CAIRO: General Motors Egypt and Al-Mansour Egypt showcased the Chevrolet Volt for the first time and unveiled the new Opel Astra at Cairo's Automech 2010, which opened Thursday. Daily News Egypt spoke with Rajeev Chaba, chairman and managing director of GM Egypt, and Lotfy Mansour, general sales manager of Al-Mansour Automotive, about the new releases on the sidelines of the annual car expo, which this year was opened by Paris Hilton. “We are showcasing the whole range of vehicles for Chevrolet and Opel at the conference and more importantly for Opel, launching the new Opel Astra for the Egyptian market,” said Chaba. “As for Chevrolet, there is no new launch today but in order to show our leadership in technology and our intention to regain GM's leadership in this area we are showcasing the new Chevrolet Volt,” Chaba added. The Volt is an Extended Range Electric Vehicle with practically zero carbon emissions that can run exclusively on electricity. “It is the first vehicle of its kind,” said Chaba explaining the car's unique technology and design. In a press conference, Chaba explained that the Volt is powered by a 16-kWh lithium-ion battery which can generate enough for trips up to 64 km without requiring any fuel. After this distance its small fuel powered engine simultaneously powers the car and charges the battery for trips up to 480 km. “The car can be plugged in to any standard household 230v socket for charging and charges in less than three hours and uses the same electricity consumption as a fridge,” Chaba announced. According to Chaba the car will not be introduced to the Egyptian market but will roll out in the US later this year. Talking about the Egyptian market, Chaba pointed to GM Egypt's improving performance in terms of increasing market share. “In the first five months of this year our market share as up by 1.5 percent from last year, at this rate we are set to sell around 65,000 units this year compared to 52,000 last year. This means are growing by 25 percent and we anticipate the car industry to grow about 17 percent, so this means we are gaining market share,” explained Chaba. Chaba also hinted that GM international was on the path to recovery with first quarter 2010 profits for the first time in three years at $ 850 million. Still, he said, there are challenges the company has to overcome. He emphasized the importance of the Egyptian market to GM. “We have taken the largest exhibition space in the expo, we have showcased the Volt to show our potential for finding solutions to markets like the Egyptian market and Mike Arcamone, president of GM Daewoo Auto and Technology, is here and his presence is also an indicator of the importance of the Egyptian market to GM,” Chaba said. Chaba said GM is aware of the macroeconomic indicators that will inevitably cause the Egyptian government to decrease energy subsidies. “Fuel prices in Egypt are the one of the cheapest in the world. Macroeconomic indicators and government finances show that inevitably decrease subsidies to manage the budget,” he said. “We are getting ready for the scenario that fuel prices will go up so we are producing more fuel efficient vehicles. “The Lanos, Spark, Aveo and Optra are the leading cars in fuel efficiency in their category and we will try to improve so that in our new generation cars our costumers will find more refined engines and optimized fuel efficiency.” Chaba emphasized the importance of research and finding alternative solutions like the Volt, and said that GM is “looking at other technologies like, hybrid, fuel cell and CNG solutions that may eventually be used in Egypt.” Mansour lauded the new Astra as an example of Al-Mansour and GM's focus on technology in their vehicles. “We are very excited about the new Astra which has already won 17 awards,” said Mansour. The Astra has options and technologies that are only available in much higher categories, he added. “The new Astra has many technological comfort and safety features, including the most ergonomic seating, a mechatronic chassis, advanced lighting system, a front camera that recognizes traffic signs and an adaptive suspensions system rarely available in its class.”
