Start with what the Chevrolet Volt is: a 5-door liftback with 1x 101 hp 1.5 L L3A I4, built from 2015 to 2019, as electrification stopped being an experiment and the crossover took every market. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to John Cafaro.
The background
The second generation Chevrolet Volt is a extended-range electric compact liftback that was produced by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand. It debuted at the 2015 North American International Auto Show to replace the original Volt, on sale since 2010. Retail deliveries as a 2016 model year began in October 2015 in the U.S. and Canada, and it was released in Mexico in December 2015. Availability of the 2016 model was limited to California and the other 10 states that follow California's zero emission vehicle regulations.
It went on sale as a 2017 model year in the rest of the U.S. in February 2016. Volt production ended on February 15, 2019. Featuring a restyled exterior and interior, the Volt's revised battery system and drivetrain allow, under the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cycle, an all-electric range of 53 mi (85 km), up from the first generation's 38 mi (61 km). The EPA combined fuel economy in gasoline-only mode was rated at 42 mpg‑US (5.6 L/100 km; 50 mpg‑imp), up from 37 mpg‑US (6.4 L/100 km; 44 mpg‑imp) for the previous generation. The official rating for combined city/highway fuel economy in all-electric mode is 106 miles per gallon gasoline equivalent (MPG-e), up from 98 MPG-e for the 2015 first generation model.
The engineering
The engine is 1x 101 hp 1.5 L L3A I4. On the scales it comes to 3543 lb. Drive goes through a Voltec 5ET50 Multi-mode electric transaxle. The layout matters: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. The wheelbase is 106.1 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
In the Chevrolet line-up the Chevrolet Volt has a clear place: it replaced the Chevrolet Volt (first generation); it handed the line to the Buick Velite 6 (for Velite 5); the factory was Detroit, Michigan. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Ford Escort, the Ferrari 488, the Tesla Model 3. Its Chevrolet stablemates include the Chevrolet Adra and the Chevrolet C-10.
Owning one today
Buying one now means $7,700–$20,400 for a typical example, and running it — fuel and maintenance at its age — costs about $2,433–$5,642 a year. Insurance sits around $1,020–$1,850 a year. The figures are class-level estimates from the federal record, with the formula on the methodology page; the model-year pages carry complaints, recalls and repair costs year by year.