General Motors presents Volt on company's 100th anniversary
Published Tuesday September 16th, 2008
DETROIT - General Motors Corp. chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner unveiled the automaker's long-awaited electric car Tuesday and said turmoil in financial markets should not affect government loan guarantees that would help the auto industry develop high-tech vehicles.
Speaking to reporters at GM's 100th anniversary celebration, Wagoner said the $25 billion in support was approved last year as part of an energy bill and should now be funded to help the industry build next-generation automobiles and meet government fuel economy standards.
"Really a relatively small fraction of the investment the industry will have to make to achieve these improvements was to be provided for by direct loans," Wagoner said.
"We're just asking that those loans now be funded and that the rules and procedures to be able to draw against those loans be finalized promptly."
GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC have been working to get Congress to fund the loans after months of tight credit markets, tepid sales and high gasoline prices.
If the government loans don't come through and the U.S. auto market doesn't recover, GM may have to make further cuts, chief operating officer Fritz Henderson told reporters.
"We could have to do some more things for sure," he said. "Do I have my game plan laid out today? No."
The company may also have to cut more costs if the credit markets remain tight, Henderson said. GM's liquidity plan calls for $10 billion in internal cuts and $5 billion in asset sales and borrowing.
Henderson said he is confident GM can hit those numbers, but said he could not predict what will happen in the credit markets, which affect consumer credit as well as corporate borrowing.
"We'll have to see what the lasting impact is," Henderson said.
Wagoner showed off the near-production version of the Chevrolet Volt, designed to go over 60 kilometres on a single charge from a home electrical outlet. He said GM has been testing the car's new lithium-ion battery packs and is confident in their performance.
"General Motors' second century starts right now," he said as vice-chairman Bob Lutz drove the sedan onto a stage at the automaker's world headquarters.
Lutz told reporters that GM could develop products even if it doesn't get the loans, but would prefer to have the financing as it faces a difficult balancing act between meeting government regulations and creating new vehicles.
"Obviously it's clear that government loans would take a lot of the stress off," he said.
GM said the Volt would cost about 80 cents to fully charge at a rate of 10 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Beyond its 60-kilometre electrical range, the batteries will be recharged by a small gasoline engine, allowing the car to travel hundreds more kilometres.
GM said the engine will be able to run on E85 fuel, a blend of 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent gasoline.
"It's proof that the century-old General Motors is alive and well and that it intends to lead in reinventing the automobile," Wagoner said.
The Volt will have a driver-configurable liquid-crystal instrument display and touch-screen controls for its climate, information and entertainment systems, GM said. It will also include standard Bluetooth wireless connectivity for a cellular phone and music streaming.
GM hasn't announced the Volt's pricing, but it's expected to cost between $30,000 and $40,000.
It is due in showrooms by November 2010.
Lutz said in an interview that the car won't be ready sooner because of the complexity in building an entirely new powertrain.
"This is all-new technology, a lot of very complex software on the interaction between power electronics, piston engine and so forth," he said.
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