GM''s Wagoner Just Can't Stop Talking About Electrics & Hybrids - Globe & Mail

[hatrack]

That's nice. Oh, and Rick - that and $1.00 will get you a bottomless cup of coffee at Perkins.

Good article, though.

EDIT

Just hours after the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington heard global warming arguments for the first time in history, a continent away inside the Los Angeles Convention Centre, the General Motors chairman and CEO conceded that Thomas Edison was indeed right about electric cars. Wagoner, sketching out GM's future strategy on “green technology” in a keynote address at the Los Angeles Auto Show, noted that in 1907 three technologies were competing to power the automobile — gasoline, steam and electricity. Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, backed electricity. Gasoline won out for the next 100 years, though that is about to change.

EDIT

“It looks like Edison might not have had a bad idea. It is highly unlikely oil alone will provide the energy for future automobiles,” said Wagoner. Wagoner said GM now has in place, as part of its overall turnaround strategy, an ambitious plan to develop technologies for cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Electric vehicles will ultimately form the core of the strategy, though in the near-term GM plans to develop and introduce vehicles that can be powered by a number of sources of energy. “GM's commitment to improving fuel economy, reducing vehicle emissions and developing electrically driven vehicles is not a short-term strategy,” Wagoner said.

“We see energy and environmental leadership as a critical element of GM's ongoing turnaround plan.” Wagoner added: “We must — as a business necessity — develop alternative sources of propulsion.”

EDIT

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061206.wh-lashow07/BNStory/Front

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Like what - a Hummer that runs on beet greens?

Get real Rick - quit churning out those monster land barges.

[kestrel91316]

3. A Hummer that runs on human waste would be more appropriate.

[greenman3610]

2. GM deserves to be in the pickle they are in

but their workers are the people who are buying all
those SUVs - and unless we are all willing to take
responsibility for the ignorance that brought us
here, we are not going to get out of this
jam.....

[Kolesar]

4. I see a lot of Chevy Cavaliers in the GM Lordstown parking lot when I drive by.

[amandabeech]

5. Lots of small Saturns around here.

Also, I've heard good things about the latest version of the Aveo--much, much improved from the earlier models.

It will be interesting to see what kind of reliability the thing delivers.

IMHO, there will be a market for mid-size, non-4X4 or -AWD vehicles for the next 10-15 years. Who knows, maybe GM can come up with something respectable there.

The same goes for vans and trucks. Many businesses and just about all farms have use for large capacity and/or heavy duty vehicles. Most don't need 4-wheel drive.

Hummers are bummers, however.

I'm trying to be hopeful since I'm from Michigan and would like to return in a few years.