NEW YORK ¨C When the history books are written about Barack Obama¡¯s tenure as commander in chief, the Chevrolet Volt will doubtless be remembered as the most important car of his presidency. Like selfies, secular stagnation and the tea party, General Motors¡¯s plug-in hybrid is inextricably linked with the America of the last seven years.
Like Obama himself, the Volt was cast as a reinvention, a new kind of player that could bridge the gap between zero-emissions electric-car enthusiasts and traditional car buyers. But like candidate Obama¡¯s promise of a post-partisan political order, the Volt¡¯s bold compromise between ¡°green car¡± innovation and everyday practicality unraveled nearly from its debut in 2010 and only deepened the divides it sought to heal. With the first-generation Volt now ending production after building just a fraction of its projected volume, the Volt seems destined to become an enduring symbol of the Obama administration¡¯s surprisingly divisive legacy.
The Volt became inexorably entangled with Obama¡¯s bailout of General Motors, a fact that is as much historical accident as anything else. GM had begun developing the Volt ¡ª a response to the runaway success of Toyota¡¯s Prius hybrid ¡ª well before the company collapsed into the arms of the government.
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