Click above for more early images of the production Chevy Volt

It's no secret that we appreciate what General Motors has been able to do with just two-liters. The direct injected and turbocharged mill powering the rear-wheel drive Solstice GXP and Sky Redline along with the front-wheel drive HHR SS and Cobalt SS models is an excellent one. What's more, its 260 horsepower represents 130-horsepower per liter, the highest ever from a GM production engine and on par with the best from the world. Expect to see more of this kind of technology from new GM engines along with more six-speed transmissions. Also expect an ever-higher percentage of aluminum to appear in all engines from all manufacturers.

GM also has plans for diesels and hybrids. The upcoming 4.5-liter diesel for full-size trucks and SUVs manages to weigh about seventy-five pounds less than other diesels of similar size. On the hybrid front, Automotive News says that GM will offer one new hybrid per quarter for the next four years -- that's sixteen new hybrids. That number would not include the Volt, a car which GM considers fully electric with a range-extender, and is something we've heard for a while now.

GM is also hard at work on HCCI engines, which we have covered extensively and offer the promise of diesel-like economy with the ability to use gasoline. Fuel cells are still on the table, though we'd imagine that today's tough financial times could slow down the development of GM's hydrogen plans. We'll take the trade-off of an HCCI engine over a hydrogen fuel cell as it would likely have a much larger impact and be ready for primetime much sooner.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

"We have to build cars and trucks that people want to buy." So said Rick Wagoner, head of General Motors, at a recent conference in Dallas, Texas in response to why GM didn't begin offering hybrid cars earlier. Yeah, Rick, that's entirely true. But, your company also has to have at least a modicum of foresight in order to be successful in the tough American market these days. For instance, Toyota is just now reaping the benefits of its hybrid electric vehicles, despite the fact that the automaker has been building them since 1997. Did Toyota know something that GM didn't? Not really, as the entire world has been watching oil prices climb for the last few decades. It was bound to happen in the United States -- GM's own backyard -- as well, and now that it has indeed taken place, the three remaining American automakers have been caught with the wrong product at the wrong time sitting on dealer lots.

[Source: MSN Money Central]

With five hybrid models on the market now and at least four more coming before the end of the year, General Motors' hybrid sales are looking less ugly than they did in the first three months of 2008. GM is still no threat to Toyota or even Ford, but sales have been steady (if slow) for the last couple of months. For the first time in their monthly sales report for June, GM has explicitly said how many hybrids were sold. Amidst truck sales that were down 39 percent compared to June 2007, GM declared that it sold 1,149 hybrids in June for a total of 4,376 during the first half of the year.

Out of that total, the Tahoe and Yukon Two-mode hybrids accounted for 547 sales, with the Malibu and Vue mild hybrids taking 295 and 277 respectively. A grand total of thirty buyers opted for the Saturn Aura hybrid. The last time that hybrid sales were mentioned for April, about the same number of Two-mode and mild hybrid models were sold. So far, in a market where hybrids are flying off the lots of most dealers who offer them, GM's pricey two-mode trucks and tepid mild hybrids have been also rans. It will be interesting to watch and see if the significantly cheaper Chrysler hybrid SUVs can draw more interest when they appear at dealers this summer followed by the smaller Saturn Vue Two-mode later this fall.

[Source: General Motors]

Click the Tahoe hybrid for a high-res gallery

Marketing is extremely important when launching a new vehicle. The idea that you can "Build it and they will come," doesn't actually work in the real world, even when the vehicle is designed to save money at the pump. Such is the case with General Motors and its most recent hybrid vehicles: large SUVs. Despite the fact that the Tahoe and Yukon hybrids are all new and boast an extremely high-tech and well-integrated hybrid system, sales of the gas-savers stands at a mere trickle. High-cost is surely a factor, but, as experts point out, the marketing of the new vehicles has been sorely lacking.

GM's main marketing man, Mark LaNeve, agrees that the automaker could be doing a better job. "There's very little awareness that we even have these products. We're going to be constrained by battery availability, but we still think that we could work it up to 5 to 10 percent of our full-sized SUV sales." Since it began reporting hybrid sales five months ago, GM has sold 1,540 Tahoe and Yukon hybrids out of 57,818 total sales of its big SUVs. Expect to see much more advertising for these hybrids in the coming months.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

A month ago during GM's monthly sales conference call, it was revealed that the company had sold a measly 843 hybrid vehicles in the first three months of 2008. Although I don't partake in the most recent sales call, one of the readers over at TTAC did listen in this month and someone specifically posed the question of how many hybrids GM managed to move off dealer lots in April. As usual GM didn't break out hybrid sales in the overall numbers but when questioned, Marketing boss Mark LaNeve did acknowledge "over 1,100" sales with over 500 being the Tahoe and Yukon hybrids. The remainder were assorted mild hybrids of the Malibu, Aura and Vue varieties. That's still nothing to get particularly excited about, but it's a move in the right direction - unless, of course, profitability is the desired outcome. GM is undoubtedly loosing a significant number of dollars on every two-mode hybrid and selling more will only make things worse financially. It will be interesting to see if GM actually makes more of a push to sell the two-modes when the Escalade hybrid launches later this year at a significantly higher price.

