Alternative Auto Sales May Grow, Lutz Says

Light & Medium Truck, May 2008

General Motors Corp. may get as many as one-third of its U.S. auto sales by about 2015 from vehicles such as hybrids that use technology different than current internal-combustion engines, Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said.

"Around 2015, we're going to have to sell a ton of hybrids, whether people want them or not," because of new U.S. fuel-economy standards, Lutz told reporters in Washington. "It's basically going to result in the quasi-disappearance of V-8 engines."

A U.S. law enacted in December requires vehicles to meet a national average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, rising from the current 27.5 mpg for cars and 22.5 mpg for pickup trucks, sport-utility vehicles and vans.

GM, the world's largest automaker, sold 3.82 million cars and light trucks in the United States last year, including about 8,400 gasoline-electric hybrids. The Detroit-based company is pursuing fuel-efficient technologies such as hydrogen fuel-cell autos and the so-called plug-in hybrid Volt, a sedan slated to go on sale by 2010 that would recharge at household electrical outlets.

Lutz said he expects GM to sell about 100,000 Volts by 2012. He repeated that the company's cost to meet the U.S. law's 35-mpg average will be $6,000 to $7,000 per vehicle. - Bloomberg News