GM = Green Motors?
By Beth Lowery
GM Vice President, Environment, Energy & Safety Policy
Last week, I had the opportunity to speak with hundreds of environmental professionals who were in Detroit to attend the Air and Waste Management Association’s annual conference and exhibition.
I gave a formal speech, but the best part of the morning for me was the question and answer session that followed. I’d like to share some of the questions that were posed, along with my answers, and invite you to ask questions of your own about GM’s efforts to reinvent ourselves as a greener company.
Electric vehicles have high up-front capital requirements. How are you going to make electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt profitably?
Introducing advanced technology is always expensive initially, especially in the early generations. It’s important to have the right incentives for customers, such as federal tax credits. Future generations of the technology will be less expensive, making it possible for us to turn a profit.
Does GM have plans to move beyond motor vehicles?
We actually entered the hybrid market with a two-mode hybrid system that was first developed for buses. From a macro level, we’re looking at transportation systems globally, but our main focus today is on getting personal transportation - cars and trucks - right.
How are you going to get people back into American cars - how do you convince them that American cars are reliable?
We know that people’s perceptions of the quality and reliability of our vehicles do not match reality. When people get behind the wheel of our cars and drive them, they have a totally different opinion. We are focused on quality, fuel economy and great design, and we are asking customers to judge us for what we are today, not what we were years ago. The award-winning Chevy Malibu - which continues to be very popular with consumers - is proof that we can win in today’s market. We think objective data - such as J.D. Power and Associates naming Buick the most dependable brand this year (tied with Jaguar) - will also help convince people.
It seems that the U.S. now depends more heavily on the financial sector for a greater percentage of our Gross National Product (GNP). As a manufacturer, how do you compete?
We see a real need for a comprehensive manufacturing policy in the U.S. Our philosophy has been to manufacture where we sell. GM strongly supports building products here in the U.S.
Not all of the components that go into GM’s cars are made in the U.S. How will you rectify that?
There are labeling requirements and we identify the percentage of U.S. content in our cars and trucks. That being said, we are a global company and we operate a global purchasing system. We buy the best available components that we believe will make our products the best.
What is GM doing to help educate the next generation of U.S. engineers?
This is a critically important issue, and we have a number of initiatives under way. We have programs that target students in kindergarten through grade 12 to educate them about what the vehicles of the future will be like through publications like the Weekly Reader. We also have programs for college students, like the EcoCAR Challenge, which is done in partnership with many, such as the U.S. Department of Energy and Natural Resources Canada. Teams of students from more than a dozen universities in the U.S. and Canada are competing to convert a Saturn Vue into a zero-emission vehicle that consumers can afford to buy. We provide the teams with production vehicles and parts, seed money, technical mentoring and operational support throughout the three-year program. And we have been fortunate to recruit some of our talented engineers from this program.