[Source: The Truth About Cars]

Click on the image for a high-res gallery of the Two-Mode Hybrid GM SUVs

Back in 2004 General Motors first announced plans to partner with DaimlerChrysler and later also BMW to develop a full parallel hybrid drivetrain system. This system, referred to as the Two-Mode hybrid, was adapted from a system developed by GM's Allison transmission division for use on transit buses. Subsequently the three companies opened a joint development center in Troy, MI in 2006 and all three companies have applications planned although only GM and Chrysler have announced specific vehicles. BMW has yet to announce a specific vehicle and likely won't introduce their first application until 2009 or 2010. Early in 2008, Chrysler will release a version of the Dodge Durango/Chrysler Aspen equipped with the Two-Mode system and sometime after that Mercedes is expected to bring forth a hybrid ML class, possibly also equipped with a BlueTec Diesel.

General Motors has announced three vehicles that will get the new system, with the Chevy Tahoe/GMC Yukon being the first one coming this fall. A few months after that the Cadillac Escalade picks up the extra hardware, followed by the Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra pickups and finally the Saturn Vue/Chevy Equinox. The smaller crossovers will be the first application with a transverse drivetrain in both front and all wheel drive configurations. The GMT900 platform vehicles will also be in available in both rear and all-wheel drive hybrid configurations. With the Tahoe/Yukon hybrids due to come off the Arlington, TX assembly lines in just a few months, GM felt it was time to invite some media to their Milford Proving Ground to sample the new system for the first time.

Continue reading about the first drive in these new hybrids after the jump.

In conjunction with the Detroit Auto Show introduction of the Chevrolet Volt concept, General Motors is also unveiling an entirely new vehicle architecture that they've dubbed "E-Flex". As the name implies E-Flex is a platform for electrically driven vehicles. The key to this platform, though, is the inherent flexibility they've designed in. During the presentation of E-Flex Beth Lowery, GM Vice-President Energy and Environment talked about the future of energy supplies. GM sees diversity as one of the keys to energy independence.

General Motors has basically bifurcated their alternative fuel vehicles into two groups, those that have wheels driven by internal combustion engines and those that don't. The first group includes the hybrids like the mild hybrids sold today in the Saturn Vue and Aura. It also includes the upcoming two-mode hybrids in the 2008 Chevy Tahoe and other vehicles. The second group comprises vehicles that have no ICE mechanically connected to the wheels. E-Flex falls into the latter category. Find out lots more about E-Flex and see more images after the jump.

(Click here to see AutoblogGreen's high-resolution image gallery of the Chevy Volt and read all about the car here.)

[Source: General Motors]

General Motors is moving forward on their plans for a plug-in hybrid version of the Saturn Vue that chairman Rick Wagoner announced at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Today they are awarding development contracts to Cobasys and Johnson Controls-Saft to create and test lithium-ion batteries. The companies will supply battery packs that will be installed in prototype vehicles with testing to begin later in 2007. Both companies are working on different battery technologies that will be evaluated by GM for durability, reliability and cost. GM will also actively look at other battery makers, even while this testing continues. Once a battery has been found that can meet the requirements for production, the shift from NiMH batteries to lithium-ion will move forward. The full GM press release is after the jump.

[Source: General Motors]

The media spotlight was on GM Chairman Rick Wagoner and the big announcement yesterday at the Los Angeles Auto Show that GM would offer a plug-in hybrid sometime in the next few years. Over at the EDTA Conference, where such an announcement would have been right at home, the news was delivered to attendees Wednesday afternoon by Pete Savagian, engineering director of GM hybrid powertrains. When Savagian mentioned the announcement, people clapped and cheered. The news seemed to validate a lot of what was going on at the EDTA show, and fit well with Savagian's presentation on GM's hybrid line-up. That line-up looks like this:

• Two-mode hybrid: Allison bus (upcoming: Tahoe/Yukon, Escalade, Silverado/Sierra)
• Light hybrids: Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra
• Hybrid: Saturn Vue, (upcoming: Saturn Aura, Chevy Malibu)
• Upcoming plug-in hybrid: Saturn Vue

That PHEV Vue will be a two-mode front wheel drive vehicle that Savagian said would deliver at least a 45 percent improvement in fuel economy and can go about ten miles on electric power alone in certain driving conditions. "There are a whole lot of hurdles to get this car to production," he said.

