Earlier this week, we told you how General Motors CEO Dan Akerson was excited about the success of the Chevrolet Volt and the dawning of an electric vehicle age (see article) and now we can reveal the company’s plans for more electric vehicles.
GM is preparing to launch two more extended range electric vehicles and a plug-in hybrid according to Akerson, speaking at the 2011 Automotive News World Congress.
A hatchback and a multi-purpose vehicle, described as “essentially a small minivan” will be introduced in 2012 and 2013 with the automaker also to launch a plug-in hybrid version of the Cadillac SRX crossover.
Akerson firmly believes that petrol prices will rise and so it is important that GM remains at the cutting edge of electric vehicle development. It is the plan to hire 1,000 new electric vehicle engineers and to ramp up product development spending.
It is expected that GM will build more than 25,000 Volts this year with hopes that electric vehicles will make up 10 per cent of GM’s production in 10-15 years.
