General Motors Corp on Sunday unveiled a proposed electric car designed to help fight Toyota's lead in the US hybrid market - and GM's reputation for resisting eco-friendly innovation, according to Deutsche Presse Agentur (dpa). Built with sports-car looks, the four-door Chevrolet Volt would combine a lithium-ion battery, chargeable overnight from a wall outlet, with a 1.0-litre, three-cylinder combustion engine that creates electricity to recharge the battery while driving. GM chief executive Rick Wagoner unveiled the sleek, silver prototype with much fanfare at the 2007 Detroit auto show, calling the Volt a "significant and important step in our commitment to an electrically-driven future." The E-Flex engine would work on petrol, ethanol, bio-diesel or hydrogen, making it flexible for fuel preferences that vary from country to country - and allowing GM to stake a claim for global leadership. No date has been set for rolling out the Volt, and Wagoner acknowledged that the battery design still needs work. But GM clearly hopes the project will boost its brand as high oil prices drive US car buyers away from Detroit-built petrol guzzlers.
