General Motors will know by May or June if its plug-in electric Volt will succeed in the market.
Product planning chief Stephen Girsky said on Tuesday at the Detroit auto show: “We'll know by June if this car is gonna have legs or not.
We are prepared for it if it does.”
GM has sold 8000 Volts since its launch just over a year ago, less than the 10 000 units forecast.
But Girsky said the primary constraint had been tight supply that limited the ability of dealers to deliver and market the vehicles.
Despite the low volumes, the Volt - which was the first plug-in to reach the US market - has paid dividends in terms of helping the once-struggling automaker to attract new customers and burnish its green credentials.
It was also attracting a lot of wealthy customers to GM, Girsky said, noting that it was “bringing more BMW customers to GM than Cadillac these days.”
If Volt sales don't take off, GM has a number of other green cars on offer, from highly efficient traditional petrol powertrains, to natural gas, diesel and hybrid-powered engines.
Girsky said: “We want to have a range of product to provide our customers.
“People perceive us as a truck company. That has changed in 2011 and there's more to come.”
GM's compact Cruz sold more than a million vehicles worldwide last year and it unveiled prototypes of several more small cars at the Detroit auto show.
“In the long term, we need to be relevant for small cars,” Girsky said, noting that environmental concerns and rising fuel prices would become more pressing issues in the years to come. - AFP