
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 5, 1991                   TAG: 9103050356
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: DETROIT                                LENGTH: Short

GM PREPARES TO BUILD '93 ELECTRIC CARS

General Motors Corp. took a big step Monday toward producing the first commercially available electric car in modern time, announcing that it had selected a small factory in Lansing, Mich., as the production site.

Although GM provided few details, citing competitive factors, the company's timetable implied that production could begin as early as next year, which would mean a 1993 model could appear in dealer showrooms a year from this fall.

GM said it had not wanted to publicize the car but was forced to announce the factory selection because it would affect workers who now assemble the Buick Reatta. The Reatta will go out of production May 10 so that the plant's refurbishing can begin.

The Reatta, introduced in 1988, was a limited-production two-seater that cost about $30,000 and was meant to increase Buick's overall image in luxury. The Reatta did not reach its very modest sales goals.

While it was not clear Monday how many of the electric cars GM would produce, the plant that was selected, which is much smaller than a normal automobile plant, has a capacity of about 25,000 cars a year.

The automaker said the new model would help it comply with increasingly stricter federal and state clean-air and fuel-efficiency standards.

General Motors declined to say whether it had solved the technical problems that so far have made battery-powered vehicles impractical and uneconomical.

by CNB