U.S. & World News

DETROIT (AP) ― General Motors Corp. turned its opening news conference at the Detroit auto show into a pep rally touting the health of the company and its products, unveiling plans Sunday to build a 40-mile-per-gallon minicar for the U.S. market and a Cadillac concept car powered by electricity like the Chevrolet Volt.

The Chevrolet Spark subcompact was called the Beat when GM unveiled the front-wheel-drive three-door hatchback as a concept car in 2007, powered by a 1.2-liter turbocharged gasoline engine. It's about the size of a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris and is set to go on sale in Europe next year and in the U.S. in 2011.

Ford Motor Co. also revealed at the show that it plans to have a plug-in electric car in showrooms by 2011 that will get up to 100 miles on a single charge.

Ford offered a broad description of plans for both hybrid and purely electric-powered vehicles.

Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. said the company is working on four high-mileage battery-electric vehicles to be introduced in the coming years.

Derrick Kuzak, Ford's group vice president of global product development, said the automaker expects to start out selling 5,000 to 10,000 of the electric vehicles annually.

GM also announced that the Chevrolet Orlando seven-passenger crossover vehicle will go on sale in North America in 2011.

The company ended its showcase of 17 new and upcoming vehicles at the North American International Auto Show with a surprise: the Cadillac Converj concept car, which is designed to go 40 miles on electric power alone after being recharged from a standard wall outlet. A small gasoline engine would extend the range to hundreds of miles.

It's the same powertrain technology GM is using in the Chevrolet Volt, a much-anticipated extended range vehicle that is set to go on sale next year.

Several hundred GM employees, dealers and retirees gathered inside the convention center for the unveilings, cheering and waving signs that said "Here to Stay" as they flanked the vehicles driving through the show floor.

GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner told the crowd the vehicles are smaller, smarter and more fuel efficient, with "enough towing capacity" to pull GM out of its current troubles.

The government granted the struggling automaker $13.4 billion in federal loans in December so the company could stay in business, and GM wants to show off innovations to demonstrate to people that the loans were a good investment.

"We've made tremendous progress in the past several years of making cars and trucks that consumers really want to buy," Wagoner said.

GM also is showing off new versions of the Buick LaCrosse sedan, and the Chevrolet Equinox and Cadillac SRX crossover SUVs at the show. Those new 2010 models are set to go on sale later this year.

As for Chrysler, all of their new prototypes have the flat-battery technology, which transfers heat better than the cylinders, with less weight and cost, and better energy storage capacity, Quigley said. The vehicles may appear similar to what's already been unveiled, but they have updated batteries and controls.

"Under the skin they're the latest and greatest technical software," he said.

The company picked the Patriot because it wants to hit the full spectrum of its customers, and a Patriot-size vehicle is appealing in markets worldwide, Quigley said. Although it's small for a sport utility vehicle, the Patriot seats five, has good cargo space and is considered a larger vehicle outside the U.S., he said.

Quigley said Chrysler doesn't know which of the four vehicles will come to market first because it is simultaneously testing them. He also said he couldn't predict pricing because that's largely dependent on how many batteries the company asks a supplier to make. GM's Chevrolet Volt rechargeable electric car is expected to cost $30,000 to $40,000 initially.

Chrysler's Dodge sports car is completely electric and based on Lotus Europa underpinnings, while the Wrangler, Town & Country minivan and the Patriot will be extended-range vehicles similar to the Volt.

Like the Volt, all three Chrysler vehicles are recharged by plugging them into a standard wall outlet. The sports car is supposed to have a range of up to 200 miles, while the minivan and Jeep will be able to go 40 miles on battery power alone, with a small internal-combustion engine kicking in to generate electricity and extend the range to about 400 miles.

Industry analysts say financially strapped Chrysler is smart for entering the electric car market and going plug-to-plug with its larger competitors. But conspicuously absent from Chrysler's display at the Detroit show will be any new models to go on sale this year, something that Chrysler has offered consistently for years.

(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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