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Volt ignites safety fears

Problems with Chevrolet Volt have cast doubt on the safety of electric cars

By MARK HINCHLIFFE

THE safety of electric cars hasbeen called into question afterthree electric cars crash-testedin the US had caught fire sevendays later.

Concern over the incidents in-volving the Chevrolet Volt, to besold here as the Holden Volt thistime next year, has prompted anoffer from General Motors CEODan Akerson to buy back the carfrom any owner who is afraid itwill catch fire.

The plug-in hybrid features an

electric motor that can becharged from the home mains,and a small back-up petrol en-gine to recharge the battery andextend the range.

In US National Highway Traf-fic Safety Administration side-impact tests, three of the vehiclescaught fire seven days later,prompting the NHTSA to openan investigation.

The NTHSA also has asked ot-her companies that make elec-tric cars for battery testing data,despite the safety tests only rais-ing concerns about the Volt.

Holden external communicat-ions director Emily Perry con-firmed the Volt was still on tar-get to be sold here late next year,but said it was too early to an-nounce pricing.

Akerson told the AssociatedPress that the cars were safe, butsaid GM would buy back theVolts to keep customers happyand, if necessary, recall the morethan 6000 Volts now on the roadin the US and repair them oncethe company and federal safetyregulators figure out what cau-sed the fires.

Ford brains behindtwoglobal SUVs

The Ford Figo was built in India

By PAUL GOVER

FORD Australia is exporting some-thing more valuable than cars by de-veloping two all-new global SUV veh-icles in Melbourne.

Both SUVs are expected to go onsale in the second half of next year,with one to be built in Thailand andthe other in India, and are eventu-ally expected in local Ford show-rooms.

The two projects have earned anestimated $150 million for Australia,as well as ensuring the jobs of about1000 engineers and designers whoare employed at Broadmeadows.

The SUVs follow the T6 pickupproject that resulted in the Ford Ran-ger and Mazda BT-50 utes that arealready built in Thailand for Aust-ralian buyers, and won the world’sfirst NCAP five-star rating for a uteof any type.

The Indian project is a baby SUV,to be called EcoSport, while the Thaimachine is a mid-size model that willbe badged as the Endeavour.

The EcoSport will be revealed atthe Delhi Auto Show in January andthe Endeavour will arrive in April atthe Bangkok Motor Show. ‘‘I believethose are the names. The small SUVis definitely EcoSport and the biggerone will be called Endeavour in In-

dia,’’ said Nikhil Bhatia, a journalistwith Autocar India magazine.

He revealed to News Limited thatFord Australia was taking a greaterrole in regional engineering work,following an earlier update programon the Ford Figo.

The baby car is based on theprevious-generation Fiesta fromEurope and was comprehensivelyoverhauled by the team at Broad-meadows before going into product-ion in India.

Ford Australia refuses to discussany of its export engineering be-cause it is regarded as a supplier toother Ford affiliates, and not a part-ner in the programs.