Chevy
Volt owners often find themselves thrust into a
political tug-of-war over their choice of vehicle, reports
Edmunds.com, a premier resource for car shopping and automotive
information. And while every Volt owner has a story about
spontaneous arguments over the car with friends and strangers alike,
it's when passions boil over that things can get scary.
"Some have reported acts of vandalism, like slashed tires or expletives
on the windshield," says Edmunds.com Community Manager Mark Holthoff,
who sought out and spoke with several Volt owners. "One even found
himself being intentionally run off the road."
But those are extreme examples of the blowback, and Edmunds.com found
that Volt owners are especially proud of their cars.
"Pretty much all of the Volt's critics are people who have never been
near one," says one Volt owner. "My mother-in-law's first reaction [to
the Volt] was to prohibit me from plugging it in at her house. But she
has come around."
"I was at a stoplight next to another Volt driver," says another owner,
"and we both rolled our windows down and chatted for a few seconds about
how much we love our cars and what our mileage was."
The Volt has been a political football since even before the first
models rolled off the assembly line, but it's especially been under the
microscope in this most recent election cycle. Liberals hold up the car
as an example for building better green technology and a resurgent
American auto industry. Conservatives, meanwhile, point to the car as a
symbol of wasteful government spending.
What may shock folks on both sides of the aisle, though, is who is
making the move to the Volt. While Edmunds.com found that a likely
suspect - the Toyota
Prius - has been the model most often traded in for a Volt this
year, the next two models on that list are surprising: the BMW
3 Series, a sporty European car, and the Chevrolet
Silverado, a full-size pickup.
Read more about how Chevy Volt owners are dealing with the
politicization of their cars on Edmunds.com at technology/chevrolet-volt-owners-caught-in-political-crossfire.html" target="_blank">http://www.edmunds.com/car-technology/chevrolet-volt-owners-caught-in-political-crossfire.html.
