As we mentioned last week, Rick Wagoner, chairman and CEO of GM spoke to the crowd at the Geneva Motor Show last week, and here is a video to prove it. He spoke quite a bit about alternative fuels and alternative propulsion. He went on to state that GM is committed to providing vehicles that can operate on many different sources of energy, and that GM supports the EU and their goals of reducing harmful emissions from automobiles. Wagoner highlighted that GM has recently been focusing more heavily on electric vehicles, both powered by electricity from hydrogen fuel cells, and "extended range electric vehicles, such as the Chevrolet Volt." Extended range being the on-board internal combustion engine powering a generator providing electricity to charge the batteries, I presume. Wagoner said that GM is also pushing forward with their alternative fuel programs such as E85, and working to improve the efficiency of their gas and diesel offerings. GM would like to displace the use of petroleum based fuels with alternatives such as bioethanol, which he mentioned was the fastest growing biofuel. Wagoner showed off the new Saab 9-3 BioPower vehicle that will be available for sale soon in Europe. The new 2.9 liter diesel V6 engine was also on display as well.

Of interest to us here, Wagoner mentioned the GM Sequel, and announced that a test fleet will be released into Europe of ten fuel cell vehicles. Also, regarding their E Flex platform, Wagoner spoke of using many different sources of electricity to power it, and said that there would be new concept vehicles using the platform at the Shanghai Motor Show and Frankfurt Motor Show. These vehicles would likely have nameplates from GM's European brands. That is certainly something to look forward to!

Thanks for the tip on the video, Linton!

[Source: Youtube]

We brought you news of the Giugiaro VAD.HO concept which was shown in Geneva at the Motor Show, and now we have some live pictures of the machine from the show floor.

What makes this concept vehicle worthy of carrying the green image? None other than the BMW Hydrogen 7's V12 engine, mounted on the side of the vehicle normally occupied by the passenger. So... where is the passenger? Right behind the driver, fighter jet style. Pretty cool stuff, which is good since this is a concept vehicle, and that is what they are supposed to be. While I'm not holding my breath to see if this vehicle makes it into production, I can at least view the pictures of the only one in existence at the moment. You can too.

Related:

• Geneva preview: Giugiaro Vadho uses BMW hydrogen V12 engine

[Source: Autoblog]