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GM goes for 200-mile e-car

February 12, 2015

GM has said it'll build an electric car with a 200-mile range in 2017. The vehicle to be produced in Michigan is to compete with Tesla Motors' own e-car expected to come off the assembly lines about the same time.

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GM's Chevrolet Bolt
Image: Getty Images/B. Pugliano

US auto maker General Motors announced Thursday it would come up with a 200-mile-range (322-km-range) electric car, which would have a price tag of $37,500 (33,000 euros).

The company added the vehicle would be built at a factory in Orion Township, Michigan, as of 2017, with the price not including a $7,500 federal tax credit.

GM said the e-car had not officially been named, noting only it would be based on the Chevrolet Bolt concept car shown at the Detroit auto show last month.

Huge potential

The Bolt looks like a cross between a VW Golf and BMW's electric i3. Designers said GM's hatchback would have SUV-like cargo room and a high seating position - two attributes that have made such cars popular across the US.

"We are moving quickly because of its potential to completely shake up the status quo for electric vehicles," GM North America President Alan Batey said in a statement.

Going Electric - Fated to Fail?

The car is meant to compete with Silicon Valley auto maker Tesla Motors, which plans to start selling its own 200-mile-range e-car about the same time.

hg/sri (Reuters, dpa)