GM will definitely come out with a plug in. They'll retrofit an Aveo or similar. It will get 30mpg, and do 0-60 in 2 minutes and cost 10,000 more. As a result of poor sales, they'll pull it citing lack of public interest in plug in technology......

Note: I will be purchasing a battery plug in upgrade when available (and affordable).

 

hey fred


I too have looked into a plug in conversion for the highlander. There is a company out of canada that replied it has them for the pruis and others but not the highlander yet. Keeping fingers crossed.

However, I am also looking into getting the escort completely converted to electric.

 

GM could have been a market leader!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General...ain_Prototypes
After producing the first EV1 cars (2 seat battery only) in 1996, a 4 seat EV1 was in development, destined to be a hybrid, with plug-in recharging taking 2 hours.

 

Well... In my humble opinion, two things happened:

1.) Big Oil dropped a load in their pants when they realized that a car manufacturer could make *their* industry obsolete. They probably bribed GM to scrap the project, bought all the patents, and sealed the designs somewhere in the 100th sub-basement vault in Yucca Flats.

2.) GM greedily figured out that when gasoline was in the $0.89-$1.29 range, nobody would spend a red cent to purchase extra fuel economy. Unfortunately, given the fact that even now SUV sales dominate the auto market, they were mor or less correct.

I really doubt that GM is ever going to produce a plug-in hybrid. Let's face it: what would such a system plug in to? BAS is basically a stop/start hybrid. 2-Mode is basically a mild hybrid system on steroids. Neither of these two architectures would benefit from an external battery pack.

And let's keep in mind that GM hasn't actually PRODUCED and BAS or 2-Mode systems yet. All they've done is recite their tired refrain of "We're Gonna"

 

I completely agree with this post.

The thing that is most obvious is that GM is in deep trouble, much more dire than Ford. They have all kinds of financial problems stemming from labour costs to buy out, to design models that look like gas guzzlin dinosaurs.

How can a company put out a plug in hybrid when its main focus right now is merging with other automakers to save its skin?

How do they put out money they dont have to perfect their 'plug in hybrid' and manufacture it -when deeper pocket industry leaders like Honda and Toyo dont even have in the pre production stage yet?

Again, using Bill Fords lead -they are just going to make a 'media statement' hoping to raise stock prices, making a merger rosier for the investor.

Even if they foolishly go deeper into debt and manufacture the thing -how long will it be before Honda and Toyo therefore put out 5 different superior models of the plug in and steal the market (again).

 

Sad to say, I think you may be right in your prediction. Maybe I'm just cynical, but it seems like the way things are going with this sudden spike of interest by car manufacturers who just don't have a good reputation for following through on these things and who aren't really interested (historically speaking) in making big changes, even when necessary. If GM does go into the plug-in market, I think it's unlikely that they'll take the kind of risks and make the kind of changes that some of the Japanese car companies have. On the other hand, if GM manages to really push the envelope and makes a fantastic PHEV, then good for them. I'd like to see an American company on the cutting edge. I just need to see it to believe it.