General Motors will build a bi-fuel Chevrolet Impala sedan for retail and fleet customers that operates on either gasoline or compressed natural gas (CNG) to go on sale next summer as a 2015 model, GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson announced. CNG vehicles typically have 20 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline-powered cars, according to the California Air Resources Board. The Chevrolet Impala bi-fuel sedan will have a factory-engineered and fully warranted powertrain that switches seamlessly from CNG to gasoline with a total range expected to be up to 500 miles.
Akerson says GM is committed to saving 12 billion gallons of gasoline in its 2011 to 2017 model year vehicles, offsetting nearly a year of crude imports from the Persian Gulf, with technologies that include lighter materials to reduce vehicle mass, alternative fuels, clean diesel and electrification.
