Consumer Reports “Recommends” the Chevy Volt

If you’re a car, this must feel like having a comment ‘liked’ on Facebook. Consumer Reports assigned the “Recommended” check mark to the Chevy Volt. Consumer Reports, long considered the praise giving and praise taking-away oracle of car buying rags, finally roped in the needed ‘predicted reliability’ surveys from 116 Volt owners to anoint the Volt. Most industry analysts (or at least the ones who subscribe and follow the Consumer Reports oracle) believe this ‘recommendation’ will help Chevrolet reach their Volt annual sales goal of 10,000 range-extended electric vehicles. So far Chevy has only sold 4,000. Will the ‘recommendation’ cause a Facebook-like pile on of community adulation? Stay tuned!

The Consumer Reports’ judging method is interesting. The magazine goes out and anonymously buys a selected brand from a dealership (rather than chance doctored perfection from manufacturers) and shuns advertising. Then it goes out and tests the cars on a track in Connecticut (yeah, Connecticut! Home to UConn, my alma mater who is now desperately trying to join the ACC conference, and…Hartford.), plus on those real roads we drive on. Consumer Reports analyzes the survey data, and thus decides on the all-important recommendation.

Ridiculous amounts of car sales ensue.