NEW YORK — General Motors’ U.S. product line may have to be 80 percent hybrid to meet fuel-economy requirements for 2020, vice chairman Bob Lutz said.
GM “can’t possibly” achieve federal requirements that cars and light trucks average 35 mpg with current autos, Lutz said at the New York International Auto Show. Of 3.8 million GM vehicles sold in the U.S. last year, 8,400 were gasoline-electric hybrids.
“It does drive home the fact that there is going to have to be a lot of changes,” said Brett Smith, an analyst at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. “You can’t just downsize your models.”
Chief executive Rick Wagoner has said GM’s strategy also includes fuel-cell models, plug-in electric cars and autos that run on fuel that’s 85 percent ethanol.
Bloomberg News
