By TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer
JOLIET, Ill. - The race between General Motors Corp. and Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp. to produce a rechargeable car is meaningless because the companies' vehicle designs are so different, GM's top product executive said Thursday.
Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said Toyota's plug-in hybrid has a much shorter electric range than the Chevrolet Volt and must use a gasoline engine to go any farther. The Volt, he said, runs only on electricity but carries a small gasoline engine to recharge the batteries when they are depleted.
Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said Thursday that Toyota will speed up delivery of its plug-in hybrid from 2010 to the end of 2009, while the Volt is due in showrooms in late 2010.
But Lutz said he expects Toyota's plug-in will debut in controlled fleets and not in large numbers. He said GM will have production versions of the Volt working in a large test fleet in late 2009.
Lutz, speaking at an event in Joliet where GM showed reporters its 2009 model lineup, said the Volt's lithium-ion batteries can take it 40 to 50 miles on a single charge. If a driver stays within that range, the car would never use gasoline. To go farther, the motor would come on to recharge the batteries.
Toyota has not released an electric-only range for its plug-in hybrid, which operates similar to its current Prius model by using both gasoline and electricity to propel the vehicle.
Lutz said such hybrids generally have a short electric-only range.
"After eight or 11 miles it reverts to being a completely normal gasoline-electric hybrid, which means you get about a 25-30 percent fuel savings, but the point is they do burn fuel," he said.
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