General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt: How to Avoid Failure with Future Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles

General Motors (GM) invented the plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle (PHEV) and brought it to market in 2010 in the form of a new compact sedan: the Chevrolet Volt. Despite its innovative powertrain, the Volt was a sales flop while the comparable Toyota Prius sold in droves. The Volt, a multi-billion-dollar investment meant to turn the company’s image around during its bankruptcy doldrums, floundered and was eventually discontinued. While other manufacturers’ PHEVs became successful, as of 2025 they were not as popular as conventional hybrids or purely electric vehicles (EVs) but were viewed by some as a “best of both worlds” albeit expensive solution.

Despite a highly rational concept, the Chevrolet Volt did not set the mark for electric cars … or for General Motors (GM). What happened exactly? And how could GM prevent it from happening again?

• Understand why product excellence is not a marketing strategy, as Bob Lutz thought it was.
• Delineate the brand positions of Chevrolet and Toyota.
• Apply positioning principles to the interplay between Toyota’s Prius and the Chevrolet Volt to explain why the Volt was, intentionally or not, an attack on Toyota’s brand position.
• Identify how market segmentation may have assisted GM in making the Volt successful.
• Detail solutions for the negative impact the Volt had on GM’s primary channel partners and dealerships.
• Compare and contrast GM’s and Toyota’s approaches with hybrid technology.