BMW as a brand started becoming an "in" car 30 years ago and has continued to make progress with only a couple of minor hiccups along the way. In terms of overall prestige and respect, very few -- if any -- car companies today command the admiration of BMW, and for good reason.
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After almost three years of development, the GM team showed the production version of the Chevy Volt on Sept. 16, 2008 -- before the bailout and the 2009 bankruptcy. Two years of durability testing and preparing the factory in Detroit followed, and when the production car was finally put into the hands of experienced automotive journalists in October 2010
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On April 11, 2011, the automotive press reported that the Chevy Volt project manager, Frank Weber, had left GM in favor of moving to Munich and become head of BMW's efforts to match the engineering of the Chevy Volt. If you search YouTube, you will find a very long list of videos of Frank Weber describing the details of, and singing the praises of, the Chevy Volt. That trail stops in early 2011. I can't find a single video of Frank Weber following BMW's high-profile hire of him April 11, 2011.
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