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GM intends to have the Volt on the road by the end of 2010, and says it will produce 10,000 units in 2011 from its Hamtramck assembly plant in inner Detroit, which it intends to retool to build hybrid-electric vehicles. "General Motors' second century starts right now," Wagoner said as vice-chairman Bob Lutz drove a silent Volt on stage before several thousand cheering GM employees in the company's Wintergarden lobby, overlooking the Detroit River. "We intend to lead the reinvention of the automobile" with the Volt, Wagoner said. "The Volt symbolizes General Motors' commitment to the future of the automobile." While not as racey-looking as the low-roofed concept version which wowed crowds at the 2006 North American International Auto Show, the sleek production version of the Volt appears to be more practical - and saleable - with its higher roofline and seating for five. Wagoner noted that GM's competitors and others claimed it was impossible to produce battery-powered car that travels as far as the Volt does on electrical power alone. Yet prototype versions of the car have been doing just that for the past year on the company's test track in Milford, Mich., virtually without a flaw. GM had hoped the first generation of the compact car would be a mass-market car brought to market for under $30,000. But production challenges - particularly with the Volt's lithium-ion battery pack, which are rumoured to cost $10,000 each - have pushed the Volt's expected sticker price up to about $40,000. Subsequent generations of the Volt are expected to be significantly lower in price as volume production brings unit costs down, company officials say. In the meantime, the Volt will serve as the world's introduction to having a plug-in electrical alternative to gasoline. "The Volt is beautifully proportioned, nice and slick," Lutz said of the car during an hour-long broadcast that highlighted GM's worldwide operations, including its Canadian production facilities east of Toronto. The look of the Volt will be crucial to the car's success, Lutz said, because design "is one of the last big differentiators left" between automotive products. |
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| aus der Diskussion: | General Motors.....wie lange noch |
| Autor (Datum des Eintrages): | VaJo (09.11.08 13:35:06) |
| Beitrag: | 628 von 6,128 (ID:35891482) |
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