The Chevrolet Volt hasn't even rolled into showrooms yet, but two leading auto magazines have named it car of the year.

Motor Trend and Automobile lavished praise on General Motors' plug-in vehicle, a car we've always considered an impressive bit of tech. The awards are significant validations of the Chevrolet Volt and the technology underpinning it.

Both magazines hailed the car's styling, its technology and the impact it will have on the auto industry. Not bad for a vehicle that journalists have spent no more than a few days driving. The Volts we'll see in showrooms are only now rolling off the assembly line.

Angus MacKenzie, editor-in-chief of MT, called the Volt, "a fully functional, no-compromise compact automobile that offers consumers real benefits in terms of lower running costs." To say MacKenzie liked the Volt is an understatement. He raved about it.

“The more we think about the Volt, the more convinced we are this vehicle represents a real breakthrough,” MacKenzie said in announcing the award at the GM wind tunnel in Warren, Michigan. “The genius of the Volt’s powertrain is that it is actually capable of operating as a pure EV, a series hybrid, or as a parallel hybrid to deliver the best possible efficiency, depending on the user’s duty cycle. For want of a better technical descriptor, this is world’s first intelligent hybrid. And the investment in the technology that drives this car is also an investment in the long-term future of automaking in America.”

Automobile was equally effusive.

“On its way to becoming Automobile Magazine’s 2011 Automobile of the Year, the Chevrolet Volt endured more scrutiny and skepticism than any of the nine other semifinalists,” said associate editor Eric Tingwall. “It is genuinely an all-new car, in the most simplistic sense as well as in the greater notion that the Volt is unlike any vehicle we have ever driven.”

Putting aside the debate over what the Volt is – strictly speaking, it's a plug-in hybrid – MacKenzie and Tingwall are right. The Volt is a milestone, both for General Motors and the auto industry. It is a bridge between fossil-fuel burning vehicles and battery electrics like the Nissan Leaf.

A primer for the uninitiated: The Volt draws power from a 16 kilowatt-hour lithium ion-battery with a range of 25 to 50 miles, depending upon how you're driving. When the battery runs down, a small gasoline engine drives a generator that keeps electricity flowing to the motor propelling the vehicle. (The engine can, in very specific circumstances, help turn the wheels).

General Motors plans to make the Volt a mainstream vehicle and introduce the technology in other models. General Electric plans to buy 12,000 of them by 2015, and automakers like Volvo, Audi and even Lotus are experimenting with vehicles similar to the Volt.

Motor Trend heaped praise upon the Volt's styling, technology and efficiency. During a "multiday, 299-mile test," the MT crew used 58.6 kilowatt-hours of electrical energy and 2.36 gallons of gas, the equivalent to a conventional vehicle getting 72.9 mpg. The magazine said the the Volt "surpassed expectations for low energy consumption and carbon footprint."

The magazine also called the Volt an excellent value despite its $41,000 price tag. The price comes to $33,500 after the federal EV tax credit; some states offer incentives that will bring the price down further.

A lot of people bitch about the price, but we've never understood why. The average price consumers paid for a new car last year was $28,400. Given the level of technology packed into the Volt – and, frankly, the quality of the car carrying it all – the price is fair. Several auto industry analysts we've talked to agree.

By the way, Automobile also named electric vehicles "technology of the year."

“This is not to suggest that Ferrari’s screaming eight- and 12-cylinder engines are obsolete,” said Don Sherman, the magazine's technical editor. “Nor that hybrid vehicles are passé. But we are convinced that electric propulsion is ready to finally assume a significant role as one of several powertrain options for the future.”

Hear, hear.

Photo: General Motors

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