GM Targets 2010 For Production Of Electric Car, Depending On Battery Status - MSNBC

[hatrack]

GENEVA - General Motors Corp has set a target for production of an all-electric car in 2010, GM’s product chief and Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said on Tuesday. Lutz said the major uncertainty facing the Chevrolet Volt, a concept vehicle GM unveiled in January, was whether lithium-ion batteries can be developed to power it economically and safely.

A running Volt prototype is expected by the end of 2007, he said, adding that GM would take the unusual step of opening much of its development process to the media. (Emphasis added)

“We have set an internal target of production in 2010. Whether we can make that or not, this is still kind of an unpredictable program for us,” Lutz told reporters on the sidelines of the Geneva auto show. He added: “We’re sort of outside our comfort zone.” GM detailed its broad plans for the all-electric Volt at the Detroit auto show, but the world’s No. 1 automaker declined then to disclose a production timeline.

Some critics and competitors questioned whether GM, which has been hurt recently by its association with gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles and trucks, would produce the Volt or might just look to capitalize on the favorable attention that its concept car generated. “Competitors who write this off as a PR exercise are going to be brutally surprised,” Lutz said.

EDIT

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17481908/

Sure, Bob. Whatever you say.

[IDemo]

1. Duplicate

-> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x86256

[kestrel91316]

2. I don't want an expensive luxury electric car that goes REALLY FAST.

I want something more along the lines of the Volkswagon - A PEOPLE'S CAR.

[IDemo]

4. Es Obvio (it's obvious) -->

http://www.zapworld.com/ZAPWorld.aspx?id=386

[piedmont]

5. Estimated Retail Price: $49k

cut that sticker price to $19,000 and I'll buy one (and I don't EVER buy new cars).

[IDemo]

8. true, I hadn't noticed the price

I would probably stick with the flex fuel model at $14k for now.

[kestrel91316]

6. Yeah! THAT thing!!!!

But I guarantee you they aren't made by a US car company.

Pathetic, isn't it?

[kestrel91316]

7. Sadly, I cannot afford a $49k car. If I did it would at least have a

small trunk for groceries.

[jaksavage]

3. The announcement was made in 1988

They already had a working production car.
WTF
It was because big cars make big money, little cars make little money.
So they advertised to our ego and we gobbled them up.
Govt gave tax breaks up to $100k for huge trucks.
We gobbled them up.

Raise the price of gas to $5.00 or $8.00 where it ought to be.

[razzleberry]

9. only the US can make an electric car?

WTF?

the laws of physics are different in other places?


what was wrong with Honda's EV Plus?
or Toyota's RAV4E