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July 2, 2006
The General Knows His Motors
GM has sorta become the laughing stock of the automotive world. No matter how the General's PR soldiers spin it, there's no denying the once mighty empire is and has been in decline against the onslaught of old foreign rivals, not to mention new ones emerging from China. Although the company has taken painstaking strives is restoring itself to profitability, it's going to take time for such a large company. So many ask, does GM have an ace up its sleeves?
I answer yes - yes the General does. He's no fool and although his troops and resources are fragmented, there's a group within GM's ranks that quite possibly could be GM's future.
This group is responsible for GM's fuel cell research and development. It's no biggie to hear about fuel cell development. It is in fact touted as the future fuel source for all things mechanical. One could even say GM's old rivals like Honda area already way ahead of the curve with fleet testing of its small FX car and the announcement of a full size fuel cell sedan and a home refill station. What's the General doing different?
The General has to think different from Honda. He has many divisions, all with different needs and that means continuing what many call GM's reason for downfall - universal platform sharing. The current problems are too many autos across GM's brand list sharing the same platforms without enough differentiation in design and function. The future solution could be what GM's fuel cell group has developed; a fuel cell based drive system compact enough to sit flat like a skateboard below the shell of the vehicle, meanwhile producing enough electricity to power up a neighborhood street.
Back in 2002, GM showed off the fruit of its labor, dubbed the Hy-Wire. It's touted as the first drivable fuel cell concept with by-wire technology. No moving parts, no mechanical linkages. The shell of the body is bolted onto the skateboard-like platform containing all the energy and drive components. The only thing required to connect the two is a single cable, transferring control inputs to the car's drive system. The Hy-wire is quiet to drive, powerful because of its torquey electric motors, and theoretically cheaper to mass produce since all you have to do is replace the shell to go from sedan to suv to truck. They all ride on the same platform, but unlike GM's current platform sharing issues, by-wire technology allows designers to really create different vehicles since its independent of the drive system. To add to the benefits, since the cabin has no mechanical linkages to the drive system, the interior can be completely customizable to many configurations. For instance, the steering column is on the right when you're in England but take a ferry to France and the entire steering column can shift over to the left with just a push of a button.
So there's GM's ace for ya. If the General can leverage its research and turn them into real world products for tomorrow's drive needs then its def. back on the map. The Hy-Wire is the first glimpse of what that future might look like. Revolutionary in its build, and so scalable in its configurations, I've yet to see or hear anything out of other leading fuel cell developers that could compete. Daimler, Honda and Toyota are all taking the same approach - a fuel cell future but built on the current production ideology. GM is looking to shift that paradigm.
In the meantime, to compete with the Japanese Hybrids, I recommend the General really transform it's Saab division into the eco-performance company it so wants to be. Bio-fuel with plug-in recharge vehicles coupled with the brand's luxury marque could put Saab back on the map. Proven successful in one of GM's divisions means it will eventually spread to the others. Strap your boots up General, ya needs to get crackin' on this.
check out video of the Hy-Wire in action.
Posted by tranism at 3:25 PM | Permalink
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Comments
it was announced friday that GM's major stock holder is aggressively pushing for GM to partner with both nissan and renault.
Posted by: A.J. at July 2, 2006 3:30 PM
A quick net search revealed that the HY-Wire was on display in 2002 at a Paris car show with plans to have it in production in 2010 - so what happened? Other than your current post the project seems on hold or something
Posted by: CTel at July 22, 2006 3:45 PM