GM eyes fast gains with future Volt models

By David Bailey

CHICAGO (Reuters) - General Motors Corp GM.N plans to upgrade its upcoming battery-powered Chevy Volt once it launches late next year, far faster than it could overhaul a conventional vehicle, a GM executive said on Tuesday night.

The technology behind the highly-touted all-electric Volt will allow GM to drive improvements to future versions far more quickly after the battery-powered car goes on sale in 2010, Frank Weber, GM's global vehicle line executive for the Volt, said at an event ahead of the Chicago Auto Show.

"This is almost like getting software updates into your car," Weber said. "This is not a mechanical world. This is suddenly you get updates, improvements much more rapidly."

"So, even within a vehicle lifecycle you will see updates that are very significant," he said.

GM, which expects to begin production of the Volt in 2010, has not said when it expects to roll out the second generation of the vehicle, but plans to focus on cutting the size and cost of the battery as a top priority, Weber said.

GM, pledged $13.4 billion of government loans to avert collapse, has not said how long it will take to produce an offshoot of the Volt.

The automaker has a short window to prepare a plan that will demonstrate to the U.S. government that it can be viable. On Tuesday it announced plans to cut 10,000 salaried jobs, or 14 percent of its workforce and impose pay cuts on most remaining U.S. workers.

PRIORITIES