GM To Sell Hybrid Cars In China

Lacrosse, First Gas/Electric Model Made In China, To Be Introduced In July

(AP)  General Motors Corp. will sell its first gas-electric hybrid cars in China in July, introducing a model created in part by GM's Shanghai design center, the company said Saturday.

The Buick LaCrosse will be the second hybrid to enter the Chinese automobile market following Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius in early 2006.

The LaCrosse is due to be unveiled Sunday at the Beijing auto show, GM managers said. They said it would be priced under 300,000 yuan ($43,000) - comparable to the Prius.

"We don't expect to see a very high volume of sales of this car in China in a short period of time. But we bring this technology to help China support sustainable growth and bring consumers in that direction," Joseph Liu, GM China's vice president for sales, told reporters.

The car was developed with contributions from GM's Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center in Shanghai, said Maryann Combs, the center's president.

Hybrids improve fuel efficiency and cut emissions by generating extra power from the brakes as a vehicle tops. But they also cost more because they require both gasoline and electric motors.

GM says the LaCrosse will be the first hybrid made in China. The Prius is assembled from imported parts.

Toyota has sold about 2,500 Priuses in China since 2006 but sales are slowing in part because Chinese drivers are unfamiliar with hybrids, according to reports in the industry press.

GM has made China, the world's second-biggest and fastest-growing vehicle market, a key part of its efforts to develop alternative power sources. It announced plans in October for a $250 million fuel research center in Shanghai.

On Saturday, chairman Rick Wagoner took part in opening an automotive energy research center partly financed by GM at Tsinghua University in Beijing, the alma mater of President Hu Jintao.

GM hopes the Chinese government will introduce incentives to encourage sales of alternative vehicles, Liu said.

The company plans to introduce a hybrid version of the Cadillac Escalade sport SUV in China next year, followed by an all-electric car as early as 2010, he said.

GM says it sold just over 1 million vehicles in China last year.

[nonayabiness]

I went to a car show recently. I was amazed that Toyota, with its highly successful Prius, amist the last few years of rising gas prices did not present any hybrid larger vehicles. However, I was stunned that GM (Chevy) had nearly every vehicle in its fleet available as a hybrid. I think GM is going to have a very good year comparitively (sp?) in a poor economy.

[tburzio]

Pro-Chinese posts to this site are probably submitted by Chinese intelligence officers.

I heard that there are plenty of rooms for the Olympics to be had in Tibet. The rooms are even furnished, left when the owner was sent to a re-education concentration camp!

[johnstossel]

They should concern themselves with sales here before selling to the *****!!!

[ov442]

......"Seems to me that saving the planet is all well and good but has anyone projected the costs of ownership for a hybrid, say 9 years out which is the age of the average car on the road? Batteries alone should be expensive I would think.

We need to be seriously looking at the new generation of clean diesels in this country to power some of the small cars, like the Audi A3 in Europe or all the VW diesels that have been bought in this country over the years. Fuel economy numbers on the road in the mid 40 mpg range consistently.
------Posted by frb01 "

Hahahaaa --- "Seems to me that saving the planet is all well and good but ...."
Hahahahhaaaa -- funny.
Of course they''ve projected the costs of a hybrid. They project the costs of everything.
Battery packs are costly to replace, but its nothing like having to spring for rebuilding an engine or transmission in one of todays cars. Besides, 10 yrs from now it''ll cost more to rebuild your engine than it does now. But 10 yrs from now its more likely that you''ll be getting a better and cheaper battery package replacement.
Another thing is that they are also testing Hybrid Diesels. Which are coming out pretty well.
Diesels are also making a comeback in popularity but right now Diesel fuel is also 50-60cents higher than gasoline.

[ov442]

It announced plans in October for a $250 million fuel research center in Shanghai.

Thats great GM is investing all that money in China for technical research. And focusing on China for innovation and technology. How wonderful.
Now, if only the largest consumer economy in the world could get some of that investment money, education, research and corporate backing.
wonderful.
How loudly it speaks that GM is moving out of the US to succeed in markets that dont know them very well, while Other manufacturers from Asia are moving INTO the US and Selling more and better vehicles.
To "Buy American" you''ll have to buy a toyota or a hyundai or a Honda now.

[sjc_1]

I think before, during and after the Olympics in China, people will get a better sense of what they are about. We should not boycott any part of the games. With a more accurate image of the Chinese government in the minds of the world, there will be better decisions can be made about them.

[oscarez]

China, new meat for GM, cheap labor and no unions, no health care, no environmental laws. GM will be importing cars to the USA from China before long.

[frb01]

Seems to me that saving the planet is all well and good but has anyone projected the costs of ownership for a hybrid, say 9 years out which is the age of the average car on the road? Batteries alone should be expensive I would think.

We need to be seriously looking at the new generation of clean diesels in this country to power some of the small cars, like the Audi A3 in Europe or all the VW diesels that have been bought in this country over the years. Fuel economy numbers on the road in the mid 40 mpg range consistently.

[olebd]

American companies are setting their sites on China and India as these countries grow and eclipse the success of the U. S. I just wonder, when the time comes in a decade or so, if these countries will so openly accept U.S. citizens when they try and immigrate for a better life as the U.S. has done for them in the past few decades? Doubtful.

[cbsblogger]

We can blame our manufacturing decline and economic woes on the prostitutes that are referred to as American multi-national corporations because they are at the crux of the unfair trade policies that favored China. They wanted access to the Chinese market at any price or cost to America...hence the term prostitute.

[olebd]

Can''t sell them here because there''s not enough Americans are left that can afford them.

[incog-nito]

While Honda and Toyota have been selling hybrids in the U.S. for years, GM''s first hybrid is being sold... in China? Yeah folks, keep on buying "American".

[sharncedar]

Perhaps these sleazy evil business crooks can take a look at what is happening to Carrefoure, the French supermarket chain that has the most stores of any foreign company in China. The Chinese government has no interest in a free market, so what they have done is agitate their stupid worthless population into a French-hating frenzy. Carrefour stores are being attacked like they were Tibetan monks, the business is nearly ruined.

This is how Chinese "compete" in a "free market" . There is no hope you can sell a foreign product there, if you become successful hey take you down.

This is an outrage from a violent, insincere, and outrageous country. And yet our American stupid businesses like GM keep trying to kiss the rear end of China, giving in to them every time they ask for our industrial secrets. GM''s officers should be arrested and tried for high treason, at what point is their betrayal of our country, not just our country but the entire Western civilization, enough? When do we stop these traitors?

[donevis-2009]

HA and they''ll be paying with Euro''s!! "God Speed USA"

[drivelphobe]

Please spray paint with extra lead.