General Motors Co. will start selling its Chevrolet Volt electric car in California late next year as the largest U.S. automaker challenges Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius.
The plug-in electric Volt will have a top speed of 100 miles per hour, Maria Rohrer, GM director of the Volt program, said today at a school assembly in advance of the Los Angeles Auto Show.
A California debut for the Volt may help GM improve its image in a state with some of the strictest U.S. anti-pollution regulations. Detroit-based GM has a 9.8 percent market share in Los Angeles, compared with 19.8 percent nationwide, based on data from researchers Experian Plc and Autodata Corp.
"California is one of GM's biggest problem markets, and this vehicle and technology addresses some of the key concerns that California consumers have," said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst at IHS Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts.
GM said it expects a federal fuel-efficiency rating of 230 miles per gallon for the Volt, more than four times the Environmental Protection Agency grade for the Prius. Toyota's 2010 Prius is rated at 51 mpg in city driving and 48 mpg on the highway, according to the agency's vehicle-efficiency Web site.
Unproven Technology
The Volt uses a lithium-ion battery charged through an electrical outlet, part of the unproven technology that GM is counting on to leapfrog the Prius, the world's best-selling hybrid. Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota began selling the Prius in 2000.
GM projects a fully charged Volt will travel 40 miles (64 kilometers) before it needs to be plugged in or uses an onboard gasoline engine to replenish a discharged battery; it will take about eight hours to recharge, Rohrer said.
California "is the obvious hybrid vehicle market and there is no doubt it is where electric vehicles would have the quickest reception," said Michael Robinet, an analyst with CSM Worldwide Inc. in Northville, Michigan. "California also would really start to get the buzz going on the vehicle."
GM also said today that the most fuel-efficient version of its new compact sedan, the Chevrolet Cruze, will get 40 mpg in highway driving. The Cruze is expected to go on sale sometime after July 1 of next year in the U.S., according to the automaker.
Only four vehicles in the U.S. reached that 40 mpg standard in 2009, according to vehicle researcher Edmunds.com. Three were hybrid models, including the Prius, and one was a diesel.
