What is today's "It car"?

That would be the Chevrolet Volt.

At a time when high gas prices rage and concerns about the environment grow, the Volt can run exclusively on electric battery power for 40 miles, the typical daily commute of many Americans.

The Volt also can use its gasoline/E85 powered engine generator seamlessly for hundreds of miles beyond that 40 mile range while charging the battery at the same time. You also can charge the Volt overnight through a regular household outlet.

The Volt certainly was aptly named because the car hit General Motors like a thunderbolt, said Bob Boniface, director of design for E-Flex Systems at GM and a Youngstown, Ohio, native.

Q: Tell us about the public reaction to the concept car.

A: We were not at all prepared for the overwhelming response to the concept car when we showed it at the 2007 North American International Auto Show [in Detroit]. We even had to digest that for a couple of weeks to determine whether we would build a production version and how we would go about doing that.

Q: So what was the key to the charisma of the Volt concept? What do you think really fascinated people the most? Was it the technology? Or the styling?

A: It was split pretty obviously between technology and design. What really got people interested, I think, was the idea of a car that could be driven petroleum-free for most people in North America. That was a revelation. At the time that the concept came out, gas prices were already high.

This is the first car from a manufacturer that really promised to save on gas and emissions. ... The fact that all this came in a fashionable wrapper sealed the deal for a lot of people.

Q: So what was the most challenging or difficult part of working with the Volt?

A: There were two really big challenges. One obvious one was the aerodynamic work we had to do. The first thing we did was to evaluate the concept car's body surfaces for aerodynamic efficiency, and the results came back that it was very poor. If we had done a car that looked like the concept, it would not allow us to deliver on our promise of getting 40 miles running only on the battery,

The second big challenge was the architectural work that had to be done -- working on the components that make up the car mechanically and structurally. Eventually it was decided that the components of the production Volt would be shared with our global compact car architecture.

But that meant we would have to alter the proportions of the Volt to accommodate that. The wheelbase of the concept Volt was 116 inches -- the same as the Chevy Tahoe, which wouldn't do much for maneuverability for the Volt. So the wheelbase was shortened and the surface of the car was changed.

Q: The concept car was so futuristic looking and striking. Were you at all worried that people might be disappointed that the production Volt was a more conventional four-door sedan?

A: We're rather surprised that people would say that the concept car was futuristic, when actually the design of the Volt concept was more of a pony car statement. It was not as futuristic as the production car turned out to be.

When you put the two cars together side by side, there's a bit more of the nostalgic look to the concept car, whereas the production car has more modernity to it. The production car is very slippery, and the surface vocabulary of the production car is very sophisticated.

Q: Tell us about the car's interior, which I've heard a lot about.

A: It's the interior that really seals the deal. It's absolutely modern and technological. It's fantastic.

There are two full color LCD screens in the Volt that look very much like a laptop. All the controls for heating and cooling, navigation and stereo in the car's center stack -- that's the middle of the instrument panel -- are touch sensitive devices like you see with MP3 players, BlackBerries and cell phones. But the interior is not a cold, impersonal space. It's very inviting, and the materials and textures we used are very warm.

Q: Still, I wonder if people won't go into the showroom looking for the concept car because of its styling and be disappointed because it's not there.

A: You never like to have critiques of what you do, and you can take it personally. But I'm fully aware of what the car changed, and I think the production car is a superior piece of design.

There are two components here -- styling, and the other, bigger component, problem solving and making sure that this car did its task to deliver 40 miles of petroleum-free driving. The concept car was not going to allow us to do that, keep our costs down, and get the car to the market in a timely fashion.

Our car will be the first one in this segment, and we'll be the first ones to market. We want to make it as affordable as we possibly can, and we believe that the car we have now is the right thing for the customer.

I make absolutely no apologies for how the car looks. See it in person, and you'll see it's absolutely beautiful. I can't tell you the number of journalists who like it better than the concept because of the sophistication and execution of the design.

Q: Speaking of cost, is the federal government going to help out at all to make the Volt more affordable for people? I understand the price can be anywhere from $30,000 to $40,000.

A: We are not counting on that happening. Also, any assistance would not be in the form of assistance to General Motors. The discussions I've seen in the media is that the assistance might be tax incentives for consumers who would buy electric vehicles. Regardless, we are building this vehicle anyway. We will make it as easy on the customers' pocketbooks as we can. But the issue of assistance and pricing won't stop us from building this car at all.

Q: So what happens between now and November 2010 when the Volt goes on sale?

A: Now, we are getting into production tooling and supplier sourcing. We have an event coming up that represents a "gate" in our vehicle development process, called styling freeze. All the styling data on the car is frozen, and suppliers now come in to get technical specifications on everything, including things like tail lamps, head lamps, wheels and all those details. We would like to have prototype bodies ready by the middle of next year.

Little issues always crop up during this time, just as with any new car. And we have to go through engineering validation, and the car has to be crash-tested and cold weather tested, for instance. All the "t's" have to be crossed and all the "i' s" dotted before the car gets to the showroom.

Q: What about numbers? How many do you expect to produce or sell?

A: It will be in the tens of thousands during the first few years, but we hope to build many more long term. I think the demand will outstrip production -- no question about that. That's true with any hot new product. But since this car is breaking new ground for the industry and nobody else has done a car like this, we will have to take a wait-and-see approach to some extent.

Q: So will we now see variants of the Volt or expansion of the Volt to other GM brands?

A: That's actually what I'm working on right now. We are working on other derivatives and variants, using this powertrain and technologies. There will be different brands in different market segments.

Q: Do the variants all have to be sedans or can the Volt package be adapted to other types of cars and/or trucks?

A: No, they don't have to be sedans. Obviously we won't stick this setup on a Suburban. The powertrain and battery from the Volt have been sized accordingly for this vehicle. But there's plenty of latitude in the size of vehicles that we can do with this propulsion system.

Q: So are variants several years off?

A: I wouldn't say several years off. I'd say sooner rather than later. We're going really fast with this car. Once the technology is completed and we know that the battery and everything else works, the derivatives and variants should all happen very quickly.