@Wes Siler: You're trying to sound reasonable, but you still make inflammatory statements based on emotion and not math.

faux eco-friendly supercars are taking over. We're kind of ok with that. While we don't fell the need to lie to the world with a bunch of powertrain technology no one understands

@Scaramanga: Nope, Porsche says

@engineerd: Oh dear, your comments made a lot of sense until you repeated the tired crap about ooh, batteries bad. The major environmental impact of a car occurs in its operation where it's burning TONS of gasoline (that caused additional pollution in its production and delivery) every year. Claiming that making a…

@KillerRaccoon: Parallels experience waaaaaay too much drivetrain inefficiency

@Tyson: But for maximizing efficient operation of the ICE while blending with electric pwer, you really want a continuously variable transmission. Toyota's system where one of the electric motor/generator acts to vary the effective gearing and torque split is ingenious and apparently unbeatable for MPG.

@Barcode711: The poisonous lead-acid batteries in every conventional car don't hold enough juice for electric vehicles or even mild hybrids. The more modern nickel metal hydride and lithium-ion (Lotus says this has a lithium polymer battery) aren't heavy metals, are far less toxic than lead, and are recyclable.

@Nitrous Oxide: Mercedes replaced the steering wheel on the 1996 F 200 Imagination concept car with a joystick.

@Barcode711: I realize you're kidding, but a 17 kWh battery pack will weigh far less than 1000 kg, probably less than 200kg. See my reply to Bluecold.

@Joyryda: "Tesla ... just bought a car without guts that was engineered by these guys. And stuck a zillion batteries in it and lit the fuse."

@Bluecold:Of volcanic temperament but soothed by a custard pie balsam.:

@touchitgently: "1.2-liter three-cylinder engine", fake gearshifts, and separate motor for each rear wheel is not remotely like the Volt.

@killer_siller: The hate is mostly counterfactual. All the "I wouldn't buy it" comments are really "If I could realistically spend $400,000 on a car, then I wouldn't buy the Lexus LFA." The antecedent is false, so those commenters could equally well say anything, including "If I could realistically spend $400,000…

@doug-g: Him again?!

@Velocitré: I thought the Golf 928 was done by Abt, but Google finds only the Artz conversion, and it is astonishing.

The current GM two-mode hybrid as used in a handful of Tahoes and Escalades delivers a big MPG/emissions improvement (AWD Tahoe's MPG jumps from 13/17 to 21/22). Making it lighter will let GM use it in smaller vehicles like the Cadillac.

@cgarison: Repeating crap you've heard doesn't make it true. Conventional cars have the same "electronics", so presumably you meant to say the batteries and motors. But the lead-acid batteries in conventional cars are extremely toxic, while NiMH or Li-on batteries are not particularly toxic (and are valuable, so DO…

@Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet: Uh, this isn't the Volt's plug-in range-extended electric vehicle aka series hybrid. It's GM's conventional two-mode hybrid, using "a set of hybrid vehicle technologies jointly developed by General Motors, Daimler, and Chrysler LLC, with BMW joining in 2005"

@Møbius:

@punksmurph: Your wife is smart. You can't buy a hybrid wagon, a niche of a niche that's very likely to grow.