General Motors shot back at Newt Gingrich Tuesday, openly mocking his stump speech allegation that the Chevy Volt is an "Obama car" because "you can't put a gun rack in a Volt."
"Actually, you can," wrote GM's head of communications, Selim Bingol, on the company's blog. "But the real question is, 'Why would you?'"
Gingrich made a stir last week during a speech in Georgia when he observed that the Volt isn't a great car for a gun rack. "We believe in the right to bear arms and we like to bear the arms in our trucks," he said, according to The Detroit News.
"That’s like saying, 'You can’t put training wheels on a Harley,'" Bingol said. "There are better places for gun racks and training wheels -- pickup trucks and little Schwinns, respectively. Seriously, when is the last time you saw a gun rack in ANY sedan?"
The Chevy Volt is GM's most advanced hybrid car, going 40 miles on battery power alone before the gas engine kicks in to continue providing power to the battery.
Obama announced in his State of the Union address in 2011 that he wanted to see 1 million plug-in hybrids on the roads by 2015. Republicans have taken Obama's push for hybrids and electric cars as evidence that the president is out of touch with real Americans, the ones tote their guns around on weekends.
John McDole, an Atlanta resident who works for Google, was inspired to shoot a YouTube video after hearing Gingrich's comments. McDole, a registered Republican, said he's been a fan of the Volt ever since GM announced it was going to make the car back in 2007.
"Most people are saying it's Obama's car, but it came up when Bush was president," McDole said. "People keep razzing me about this car … when I heard about New Gingrich saying, 'You can't put a gun rack in the back of a Volt' … I said, challenge accepted."
McDole used PVC pipe and hooks to set up a gun rack in the trunk of his Volt, which is the first new car he's ever purchased. He hung a Remington Model 11, the first American-made semi-automatic shotgun, from the back along with two other guns he's collected over the years.
Although he doesn't plan to bring his Volt out hunting -- he's not a hunter, he prefers to use his guns for target shooting -- he is in love with the car.
"It's like a frigging spaceship," he said. "I am totally razzed about it."