GM considers sharing E-Flex among brands, sky is blue
Click image for a gallery of the Saturn Flextreme
At its annual dealer meeting in San Francisco, what's described as having been a "passing remark" seems to be generating some buzz. Automotive News reports that a GM spokesperson said that the Chevy Volt's underlying technology could make its way into offerings from the automaker's other brands. While the report describes an excited dealer's reaction, the idea of shared E-Flex itself is hardly surprising. For instance, we've seen E-Flex concepts for Saturn/Opel (Flextreme) and Cadillac (Provoq) already, and sharing the tech makes sense when you consider that consumer interest will probably be high whenever the Volt is ultimately produced, and spreading the wealth gives GM multiple avenues (and price points) at which it can cash in on the investment. The General already shares engines and platforms among its brands, so why not E-Flex? It seems like such a natural thing to do, maybe that's why the comment about sharing it was made in passing to begin with. The General's been telegraphing this move through the concepts it's released over the last year.
[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
John Johnson 8:15AM (2/11/2008)
Can't wait for the Pontiac Amp and the Cadillac Watt. The Saab Joule would be my personal choice, however.
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Alex Nunez 11:42AM (2/11/2008)
And Buick can pull the Electra moniker out of mothballs!
calebe 9:09AM (2/11/2008)
I think it is a great idea. The more this tech is spread the cheaper it becomes. At some point this tech needs to get down to the low end of the price range. There will always be the need for the 10K car.
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Gardiner Westbound 9:23AM (2/11/2008)
GM hasn't figured out how to make the Volt and its proposed clones run. Batteries are not included because they don't exist.
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FThorn 9:25AM (2/11/2008)
Nice design.
WHO would think that if/when GM DOES bring out their electric car tech, they would NOT share it across brands? They share the internal combustion engine across brands, I notice. :)
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John Johnson 9:31AM (2/11/2008)
Not that it's exactly cross-brand, but I haven't seen a Ford with a rotary engine yet, and Mazda and Ford like to dip their hands into each others cookie jars quite a bit.
FThorn 10:17AM (2/11/2008)
Yes, that's a little more of a stretch. But, you could say that Mazda themselves are not offering rotary in much else, right? Why NOT offer it in the MX-5, M3, and such? I have never driven a rotary engined car.
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jamie 10:59AM (2/11/2008)
Gardiner Westbound:
"Batteries not included." LOL, now that's funny! :)
Where did GM steal the design(er?) for the Saturn FlexTreme? This is definitely a notch above the super great Lutz-mobiles. If this is the future of GM, then let's get on with it! I'll sell my Scion tC for one of these in a minute, but GM will probably dilly dally for another 5 years before committing to building something this good.
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Bill 11:06AM (2/11/2008)
GM was showing the Volt concept vehicle under the Chevrolet brand name on the auto show circuit just like they have done in the past with other vehicles . Cadillac & maybe Saturn will be selling their versions of the Volt in the $40-$50K range for max profits for GM.
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John Johnson 11:12AM (2/11/2008)
I'd drop $50k on a Saturn
FThorn 11:04AM (2/11/2008)
It's kind of Verve-ish.
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Chris 11:41AM (2/11/2008)
I love the front end of this Saturn Flexstream.... combine it with the promised "volt" technology using a bio-diesel capable ice and I would be all over it.
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naggs 12:22PM (2/11/2008)
this is news?
would it be news if it was learned that GM would continue sharing braking hardware across different brands and models the same way it and all other car companies have done for decades?
if only i had a subscription to automotive news, i would be privileged to more hard hitting investigative journalism like this. please automotive news, i must know, will there be another period of darkness followed by a period of light?
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rick cavaretti 6:05PM (2/11/2008)
The design is straight out of a futuristic sci-fi movie... I like it.
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