Chevrolet Volt Kicks the Early Adopter Bug – Cristi Landy

Feb 18, 2014 4:00 PM ET

FastLane

With how fast technology changes these days, there’s this notion of an “early adopter tax.” While sometimes the tax is monetary, it can also be mentally taxing. Be the first to jump on some new technology, and you might get stuck with something that isn’t fully developed, pushed to market in a rush to be the first one in a segment. This could mean that you’re left dealing with bugs, or worse, a product that doesn’t fulfill all of its promised capabilities until an update comes out.

You can understand, then, why we are so excited about the results of the latest leading independent consumer study. This year was the first year the Chevrolet Volt was eligible for the study for its first model year, and the Volt ranked highest in its segment. And that’s not only for EVs, but the compact car segment as a whole, and was one of the 10 highest-ranked vehicles across all segments. It’s the latest in a long line of extremely positive results from satisfaction and dependability surveys from some of the biggest names in the industry.

We think there’s no better way to show that there doesn’t have to be a reservation about getting into new technology, especially one that can be so transformative like an electric vehicle. Right from the very first model year, Volt owners are cutting down on their dependence on fuel, and only having to visit the fuel pump once a month, on average. They didn’t have to wait for us to “work the kinks out” before they got 900 miles on one tank of gas, because we got it right the first time. And we’re very happy that others are finding that, too.

Cristi Landy joined General Motors in 1989 as a product engineer for Saturn. Throughout her career, she has held a variety of positions in engineering, marketing, program management and portfolio. Landy joined Chevrolet in 2002 as the Corvette marketing manager and led the 50th Anniversary event attended by more than 18,000 Corvette enthusiasts.