GM eyes fuel-saving technology to drive growth

Mumbai: General Motors Corporation, the world's biggest automaker, will soon introduce new fuel-saving technologies, including electric vehicles, sources close to the automaker said.

GM is believed to be developing a new series of hybrid vehicles that would use a gas-engine to generate power only for an electric motor that would drive the car. GM has also been developing a plug-in electric hybrid vehicle under the internal code-named I-Car.

GM chief executive Rick Wagoner is expected to highlight the company's development programme at the Los Angeles Auto Show this week, making a strategic shift in the company's technology focus. Wagoner may not provide details on that programme which is under wraps.

GM has its first hybrid vehicle on the US market now, the Saturn VUE Green Line SUV. It has also announced plans to introduce hybrid versions of its Yukon and Tahoe SUVs by late 2007 using technology it has jointly developed with BMW AG and DaimlerChrysler AG.

Hybrid versions of GM's Saturn Aura and the GMC Yukon are expected to be on display at the Los Angeles show.

While Toyota rode into reputation with quality and fuel-efficient cars, GM's reputation in California suffered further from the controversy that surrounded this summer's release of the film "Who Killed the Electric Car?"

GM will now have to demonstrate how it is investing some of the $9 billion it saved through job cuts and plant closures in technology, including hybrids, an area where it has lagged Toyota.

GM, meanwhile, clinched a deal to have Ukrainian automaker UkrAvto build entry-level Chevrolet cars for GM at a plant in Poland, the Automotive News Europe reported, quoting industry sources.

The two companies have been in talks for months about forming a joint venture to make Chevrolets in Poland, but have now decided the FSO assembly plant will make Chevrolet small cars under contract for the time being, the report said.

Output in Poland would be less than 10,000 units in 2007, but annual production could hit 50,000 from 2008, the report said.