President Obama Says He Will Buy a Chevy Volt

February 29, 2012

You’ve heard of campaign promises? A commitment made by a jovial President Obama could be called one for after his term in office at which point he said he will buy a Chevy Volt.

Mentioning to the United Auto Workers his famous visit to the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant from which many photos of him sitting in a Volt have been re-posted, Obama revisited how it was enjoyable sitting in a Volt fresh off the line, but the Secret Service would not let him drive it.

“It was nice. I bet it drives real good,” he said. “And five years from now, when I’m not president anymore, I’ll buy one and drive it myself.”

These words went over very well with those in attendance, and after lengthy applause for which Obama paused smiling, the crowd could be heard chanting, “four more years, four more years!”

So what do we make of these statements? Put positively, can we say Americans are now eligible to drive a car the president only wishes he could, but will have to wait for?

At least one commenter on the YouTube clip has already said Obama will get his chance in 10 months, but that is about what one would expect someone to say in these often contentious times.

Obviously Obama was in a good mood when he said it. What do you think? Will he actually do it?


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  • James Davis

    I see that President Obama’s remark has already started pissing the republicans off. It doesn’t matter if Obama buys one when he is out of office, in four more years, or not; what matters is, it is a very good boost for the Volt right now and GM should jump on that bandwagon.

  • JJJSpawn

    I agree with you James. The Volt is near the top of my list of wanted cars, but to tell the truth the hybrid MKZ or Fusion are still above it. That is mainly because I want something with a bit more distance on electric only, say 150 miles. That would make it a perfect commuter car for me. 100 miles is cutting it to close for my commute.

  • DrP

    I was about to buy the volt when I noticed that premium fuel is required. This takes any cost benefit away from such a purchase. Also, If I used the Volt on a trip where I won’t have access to charging I would then be driving a car that only gets 35 mpg on the highway on a gas engine that burns premium fuel. I bought a 2012 Camry hybrid instead.

  • dutchinchicago

    I have been driving a Volt for two months now and I love it. I had not expected to love it as much as I did. I mainly bought it because it was only one of two electrical cars available and I already tried the Leaf but decided to get rid of it.

    So far I have used less than one gallon of fuel in the last 500 miles. It costs about 30 cents to fill the battery in Chicago which lasts 30-40 miles. Once a year I do a 1000 miles trip and I will have to pay for premium full on that trip but the rest of the year I spend 1/10th on fuel compared to driving a gas car.

    The only reason why it uses premium gas is that most people use the engine so little that regular guess would go of to quickly.

    Don’t not buy a Volt because it uses premium gas unless you have a 100 mile daily commute. In that case get a Prius.

  • MrEnergyCzar

    God for bid a public figure buys an american made oil sipping vehicle…..

    Save a soldier, drive a Volt.

    MrEnergyCzar

  • James Davis

    I agree. I do not think that President Obama will ever buy a Volt since it is mostly gas driven and is not environmentally friendly. If President Obama buys a car for personal use, it will be the Tesla Model S. When you take a closer look at the Volt, it is rally just an expensive piece of crap that will continue to deplete the 99%’s budget and take food out of the mouths of the American children and clothing off their backs like the ICE is doing now.

  • bskija

    In capitalism the survival of the fittest is the rule. Because the US government now owns GM and is pouring billions of dollars to bring GM back from the dead is violating the above rule. Toyota was a nobody 50 years ago and today it is number one in sales. GM was a somebody 50 years ago and now would be a nobody if the government didn’t take it over. Toyota didn’t get from a nobody to a somebody without merit. GM didn’t get from a somebody to a nobody without demerit. In 2011 GM was the largest vehicle maker in the US with VW second and Toyota third. Toyota in 2011 did not fall from number one to number 3 on demerit. Because of the severe tsunami and earthquake off the coast of Japan it prevented the manufacturing of their vehicles for 2011.

  • veek

    What notable, audacious hypocrisy. The image says “Hey, look, I’m thinking about driving a Chevy Volt because thinking about driving one will help make the world a greener place.” The reality says “I love to frequently fly Air Force One in large part for my personal hedonic pleasure, and the fuel it uses on one trip would power the average low-income family for a long, long time.” His carbon footprint is a horrible example for us all, even for his fellow One-Percenter’s, and driving a Chevy Volt on rare occasions will make an insignificant difference, with little or no sacrifice for the environment. This has to be the epitome of “political greenwashing.”

    Regardless of which party (if any) you support, this is little more than slickly deluding anyone who will fall for this politically-driven nonsense. How dumb does he think we are? The more we encourage this kind of behavior, the more of it we will deserve to get. Maybe it’s time to recognize this activity for what it is, instead of just letting it go by and cheering them on.

  • bskija

    No Sir: GM, Ford, and Chrysler are not American made. The Japanese for some models are American made. Toyota alone has thousands of Americans making their cars and service type work. GM makes their Chevy in Canada and other models are made all over the world. Ford makes their engines in Brazil and other parts all over the world. Chrysler is now owned by Fiat an Italian company. Japan is not making some of their cars in the US for patriotic reasons. It is due to the Yen and dollar stability.

  • Blonda

    I wish i see this! But this car is not very environmentally friendly and we all know that the president is very environmentally aware! So the time will say if he keeps he’s promises or not!
    Pantofi Adidas

  • bskija

    Folks: I intend to buy Toyota vehicles until my intelligence tells me there is a safer, better buy than Toyota. I will use magazines and bean counters that evaluate vehicles that are not beholden to any manufacturer of vehicles. In a hypothetical example, let’s say you own a magazine and had a million dollar contract with an automobile maker to advertise their product. Without that million dollar contract would you knock that company if it meant you would go out of business?
    BS from the media or the government concerning automobiles will go in one ear and out the other.