Akerson's personal imprint is all over GM's natural-gas Impala

Anyone surprised by CEO Dan Akerson’s decision to field a Chevrolet Impala that runs on natural gas as well as gasoline hasn’t been paying attention to the man’s clear infatuation with the game-changing possibilities provided by America’s new abundance of gas and the nation’s growing enjoyment of energy security.

Akerson personally and proudly announced a bi-fuel Impala at a conference this week that was staged to assess America’s energy situation 40 years after the OPEC embargo. When the full-size sedan goes on sale next summer as a 2015 model, it’ll give the biggest push yet to the mainstreaming of high-mileage, clean-burning compressed natural gas as an automotive fuel in the United States.

Honda is selling some gas-powered Civics, and Ford is offering a new CNG-driven F-150 pickup. But it is significant that the Impala is a major GM nameplate, and one whose appeal isn’t based on fuel economy. Also, the unique bi-fuel aspect of the new Impala will make it a significant new form of automotive “hybrid”: Owners won’t have to experience “range anxiety” because they can rely on gasoline until they can find one of a growing number of CNG refueling stations.

Clearly, Akerson has been on this path for a while. At a green conference a few months ago, where he was discussing GM’s overall sustainability strategy, he took pains to note the possibilities presented to the auto industry by cheap and plentiful American natural gas. “We have this moment,” he said, “and it has to be grasped.”

Mustafa Mohatarem, GM’s chief economist, recently explained to me what Akerson may have meant by “grasping” the moment. “The argument for natural gas as a transportation fuel is just so powerful that irrespective of government regulations, the commercial imperative will prevail.

“It’s harder to make an economic argument for solar” electricity to power homes and offices and factories as the price of natural gas keeps falling, he said. “We’ll probably see something similar in land transportation: There will be competition between natural gas as a power source versus electricity, and I’m not sure how that will play out.

Concluded Mohatarem: “Natural gas as a source will probably provide more transportation fuel than electricity.”

It’s also likely that, as Akerson looks to shape his legacy with retirement pending in a couple of years, swift advancement of natural-gas power could leave an important mark.

Quite possibly, this is an area in which Akerson’s non-automotive pre-GM background, much maligned as the reason for mistakes such as his vast over-estimation of initial demand for the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid,  could actually be providing him with a clarity of vision that will enable his company to steal a march on the industry — and on the future.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dalebuss/2013/10/16/akersons-personal-imprint-is-all-over-gms-natural-gas-impala/?ss=business%3Aenergy