GTP Cool Wall: 1996-1999 General Motors EV1

[RandomCarGuy17]

I voted uncool originally for thinking it's a concept, oops.

Though, I now think uncool wasn't a mistake, because from what I think of it. It doesn't seem like it would be a cool car to be in on the streets. It just looks silly and I think someone would look very silly in it. The front makes me think of a Saturn and that alone makes it uncool.

...and the headlights, and the wheels, and the taillights, and most of the rear end...
Okay fine, I suppose it's not a completely blatant copy, but ask yourself this: If the EV-1 had never existed, do you honestly think the Insight would have looked exactly the same as it did?

I think you might need to get your eyes checked, because none of those things I bolded are true at all except that the wheels both were going for that streamline style. Other than that, I don't see any resemblance. The Insight to me looks like a Civic if anything and the EV-1 looks to me more like a Saturn.

 

[Niku Driver HC]

INB4 "Who killed the Electric Car" Conspiracy Theories.

Hmmm... interesting car, but I believe the Insight was the more important car of the time.

Unlike the Insight and Prius, the EV1 is a perfect example of building to regulations. Yes, GM was working on electrics before the EV1, but it was the California mandate for zero emissions that forced them to sell... erh... lease the EV1.

GM was really torn on the EV1... spent an inordinate amount of money on it, forgot to advertise it. Lost money on every single one made. Then when the zero emissions mandate was overturned, GM dropped the program like a hot potato, crushing the cars to free itself of any liability lawsuits that might follow people buying, tinkering with and blowing up outdated cars with no product support. (No... sorry... duh Oil Companiez dint maek em do it, George.)

Flickering between meh and uncool. The only "cool" green car from the time for me was the G1 Insight.

It was great in theory, but tainted the image of all future EVs before Tesla came along. Seriously Uncool.

Those two quotes are all the reasons needed to back up my own claim. It was a good idea, but the poor execution and terrible story screwed the EV1. Besides, there are similar cars today that have greatly surpassed it in all accounts and it probably inspired that Steven Seagal movie where he works at an oil rig and then decides to fight against the evile oil tycoons because nature and such.

Therefore, the EV1 gets an SU for me. Sorry GM, perhaps it needed more lasers...

 

[AlvaroF]

Great idea and in theory very cool (see the original Insight or the XL1), but somehow they got everything wrong, at least in the design department. Super-duper uncool.

 

[Xilor]

It might be brilliant underneath but its just about the dorkiest looking car that its possible to imagine. SU.

 

[Joel]

Uncool because of the documentary. Everywhere you go, men in sandals will point and lecture to all their friends about how oil companies killed the Dodo.

Yeah I would have maybe given this a mild cool for being an interesting trivia piece but the neckbearded fedoras have ruined it. "WELL ACTUALLY"

 

[motortrend]

I like it for the technology and rarity just like the insight (I diff the insight more because gas engine and actual sale) but it is still uncool.

 

[Adamgp]

I remember thinking these were cool when I saw them at the auto show back in the 90's.

Since then it has sparked some enviro-nut conspiracy theories.

Seriously Uncool.

 

[LXM3500]

I voted uncool originally for thinking it's a concept, oops.

Though, I now think uncool wasn't a mistake, because from what I think of it. It doesn't seem like it would be a cool car to be in on the streets. It just looks silly and I think someone would look very silly in it. The front makes me think of a Saturn and that alone makes it uncool.


I think you might need to get your eyes checked, because none of those things I bolded are true at all except that the wheels both were going for that streamline style. Other than that, I don't see any resemblance. The Insight to me looks like a Civic if anything and the EV-1 looks to me more like a Saturn.

Okay I get the point that I was wrong. Can we just forget that I ever said it?

 

[synchromesh]

Seriously uncool because GM.

 

[Joey D]

I really should go seriously uncool, but because their very existence ruffles the feathers of those who hate eco-friendly electric cars, they're at least cool.

 

[Robin]

I remember hearing about how GM tried to hunt down every last remaining one to crush them. I would give it a Meh because it was just a knee jerk reaction to policy changes and was kinda rushed. But very rare if you have one.

 

[Badasp5.0]

I remember hearing about how GM tried to hunt down every last remaining one to crush them. I would give it a Meh because it was just a knee jerk reaction to policy changes and was kinda rushed. But very rare if you have one.

It was a reaction to protect themselves from lawsuits...

 

[Adamgp]

It was a reaction to protect themselves from lawsuits...

It was more of a cost issue. GM leased them for much less then what they cost to engineer & produce. They were recalled and crushed because part suppliers quit making replacement parts, which GM would have been required to supply for years after production.

 

[LXM3500]

It was more of a cost issue. GM leased them for much less then what they cost to engineer & produce. They were recalled and crushed because part suppliers quit making replacement parts, which GM would have been required to supply for years after production.

I never thought of it that way. And just look at GM now, barely even willing to supply parts for cars that they only stopped producing a few years ago.

 

[Adamgp]

I never thought of it that way. And just look at GM now, barely even willing to supply parts for cars that they only stopped producing a few years ago.

It's law for any manufacturer in the U.S. to supply replacement parts for a car after it is produced. I forget exactly how long they are required to supply parts for a car past it's production run, but I think it was 8-12 years.

I might add, I have never had a problem getting parts for any GM vehicle my family has owned.

 

[LXM3500]

It's law for any manufacturer in the U.S. to supply replacement parts for a car after it is produced. I forget exactly how long they are required to supply parts for a car past it's production run, but I think it was 8-12 years.

I might add, I have never had a problem getting parts for any GM vehicle my family has owned.

Yeah, but I was referring to the recall. I guess they technically did supply the parts, but they just didn't tell anyone that the parts would need to be replaced (not to mention it was a bad part).

 

[Adamgp]

Yeah, but I was referring to the recall. I guess they technically did supply the parts, but they just didn't tell anyone that the parts would need to be replaced (not to mention it was a bad part).

Ah, ok.

Although bad supplied parts can affect any automaker. Most recently, the Takata airbag fiasco.

 

[MrUnknown]

(...) And it burns, burns, burns. The ring of fire. The ring of fire.

Uncool

 

[SlipZtrEm]

I've never noticed the slight hints to the Aurora in the rear-end design of it before. Neat?

Car itself? Uncool. A harbinger of things to come, perhaps, but as @niky pointed out, the Insight was a more important vehicle for the history books.

 

[Tornado]

It was more of a cost issue. GM leased them for much less then what they cost to engineer & produce. They were recalled and crushed because part suppliers quit making replacement parts, which GM would have been required to supply for years after production.

Plus, no matter how much people want to pretend it was the harbinger of the future and GM personally set back automotive production a decade after taking a payoff from the oil industry, I'm somewhat doubtful that the car GM built in extremely small numbers for short term lease only in direct response to draconian laws in only one state was designed with as much importance placed on long term design durability as, say, a Silverado.