Saturn May Build an Electric Car for GM : Autos: Vehicle would be based on the Impact. Aim is to comply with zero-emissions deadline.

General Motors Corp.’s import-challenging Saturn division may be ready to plug into the electric car business.

GM officials say the company is studying the idea of adding an electric car to the Saturn lineup in time to meet California’s 1998 deadline for producing zero-emission vehicles.

The car would be based on GM’s high-tech Impact, which can travel about 90 miles on a single charge. GM is testing the Impact in California and Arizona and plans to expand the trials to New York this spring.

Saturn officials said the move is one of several options GM is considering as it attempts to map its strategy for selling electric cars.

“We’ve been advised there’s consideration to market the (electric) vehicle, but nothing final has been put down yet,” Saturn spokesman Greg Martin said. “GM is looking at a bunch of different options, and we’re one of them.”

Robert Purcell, executive director of GM’s electric vehicle program, said GM Chief Executive Jack Smith is taking an active part in developing a business case for the Impact.

“We haven’t made any final decision on any electric vehicle program that we’re working on, but we’re seriously evaluating what it’s going to take to be successful in the market,” Purcell said.

The Impact, developed at a cost of about $350 million, has features such as self-sealing tires and a programmable computer that can start the car 15 minutes before the driver needs to leave.

GM had hoped to begin selling the two-seater Impact by the mid-1990s, but record losses in 1992 and ’93 forced it to cut funds in 1992 and settle for a much smaller venture.

The auto maker now hopes to have an electric vehicle on the road by 1998, when California law will require that 2% of all cars sold in the state be “pollution-free.”

“We intend to meet the law,” Purcell said.