Ailing carmaker Opel is considering launching an electric car for inner-city use to tap what it sees as a high-potential market, the firm’s boss said in an interview on Sunday.
“We are thinking about a small electric vehicle,” Nick Reilly, chief of the General Motors unit, told Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaperaper.
“There is strong potential for growth in cities across the world,” he said, adding that “various governments are going to provide fiscal support for this kind of vehicle.”
An Opel spokesman said the new model was expected to be launched in three years, in both electric and conventional fuel versions.
Hit by falling sales, Opel last month unveiled a sweeping restructuring plan along with an appeal for countries that host Opel and its British sister brand Vauxhall to stump up 2.7 billion euros (US$3.68 billion) in state aid.
By 2014 Opel has said it would invest 11 billion euros in new models and environmentally friendly technology such as electric power trains.
Its first electric-only car, the Ampera, is scheduled for delivery next year. Its wheels are powered exclusively by an electric engine, with a small fuel engine integrated to recharge its batteries.
EU industry ministers pressed the European Commission last month to devise a common strategy to develop electric cars, seen as both an environmental necessity and an opportunity for growth.
Current EU president Spain wants the electric car to feature in the EU’s 2020 strategy, an economic reform project aimed at ensuring prosperity and sustainable growth for Europe.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
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