GM Concepts have Earth Friendly Focus

[img=right:3cf389ac96]http://mas.scripps.com/WXYZ/2005/01/09/050109naias-gm-sequel-1_e.jpg[/IMG]
GM Concepts have Earth Friendly Focus
By Seth Myers
January 9, 2005

The world’s automakers always choose different ways to trot out their new vehicles and concepts. Sunday, GM opted for a theatrical theme.

General Motors began the morning with the first piece of what it styled as a 3 act play. GM executives and cars were the stars of Act 1 as the company focused on technology and environmental impact.

Rick Wagoner, GM’s Chairman and CEO, said that the company has a responsibility to improve vehicle fuel economy, but to also make cars that people will want to drive and be able to afford.

Wagoner pointed to his company’s recent collaborations with DaimlerChrysler on hybrid vehicles. He also noted a Saab 9-5 Bio Power model that will soon be sold in Sweden and run on both ethanol and traditional gasoline.

Hybrid vehicles – those that run on both gasoline and electric motors – were also key to GM’s first press conference. They noted that 335 GM hybrid buses now roam the streets of America’s cities.

Of course, the auto show is more about what might soon be in your own garage. To that end, they showed the family-sized GMC Graphyte concept vehicle.

By 2010, General Motors is committed to releasing a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. Speaking of society’s future transition to a hydrogen-based economy, Larry Burns, GM’s Vice President of Research, Development and Planning., said, "It’s not if, but when."

Burns then introduced a long, thin skateboard sort of thing. It was the power train that would sit beneath the GM Sequel, a hydrogen-based fuel cell vehicle with a potential range of 300 miles. He then wheeled out a 5 passenger sport utility version.

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