, GM vp for North American marketing. "We are on our own in this segment." And he predicts that the 10,000 vehicles produced through the end of 2011 will not meet demand.

The Bulldog Reporter, whose headlines need refueling about halfway through, writes this morning: "GM's Price Tag for the All-Electric Chevrolet Volt Escalates Consumers' Head-Scratching Reaction: First, Unfamiliar Mechanics, and Now, Significantly Steeper Cost Than Similar Gas-Fueled Autos."

MSNBC, meanwhile, reports that the Progressive Insurance Automotive X-Prize, or PIAXP, is down to nine vehicles from seven teams competing for up to $10 million in prizes. The X-Prize challenge drew an unexpectedly strong response, Paul A. Eisenstein writes, with 115 teams entering 136 separate vehicles "from the relatively conventional to the truly exotic."

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