CHICAGO (Reuters) - General Motors Corp (
GM.N) plans to upgrade its upcoming battery-powered Chevy Volt once it launches late next year, far faster than it could overhaul a conventional vehicle, a GM executive said on Tuesday night.
The technology behind the highly-touted all-electric Volt will allow GM to drive improvements to future versions far more quickly after the battery-powered car goes on sale in 2010, Frank Weber, GM's global vehicle line executive for the Volt, said at an event ahead of the Chicago Auto Show.
"This is almost like getting software updates into your car," Weber said. "This is not a mechanical world. This is suddenly you get updates, improvements much more rapidly."
"So, even within a vehicle lifecycle you will see updates that are very significant," he said.
GM, which expects to begin production of the Volt in 2010, has not said when it expects to roll out the second generation of the vehicle, but plans to focus on cutting the size and cost of the battery as a top priority, Weber said.
GM, pledged $13.4 billion of government loans to avert collapse, has not said how long it will take to produce an offshoot of the Volt.
The automaker has a short window to prepare a plan that will demonstrate to the U.S. government that it can be viable. On Tuesday it announced plans to cut 10,000 salaried jobs, or 14 percent of its workforce and impose pay cuts on most remaining U.S. workers.
PRIORITIES
Weber said his priorities included driving down the size and cost of the Volt's lithium-ion battery for future versions.
The 400-pound (181 kg) T-shaped battery pack is expected to be the Volt's most expensive element and most important component. The cells for the battery will be manufactured by Korea's LG
Chem (051910.KS), GM said last month.
Weber said GM engineers were not focused on extending the vehicle's range beyond 40 miles, a distance seen as the longest most people would drive the car on a daily basis.
"My goal is not to go from 40 to 60 (miles) in the next generation vehicles," Weber said of the Volt's range. "My expectation is that the battery is equally capable, but they are half the size and half the cost of the batteries that go into the car right now."
The drive system designed by GM for the Volt could be applied across the automaker's entire lineup over time, but that is not something Weber said he envisions now.
"Before we talk about diversification on the portfolio side, there is enough market for a vehicle that provides this level of functionality and performance," he said.
The Cadillac Converj concept car GM shown at the Detroit auto show in January shows the Volt system could work in a higher-cost luxury model, Weber said.
GM's Volt project sets it apart from other automakers that have been developing pure battery electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles, Weber said.
GM believes the Volt's battery-driven system will remain viable over several generations, and battery technology will not progress for some time to a point where pure battery electric vehicles can range hundreds of miles at an affordable price, Weber said.
The automaker has taken great pains to deliver on its plan for a 40-mile pure-battery range for the Volt, down to reducing friction on the tires and the battery drain from electronics such as stereo systems.
GM said on Tuesday Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co (
GT.N) would provide new tires that have less rolling resistance for the Volt and Bose would produce an optional premium sound system that would weigh less and use less electricity.
GM plans to build about 10,000 Volts in the first year of production and eventually push annual output to about 60,000. The car's battery can be recharged at a standard electric outlet.
GM has said it does not expect to make money on the first generation of the Volt, making its subsequent launches more important for the struggling automaker.
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