GM Exec: Consumers will decide new auto technologies
By MSN Money Central
March 11, 2008
Automobile consumers may be heading into a 20-year-long trial period in which they will determine which technology or technologies replaces the internal combustion engine, a top General Motors Corp. executive said in Atlanta today.
The giant automaker is evaluating a range of technologies from "gas friendly to gas free," because of the need for greater U.S. energy independence, measures to limit climate change and the desire to lower the cost of transportation, said Troy A. Clarke, president of General Motors North America.
Clarke said those options include vehicles with greater fuel efficiency, E-85 ethanol vehicles, and those with hybrid, electric and fuel cell power sources.
"At this point in time we think the right bet to make is not on any one of those, but on all of those," Clarke told the Atlanta Press Club. "It's very important that the customer help choose which technology, which solution, ultimately wins. Because if we've learned anything it's that we can't sell you what we want. We have to sell you what you want."
Clarke said GM is testing a fuel cell vehicle in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and the New York-Boston corridor, but is looking for a way to get more hydrogen on board to increase its current per-tank range of 250 to 300 miles.
Shares of GM (NYSE: GM) closed Monday at $20.89, near the low end of its 52-week trading range of $20.74 to $43.20. Clarke said the U.S. auto industry has contracted for six consecutive quarters.
Clarke planned to spend the entire day in Atlanta, meeting with the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce in the morning and going later to Georgia Tech and to observe focus groups. He called Atlanta "an important market" for the automaker because it is one of several cities that sets trends for the nation.
Clarke said the company's Doraville Assembly plant will close at the end of September, after a couple of months of additional production of 2009 vehicles intended for sale in Canada. The plant produces minivans, which are a declining segment of the market as consumers opt for "crossover" vehicles that resembles SUVs, he said.
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