• The Wall Street Journal , Monday, September 15, 2008 10:45 AM

The Chevrolet Volt, a battery-powered compact car scheduled to hit the market by the end of 2010, will be unveiled by General Motors Tuesday. It is designed to give GM the kind of highly fuel-efficient vehicle it needs to compete in an era of near $4-a-gallon gasoline and is possibly the key to its survival.

GM is hoping the Volt will be such a technological leap forward that the many consumers who have turned their backs on Detroit will give the company and its cars a fresh look. The auto maker also hopes the Volt will become its signature product, supplanting the big sport-utility vehicles like the Hummer and Chevrolet Suburban that now define its image.

If the Volt fails to work as GM has promised or its launch runs into significant delays, the company could lose credibility with some of its newly won fans, admits Elizabeth Lowery, GM's vice president for environmental and energy issues. "We have to deliver," she adds. The vehicle is "very important to our entire strategy." Like other GM executives, Lowery says the Volt's development is on track.

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