General Motors - "Cruising" Along With New Technology

General Motors - "Cruzing" Along With New Technology
By Matthew Finn

General Motors is one of the world leaders in hybrid car technology, but that should come as no shock to anybody. After all, GM's Research and Development was the world's very first automotive research center, founded in the early '20's by Charles F. Kettering. Located in Warren, Michigan, GM's Research and Development teams work on their new technologies and innovations in 6 laboratories, and 6 science offices. Researchers work with teams from a dozen countries, countless universities and government groups to provide GM with the edge in new automotive technology.

Gm has made great strides in the fuel cell car technology for starters: researchers have lessened the likelihood of cold weather freeze up in the hydrogen fuel cell based "Hy-wire" This vehicle does not have much of the traditional car parts, such as an internal combustion engine, instrument panel, or pedals, but it does have power supplied by its hydrogen based fuel cell. GM also has developed, AUTOnomy, a concept vehicle that is another hydrogen fuel cell car.

General Motors likes to try to stay competitive, and one of the way they stay one step ahead of their competition is with solid research and development- you cannot sell a vehicles unless you are giving the people what they want. The sales of the Chevy Cobalt is up by 16%, and GM is hoping to keep that hot streak going when they reveal their newest addition, the Chevy Cruze at the Paris Motor Show in a few weeks. The Cruze will be a global compact car and will be built in a GM facility in Ohio. The Cruze will be marketed as another of GM's fuel efficient cars, close to the Cobalt's 33 miles per gallon highway selling point. General Motors is investing the astounding figure of $500 million in the development and debut of this new line of cars.

The company has also announced that it is currently working with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to make the introduction of more electric cars faster and more feasible. It is exciting news that the cars may become more widely available considering the fact that the price to run one is roughly 1/5 the cost of driving a gasoline powered vehicle. GM has received a grant from the United States Dept. of Energy to create a plug in "demo" program. There is also work on an extended range electric vehicle due to be in car showrooms by sometime in late 2010.

Along with all of the research to reduce dependence of non renewable fuel sources, GM has also worked on other considerations as well. Onstar by GM was honored with an award in June 2008, in Detroit. There are currently no less than 6 GM models that feature Onstar as a standard feature, with talk of adding it to still others.

Matthew Finn is an accomplished niche website developer and author.
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