The upcoming Tahoe and Escalade group is also posing a challenge to GM, Savagian said. Engineers are working to put electric motors into these large truck and SUV vehicles, but they feel they cannot "sacrifice what this segment represents," he said. The challenge – achieved – was to put all of the hybrid components into a space the size of the transmission. Engineers came up with a two-electric motor system that will be on display at NAIAS in January. This system can move the vehicle on electric power alone at low speeds, and will not reduce performance when the engine is fully engaged.

It's time. President Bush will tell auto execs from the Detroit auto companies that he supports building more hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles, according to spokesman Tony Snow. Snow said that during tomorrow's long-awaited meeting with the heads of Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group, Bush will say (at the very least) that he wants the companies to succeed, in part by offering green cars. Two previously scheduled meetings between the President and the Big 2.5, where the auto execs wanted to tell him the types of support they want from the government, were postponed. Snow did not say if the Bush administration was ready to offer help to the struggling companies. In the past, the auto companies have said they don't want a government bailout and Bush has said he wants the companies to work things out on their own.

The auto companies are working on alternative energy sources - hydrogen, gasoline and possibly diesel hybrid -
for their vehicles, as you can see in the related stories listed below.

One quote from Snow makes me think that even with the push for green cars, the environment will not be at the top of anyone in the meeting's list of concerns. Snow said gasoline alternatives, "give us a little better ability to try to wean ourselves from an addiction to oil, especially foreign oil." Hey, Tony, they also help us breathe better.

Related:

• Bob Lutz admits "mistake" with hybrids but still sees promise in technology
• GM's hydrogen Sequel Test Drive, Part 1: Intro
• GM will announce a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) at NAIAS in January
• Ford Focus FCV in the AutoblogGreen Garage, the video

[Source: Reuters via EV World]

It not exactly a surprise (see all the hints dropped in the related stories below), but it's still good to hear again that GM will likely unveil a prototype plug-in hybrid at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January, the Detroit News is reporting today. This would be the first plug-in hybrid (PHEV) from a major manufacturer, and we've hear it called the "I-car" (for Icon car).

But look at the image above. While the Detroit News used a picture of the EV-1, Reuters accompanied this announcement with a picture of a truck power cord plugged into a pick-up truck bed. My guess is that this is really a standard-issue accessory source for any electronics you'd want to run at a tailgate rather than a leaked preview of the I-truck. Why else would there be two plugs? Anyone else have any guesses?

Lastly, what is a bit of a surprise, and an oh so tempting one to the fuel conscious, is that unnamed GM officials told the newspaper that the engine coupled to the electric motor would be powered by either gasoline or diesel. Wow. If GM gets a diesel hybrid to the North American market first, the green crowd will have a new hero. It'll leave Ford wondering how come they didn't announce this bold move first and Toyota and Honda have yet to unveil any PHEV vehicles they are working on.

Related:

• GM's new green strategy to focus on plug-in hybrids with "I-car" project
• Lutz says electric cars very much alive at General Motors
• Go ahead, place an order for that plug-in hybrid already. A "soft order", that is
• AutoblogGreen Q&A with Sherry Boschert: why plug-in hybrids will recharge America

[Source: Detroit News, thanks to John Stockard]

All right, GM's now in the "affordable" hybrid game. So, how does the company's new Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid drive? The Saturn Vue isn't a hybrid in the same way a Prius is (the electric motor can't drive the Vue on its own, for example), but the electric side of things does increase fuel economy (to 27/32 mpg for the SUV). Kicking Tires reviewer David Thomas recently took a Vue for a spin and discovered a quiet ride that felt like driving a standard gasoline-powered SUV. The only things that set the Vue hybrid apart from standard SUVs, he writes, are two gauges in the dashboard, the charge/assist meter and the "Eco" indicator light.

Related:

• Saturn Vue Green Line Revisited
• Saturn Vue delivers best SUV highway fuel economy
• GM vice president says automakers need to produce hybrids, sense be damned

[Source: Kicking Tires]

Bob Lutz, GM vice president of global product development said on Tuesday at the launch of the Opel/Vauxhall Corsa that automakers need to produce hybrid vehicles even though the economic and environmental benefits are not as spectacular as they could be. Lutz said that he likes hybrids. He enjoys driving them, is glad the Saturn Vue has a "simple" hybrid engine, and that GM will introduce a two-mode hybrid engine in some of its full-size pick-up trucks next year, but they're just not totally sensible for a car company's economics. GM's new hybrid system should net the trucks a 25 or 30 percent fuel economy gain. There's one Lutz quote that sums up the entire article: "I would say it's [hybrid technology is] a necessary technology from a public policy and PR standpoint and technologically of doubtful benefit - costing every company that does them a lot of money."

[Source: EV World]