GM happy to promote pure electric vehicles, just not in U.S.

Need any proof that General Motors is trying to thread a very careful needle in the pure electric vehicle game? Look no further than India, Korea or China.

In Korea, GM is showing off the new all-electric Chevrolet Cruze test vehicle at the G20 summit. Meanwhile, over in India, the president and managing director of GM India, Karl Slym, has said the company will show a pure electric vehicle based on the Chevrolet New Sail sometime next year. In China, as we've seen, GM is promoting different ideas of electric mobility with the EN-V, the autonomous and battery-powered pod cars. GM recently trotted out these vehicles at the Shanghai Expo and is talking about introducing a low-cost version to the local market in the future. China is, of course, a tremendously important market for an global automaker – that's one reason GM just highlighted the fact that it has sold two million vehicles there in 2009, the first global automaker to reach that mark.

The fact that GM acknowledges that pure EVs can be attractive around the world – don't forget the converted Opel Meriva electric vehicles being tested in Germany – exemplifies why its U.S.-based "More Car Than Electric" marketing push is nonsense. When do you think we will see a new all-electric car from GM in the States?

[Sources: India Journal, Green Car Reports, All Cars Electric, China EV]