GM forms new engineering group for electric and hybrid vehicles

DETROIT, MICHIGAN - General Motors Corp. has formed a new engineering group to focus on hybrid vehicles, extended-range electric vehicles and battery technology, Dow Jones reported.

The move is aimed at bringing advanced fuel-efficient vehicles to market more quickly. Robert Kruse, executive director of vehicle engineering for hybrids, electric vehicles and batteries, will lead the group. Teams will be based in North America, Europe and Asia.

"The future of automotive transportation will be based on electrification of our vehicles," Jim Queen, GM's group vice president of global engineering, said in a statement. "By having a vehicle engineering team in place and focused on delivering the technical aspects of hybrids and E-REVs, we can accelerate these programs and get them into production quickly and efficiently."

The team will oversee work on production versions of GM's advanced powertrain vehicles such as the Chevrolet Tahoe and Silverado two-mode hybrids, Chevrolet Malibu hybrid, Saturn Vue two-mode plug-in hybrid, Saturn Vue and Aura Hybrid, GMC Yukon and Sierra two-mode hybrid and Cadillac Escalade two-mode hybrid, Dow Jones reported.