The Chevrolet Volt may be wearing out its welcome. General Motors has been hyping the gasoline-electric car ever since the company showed it off to the public 1,300 days ago. The company has let countless reporters into its battery labs and given interviews with its engineers, all in a very credible attempt to show that GM has smart people with good ideas. And it has worked. GM has picked up some technological credibility and fostered goodwill with the environmental crowd.

Now that GM is finally, after three and a half years, getting close to selling one, the commentariat is taking shots at the Volt. In an editorial in the New York Times today, Truth About Cars Editor Edward Niedermeyer panned the car as “GM’s Electric Lemon.” He criticized the car for, among other things, having bland styling and because it will likely lose GM money. Before that, “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno, a well-known car buff, also took a shot at the Volt’s styling, telling the Detroit news that, “if you didn’t know, you might think it’s a Cobalt or a Camry.”

What gives? It could be a case of Volt fatigue. Sure, documenting the tale of the car’s development gave GM a great story to tell. But in the past few months the company has amped up the noise on a car that has been hyped for years. I count 14 press releases on the Volt since June, including an announcement today that GM will boost 2012 production from 30,000 to 45,000. Some of those releases were absolutely necessary, like vital information on pricing, warranty and ordering options. Others were less weighty, such as a release saying that the car can get water under the hood without the electronics going haywire. Another details a test that proves dust won’t get in the car or affect its vitals while driving. The Volt goes on sale in November. At this point, it’s probably time to just market the car to consumers.

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There’s corporate silliness. And then there’s what happened at Chevy, er, Chevrolet this week. Chevrolet sales vice president Alan Batey and marketing vice president Jim Campbell sent a memo to employees asking that they talk about the brand as Chevrolet, not its shortened nickname Chevy, according to a New York Times report. They want the brand to be consistent, especially since General Motors is trying to push Chevrolet in global markets where some people may not know it as Chevy. The story took on a life of its own, with some observers thinking that Chevrolet way trying to ban the use of the nickname “Chevy.”

GM has since backed away from that internal memo saying that Chevy is the brand’s beloved nickname. “We’re proud of it,” Batey said in a phone interview. “It’s great.” He said GM’s global colleagues were looking for clarity on the brand. Here in the U.S., people can call it Chevy. But around the globe, Batey wants to see it consistently called Chevrolet over time.

This all seems like much ado about nothing. Even if GM wanted to ditch the Chevy nickname, Americans won’t care. They will call it Chevy just as they have for decades. The fact is, GM may legally own its brand names, but the company doesn’t own the Chevrolet or Chevy names in the popular imagination. Not here, not overseas. The brand’s customers and fans do. If Chevy or Chevrolet buyers in China or the U.S. or Russia want to call it Chevy, let them do it. So long as they are happy with their cars, GM shouldn’t care. Given the fact that GM is trying to rejuvenate interest in its brands–especially Chevrolet, which is 72% of its U.S. sales this year–the company should be happy that consumers care enough to give the brand a nickname. The message ought to be, “call us whatever you want, just call us.”