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GM promises to add 20 EVs and fuel-cell cars to lineup, paid for by SUVs

DETROIT — General Motors outlined plans on Monday to add 20 new battery electric and fuel-cell vehicles to its global product lineup by 2023, financed by robust profits from sales of gasoline-fueled trucks and sport utility vehicles in the United States and China. "General Motors believes in an all-electric future," GM global product development chief Mark Reuss said on Monday during a briefing at the company's suburban Detroit technical center. Future generations of GM electric vehicles "will be profitable," Reuss said, but added it was not clear when GM could make all its new vehicle offerings zero-emission electric cars. Regulators in China and some European countries have floated proposals to ban internal combustion engines by 2030 or 2040. "We will continue to make sure our internal combustion engines will get more and more efficient," Reuss said. GM shares were up more than 4 percent in midday New York trading on positive comments from Rod Lache, auto analyst at Deutsche Bank. Automakers, including electric vehicle market leader Tesla, lose money on electric cars because battery costs are still higher than comparable internal combustion engines. The company offered sneak peeks of three EV prototypes: a Buick SUV, a sporty Cadillac wagon and a futuristic pod car wearing a Bolt badge. GM funds its forays into new technology using a river of cash generated by old-technology vehicles popular with its core customer base in the United States heartland. In comparison, Tesla has burned through an estimated $10 billion in cash and has yet to show a full year profit. GM earned more than 90 percent of its $12.5 billion in pretax profits last year in North America, amid robust demand for its lineup of large sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks. The company's profitable operations in China rely on consumer demand for an expanding lineup of gasoline powered SUVs. GM has previously announced plans to make some of its future electric vehicles capable of driving themselves in robot taxi fleets. The company offered sneak peeks of three electric vehicle prototypes: a Buick brand sport utility vehicle, a sporty Cadillac wagon and a futuristic pod car wearing a Bolt badge. GM collaborated with Korean battery maker LG Chem to build the Bolt battery system. Company officials did not say what companies would supply batteries for the larger fleet of vehicles promised by 2023. Fuel-cell vehicles will also play a role in GM's future, the company said.

Chevy Trax engineer says GMC version possible

The Buick Encore is doing so well and its platform-mate the Chevrolet Trax has such good reviewer vibes going for it already, that a GMC version hasn't been ruled out. During the recent press launch, Automotive News asked lead engineer Al Manzor if the Trax could wear a GMC-branded suit, to which Manzor replied, "I think that is certainly possible." That's a long way from telling us anything about the probability of a GMC version of the Trax, and a legion of questions would need to be answered before it could happen. How would a GMC version be priced to leave room for the $26,465 GMC Terrain but not eat into sales of the $20,995 Trax or the $24,035 Encore? Or would that matter? Could it primarily be considered to encourage a new faction of The Yukon Set at the compact end, GMC buyers being famously committed to the marque? And of course, would there be a Denali version? It'll probably be a long while before we have any kind of answers, but if you want to see it happen, the door to your campaign of persuasion is at least ajar.

See all seven colors available on 2016 Chevy Volt

General Motors has been happy to promote the 2016 Chevy Volt in the shiny blue color. On the company's website for the car, though, we can find all seven exterior colors, thanks to the magic of digital technology. We went through the site and played around with the option picker and put together a gallery of all the colors the new Volt will be available in as well as the five interior options. For the record, the exterior colors are: Kinetic Blue Metallic, Iridescent Pearl Tricoat, Summit White, Silver Ice Metallic, Mosaic Black Metallic, Siren Red Tintcoat, Heather Grey Metallic. You'll be forgiven if you can't quite tell the difference between the Pearl and the White in these images, but both colors have been available on the 2015 model year Volt. GM spokesperson Michelle Malcho told AutoblogGreen that buyers do have a preference, with Pearl accounting for 10 percent of the sales and Summit White accounted for 17 percent. The Pearl color is a tri-coat and thus has a $995 price premium, which was likely a factor as well. The interior of the new Volt will have two cloth options (Dark Ash and Jet Black) and three leather choices (Dark Ash, Jet Black, and Jet Black/Brandy). That last one will only be available in the LTZ trim level. You can play around with the color adjuster yourself here. Kathy Sirvio, the color and design manager of the Volt design team, told AutoblogGreen that, "Kinetic Blue is a marketing name. At Design we call it 'Blew Me Away'. That is it in a nutshell. The blue color is vibrant, rich and eye catching. It may not sell at the highest volume, as we know from history whites, blacks and silvers are the dominant color sales. However, it will tell everyone who sees it on the street that here comes a new vehicle and it is expressive in all the right ways." The next-gen Volt arrives later this year with a starting price of $33,995. The powertrain upgrades will push the all-electric range to 50 miles and the gas-only fuel economy to 41 miles per gallon. Related Video: