GM's troubled Adam Opel GmbH subsidiary presented the lithium-battery powered hatchback Ampera Tuesday at the Geneva Motor Show, where electric-powered vehicles gathered momentum as a way to persuade environmentally aware consumers to buy new cars during the global recession.
Other automakers — including Chrysler, Mitsubishi and Ford — also touted their plans for cars equipped with electric motors as the industry both seeks to overcome the current crisis that has decimated sales and meet increasingly tough environmental and carbon emission standards.
Only European giant VW bucked the trend, saying its answer to the electric car would come out "in the coming decade."
European drivers could be silently cruising around in the Ampera by the end of 2011 — the first 60 kilometers on pure electricity augmented by another 500 kilometers of extended range from a gasoline engine, which would generate less than 40 grams of C02 emissions per kilometer.
The Ampera presented in Geneva was a white four-door sedan with a hatchback — and a set of front headlights that created a menacing, masculine impression. An Opel official demonstrated how the car could easily be plugged into any household electrical supply.
"This is the kind of game-changing technology that the auto industry needs to respond to energy and environmental challenges," President of GM Europe Carl Peter Forster said.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said it has reached an understanding with Peugeot Citroen PSA to sell its new electric car "i MiEV" to European customers as early as late next year.
Mitsubishi's president Osamu Masuko said the collaboration could help pave the road to "tomorrow's sunny days" for the automotive industry, which is struggling amid the global economic downturn and a decline in global sales.
Peugeot will sell the car under its own brand in Europe, while Mitsubishi will launch the car in Japan this year.
The four-door electric-only hatchback produces no carbon dioxide emissions and has a top speed of 130 kilometers per hour (80 mph). It has a range of 145 kilometers once its 330-volt lithium ion battery is charged for 14 hours.
By contrast, Ford and Chrysler showed only concept cars that illustrate the company's thinking about electric cars.
Ford's presented at its stand a five-seater passenger vehicle called the Tourneo developed for European markets by Smith Electric Vehicles, part of the Tanfield Group, which developed the the Ford Connect van in the United States.
"The plan is to go into production as soon as we feel the market is ready for production," Tanfield CEO Darren Kell said.
Chrysler showed its Dodge Circuit EV sports car, which was unveiled in Detroit.
VW is moving more slowly. Chairman Martin Winterkorn said the German automaker would launch its first electric vehicle "in the next decade."
"Announcements alone have never brought new technology onto the road," Winterkorn told a presentation at the Geneva Auto Show. "It's a long path to safe electric cars that are available for everyone. We are not talking about being the one with the fastest solution. We want the best solution."
"We expect to increase market share. Not volumes," Winterkorn said. Translation: VW cars will outsell their competitors, even as new car sales shrink.
Opel faces a particularly difficult situation and such new technologies are critical to the restructuring plan it has laid out seeking government funds. GM Europe has proposed that Opel loosen its ties with its beleaguered U.S. parent and said it would need euro3.3 billion in financing or guarantees from European authorities over the next two years. The aim would be to pay the money back in 2014 or 2015.
At the same time, the Ampera, the European relative to the North American Volt, and the Chevrolet Spark, which Opel also presented in Geneva for sale in Europe by early next year, represents the kind of technology that it can get from its U.S. parent company.
