(Photo by Hitchster on Flickr)
General Motors is emerging from its recent bankruptcy
proceedings a few subsidiaries lighter and perhaps a bit smarter about its
future. The American automaker sold off expensive parts like Saturn, Hummer
and Saab with plans to sell German subsidiary Opel in the future. The
streamlined General Motors appears to be focusing a bit more on green
technologies rather than the same designs that made the company unprofitable. General Motors released plans last week for a
Buick plug-in crossover to be sold by 2011 as a followup to the Chevy Volt.
The plug-in drive train used in this crossover was planned
as part of a green initiative under the Saturn label prior to bankruptcy. General Motors plans to
release a direct-injection Buick crossover in 2010 before releasing the
plug-in model in the summer of 2011. The 2010 model will use a 2.4-liter direct
injection engine to achieve 30 miles per gallon during highway driving. We will
not know the name of the crossover, exact mileage or pricing information until
later but the promise of a plug-in by GM is creating buzz.
The plug-in Buick crossover will use an 8 kWh lithium-ion
battery pack created by LG Chem, which created the 16 kWh pack for the Chevy
Volt. The battery pack will be mounted underneath the rear cargo bay to
maintain plenty of seating and storage space. General Motors claims that the
unnamed plug-in will be able to recharge within five hours using household
outlets. The heart and soul of this vehicle is the GM 2-mode hybrid drive
train, which chooses gas or electrical power depending on vehicle speed. The Buick
plug-in is expected to travel up to 300 miles using the 2-mode system.
It is understandable for Americans and Canadians to get
excited for General Motors as it represents thousands of jobs and millions of
dollars for North American communities. General Motors showed last week that the
company is not playing into fears that the bankruptcy label is a death knell
for major companies. The automaker is charging out of the gate with the Chevy
Volt and the Buick plug-in crossover in order to beat Ford, Toyota and
other competitors in the clean-vehicle market. The federal government’s $241 million grant to General
Motors for a battery pack plant and production facility for the Chevy Volt (on
top of millions of dollars in pre-bankruptcy grants) should set the automaker
on the right path. General Motors now needs to deliver on its promises by thriving economically and winning back the loyalty of consumers.
