VIDEO: Charlie Rose talks to Wagoner, Volt price in the mid to upper 30s
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Chevrolet, GM

Veteran interviewer Charlie Rose has done a two-part look at General Motors in the wake of the company's recent losses and its pending centennial celebration. In the first part, Rose sits down with Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner to discuss all manner of issues surrounding the ailing automaker, including the Volt. Aside from reiterating that the engineering teams are making excellent progress on the Volt and are on track to meet the late 2010 Job 1 date, Wagoner was asked about price. He replied that they haven't worked out final pricing yet but expects the initial cars to come out in the mid to upper 30s. That's clearly more than they would have liked but it is the reality of battery costs. Wagoner said the company hopes that the government will implement tax incentives that make the end price more palatable to consumers. On the subject of incentives he said that GM doesn't expect the government to pay for the development of vehicles like the Volt, but would like to see the government encourage the demand side to help build volume. That would be a combination of incentives to buy, and also allowing fuel prices not to drop too much. The company is already realigning its production capacity to the reality of high gas prices and they would hate to see a reversal in demand for trucks at this point. You can check out the video after the jump. A second part, featuring an interview with Bob Lutz, hasn't been posted online yet.
[Source: Charlie Rose]

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Australians looking for a cheaper alternative to gasoline now have a very cost effective option with a dual fuel conversion being offered by Holden. The installation allows Commodores and derivatives to be operated on either LPG or gasoline. Holden recently dropped the conversion price of the system by $1,000 (AUS) from $3,900 to $2,400. The Ute pickup variants went from $4,900 to 3,400. The net cost for sedan buyers can drop to as little as $400 thanks to a $2,000 tax rebate from the federal government. That expense can be recouped in operating cost savings in about four months for the sedan and one year for the Ute thanks to LPG costing less than half the price of gasoline right now. The conversion is done on vehicles with the 3.6L DOHC V6 that also use in a wide variety of North American market GM cars and CUVs. The fuel system can automatically switch from LPG to gasoline on the fly when the fuel level drops too low. The press release is after the jump.










