automotive

Chevrolet Hitting The Road With The Volt

chevy-Volt-

Chevrolet is following up a July 4 "Freedom Drive" run of its Chevy Volt from Austin, Texas to New York with a new road show: the General Motors division is sending an armada of six electric Chevrolet Volts on a 3,400-mile, cross-country tour to demonstrate to all and sundry that one does not have to stick to the neighborhood just because the car is electric.

The "Volt Unplugged" tour includes test-drive opportunities and meet-and-greets with the car's developers, engineers and designers at each stop. It starts in Seattle on Oct. 9, then hits San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Antonio, Houston, Miami, Orlando, Washington, D.C., Raleigh, N.C., New York and Chicago by mid-November.

Chevrolet says representatives will contact local community leaders, schools and consumers to do educational clinics on the Volt and discuss the progress of the nation's electrical infrastructure.

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Signing on as a partner is Marriott International, and its Courtyard, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites and TownePlaces Suites divisions. A Chevrolet spokesperson says the division is sorting out how the Marriott chain will activate, though it will serve as hotel base for tour participants.

A heavy social media program will serve as portal for test-drive signups and a promotional media platform. The automaker will run the digital elements on its "Unplugged" tab at ChevroletVoltAge.com and its Facebook page, which has about 40,000 members, according to the spokesperson.

Tour members will also be tweeting during the road show at @ChevyVoltTwitter and Chevrolet Posterou and the Chevrolet Volt Foursquare account. The social media sites will also have photos and videos.

Production begins this fall for the car, whose price starts around $41,000. Chevrolet says Volt will initially be available in limited numbers in California, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan and Washington, D.C. In 12 to 18 months, the car will be available nationwide.

The spokesperson says that while there will be no advertising around the tour, Chevrolet will do local-market pushes in the cities to which the tour travels, and will base the tour in high-traffic areas like Fisher Plaza in Seattle. "It's based around getting customers the chance to drive," he says, adding that in Seattle and L.A., Chevrolet is partnering with Best Buy. "They are identifying stores where we can do ride-and-drives."

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