GM Boss Hopes Senate Gets a Charge From His Hybrid

This time, GM's Wagoner drives Volt to hearings

By Peter Fearon, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 4, 2008 3:05 AM CST

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GM Boss Hopes Senate Gets a Charge From His Hybrid — The Chevrolet Volt is unveiled at a General Motors centennial celebration in Detroit. Whether the corporation survives to build it may depend on Congress. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Last time they went before Congress rattling tin cups, the chief executives of the Big Three automakers made the mistake of flying to Washington in luxuriously tricked-out corporate jets. Today GM chief Rick Wagoner is driving a fuel-efficient hybrid Chevy Volt prototype to Senate hearings on the proposed bailout for the car companies, reports the Detroit Free Press.

GM officials plan to start building a production model of the Volt in late 2010. The car is designed to travel on electricity for 40 miles. A gas engine kicks in to recharge the batteries, power electric motors and provide a few hundred miles more of driving.
(More General Motors stories.)

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