General Motors Corp., often vilified by environmentalists for having pulled the plug on its pioneering battery-powered EV1, on Wednesday became the first major automaker to commit to building a new class of gasoline-electric hybrid.
GM has started development of a so-called plug-in hybrid power system and plans to roll it out in a Saturn Vue sport utility vehicle as soon as battery technology permits, Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said in a speech that kicked off a two-day media preview of the Los Angeles Auto Show, which opens Friday at the Convention Center.
His announcement thrust the Detroit-based automaker to the forefront of the race to build a hybrid that can run for a long period without using its gas engine as the company seeks to make product development the focus of the next phase of its turnaround efforts.
There are "serious concerns about energy supply, energy availability, sustainable growth, the environment, even national security -- issues that, collectively, have come to be called 'energy security,' " Wagoner told an audience of more than 1,000 journalists, analysts and industry insiders.
Although the internal-combustion engine will remain the foundation for decades to come, he said, "it is highly unlikely that oil alone is going to supply all of the world's rapidly growing automotive energy requirements."
Wagoner disappointed some industry analysts by failing to specify a timetable for the plug-in. But others gave him credit for raising the bar in the race to build fuelefficient vehicles at a time of growing customer demand in response to persistently high pump prices.
"The announcement was a big leap forward," said Alex Rosten, an analyst at Edmunds.com, an Internet automotive information service in Santa Monica. "Other automakers now will have no choice but to follow suit if they want to stay competitive."
Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. have said they were considering plug-in technology, but only GM has committed to producing a vehicle that can be sold in the retail market.
Wagoner's remarks "show that he sees that the sands are shifting," said Jason Mark, vehicles program director for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Berkeley.
Wagoner was surprised at the end of his speech by an environmental protester who asked him to sign a pledge to make GM the world's most fuel-efficient automaker by 2010. Wagoner declined, saying the message he had just delivered was more valuable than a theatrical signing of a pledge.
