No, this isn’t a car from the upcoming Tron sequel. No, it’s the 2010 Chevy Orlando, a concept vehicle due to be shown off at the Paris Motor Show next week. It’s pretty similar to the 2010 Chevy Cruze, but as you can see, it’s got some pretty dramatic blue lighting on its exterior. I’m not quite sure if its completely ridiculous or totally awesome; it probably falls somewhere between the two. I mean, Tron lights are awesome, but Tron lights on a glorified minivan? It’s interesting, at least. Hit the jump for a shot of this with its sunroof glowing, then head over to Jalopnik to see many, many more pictures of this thing.
Points to Chevy for utilizing GPS in a brilliant way. Their new Volt features plug-in batteries powering an electric engine that, while promising, are only good for a 40-mile range without gas backup. So what do you do if you want to burn as little gas as possible, other than stay far below 40 miles of driving? To maximize battery use, the Volt’s GPS gauges how far you are from home and coordinates when/if the integrated gasoline-based generator should run to recharge the battery. In other words, the car is smart enough to know whether you’re 2 miles away from recharging or whether you are trapped in the desert with no hope in site. Nothing technically impressive here, just smart design. [Jalopnik]
We don’t write about car dashboards all that often here on the Giz, but when the dash is from an electric car/hybrid and it shares its white sheen with both classic iPods and Stormtrooper helmets, how could we possibly resist? Nearly buttonless, the Chevy Volt’s injection molded centre console features a large LCD that, from what we can tell from the picture, will be locked with the static image of 2/3 battery remaining. It’s certainly an interesting look, but I’m just not so sure it blends so well with the rest of the car. What do you think? [thecarlounge via Jalopnik]
