Volt sparks dilemma for GM in Europe

[DainBramaged]

General Motors' decision to sell its Volt plug-in electric car as a Chevrolet in Europe could create confusion for GM's brand strategists.

Selling the Volt as a Chevrolet in Europe conflicts with Opel's bid to be the technology leader among the automaker's European brands -- a strategy emphasized last month by GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster.

GM will also sell a plug-in electric car under its Opel brand.

"Opel will be driven by technology," Forster told Automotive News Europe last month. "Chevrolet vehicles will be less technology laden."

GM's marketers in Europe will have to figure out how to merge the highly sophisticated and hugely expensive E-Flex technology with Chevrolet's budget image.

A GM source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "It's complicated because Chevrolet was chosen as the leading global brand for E-Flex. It will be great for Chevrolet to get the Volt in Europe because it will really raise the brand's profile."

Mike Arcamone, vice president of GM Powertrain Europe, said that there should be no conflict between the Opel and Chevrolet E-Flex vehicles.

"It's not going to be the most expensive technology," he said. "If you spread the technology over a larger volume, it gets very affordable to the customer," Arcamone told ANE at a meeting here.

Arcamone said Opel and Chevrolet will get a version of the car in Europe within a few months of each other.

"In terms of European vehicle launch, the Chevrolet probably will come second," Arcamone said. "The timing is going to be very close at around the end of 2010, but Opel leads by a couple of months."

E-Flex is the name of GM's technology for mating an electric-drive system with multiple engine possibilities, such as diesel, gasoline, bio-fuels or fuel cells.

The Chevrolet Volt was first shown at the Detroit auto show in January 2007. The European variant of the car, the GM Flextreme, debuted at the Frankfurt IAA last September.

Both cars feature GM's extended-range electric-vehicle (E-REV) technology, which mates an electric motor and lithium-ion battery pack with a small combustion engine.

The Volt was shown with a 1.0-liter gasoline/flex-fuel engine, while the European-focused Flextreme came with a 1.3-liter turbo diesel engine.

Going electric
Timelines for GM's E-Flex technology
Q3 2010: US launch of Chevrolet Volt
Q4 2010: European launch of Opel/Vauxhall E-Flex
Q1 2011: European launch of Chevrolet Volt


No diesel engines -- yet

GM has decided that European versions of the car will not be fitted with a diesel engine, at least not in early generations, Arcamone said.

]b]"The next generations of gasoline engines are coming very close to giving us the same fuel consumption as diesel," he said. "With E-Flex in particular, we've found that the benefit of diesel versus a very well tuned gasoline engine is almost negligible."

GM Europe spokesman Chris Preuss told ANE that diesel variants may follow in Europe at a later date.

"Diesel still has an important part to play with E-Flex variants," he said. "For example, diesel might be more consistent with certain national infrastructures in Europe."

The first version of the Chevrolet Volt to be sold in Europe likely will be the same car as the North American version, a sedan about the same size as the Opel Astra. The Opel/Vauxhall version probably will be a unique vehicle, Preuss said.

"This has still to be decided," he said, "but I think it's more likely that the Opel will be a unique vehicle."

http://www.autonews.com/article/20080609/ANE03/541345306/1018/ANA09&Profile=1018


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