Detroit Auto Show: GM says, 'We're a freedom company'

Jan. 11, 2009 9:03 AM PT

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General Motors Corp.’s head of R&D and strategic planning, Larry Burns, has an interesting set of ideas about the future of the auto industry. Chief among them might be that GM is not really in the automobile business; rather, it’s in the business of selling people time.

In a wide-ranging chat with journalists at the North American International Auto Show (Detroit Auto Show to the less fancified among us), Burns talked about the future of transportation (it’s complicated), the drivetrain of choice (there are lots of them) and the need for government help with private development of alternative vehicles.

Perhaps his most interesting argument was that the auto industry is in a transformative moment -- from internal-combustion-only behemoths to, well, something else -- and that it must struggle to ensure that it survives the changeover. ‘If you look at major industries that have been transformed and you look at big incumbents, not many of them come out of that transformation strong,’ Burns said.

The key, he said, is to create vehicles that improve the driving experience, both from a personal point of view as well as a public stance. They should be cleaner but also safer, and they should get the driver from point A to point B faster, and here’s the interesting part, without actually having to drive if he or she so chooses.

GM would do that by creating cars that sense other cars and can, essentially, drive themselves on demand, freeing the driver to sip coffee or, say, engage in the day’s edition of the Los Angeles Times. That makes GM a ‘freedom company,’ Burns said. ‘I think one of the most important aspects of freedom is time.’

So how does GM become the Timex of the automotive world?

It’s murky yet, but a few details emerged. First off, it’s not by focusing on one particular technology. Instead, the company will continue developing all-electric cars, hybrids, extended-range electric cars, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and, heck, even ethanolmobiles. Burns is technology-agnostic.

The use of such vehicles might be divided as such:

Pure electric vehicles would be ‘very small’ city cars, with perhaps a 120-mile range on a single charge.
Extended-range electric cars would be compact cars, capable of more range and, thanks to the drivetrain, of carrying somewhat larger loads
Fuel-cell vehicles would be larger, ‘family’ vehicles, such as SUVs and the like.

What’s more, he suggested that hydrogen is the fuel of the future. Speaking about the unpredictability of the elements -- ‘We have to accept that the wind doesn’t blow consistently and the sun doesn’t shine consistently’ -- he pointed to hydrogen as the energy storage unit of the future.

A key to all this is government assistance, Burns said, arguing that the federal government should get in on the act and not only help develop new technology but also work with the private sector to bring the technology to the dealership.

‘The big money and the risks come from getting it to market,’ Burns said. ‘Can we find a public-private partnership to do that?’

-- Ken Bensinger

Detroit Auto Show: GM says, ‘We’re a freedom company’

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