Straight from Inchon, South Korea!
Los Angeles Convention Center
GM has recently announced the building of or actually opened multi-zillion dollar Research and Development centers and test tracks in China and South Korea ... Whatever is wrong with opening these kind of sites in the US escapes us, but you know what they say ... "What's good for GM is good for America!" Anyway, GM had three concept cars from their Inchon facility at the LA Auto Show and one of them, called the "Beat", is slated for production and sale in South Korea and other Asian markets. It's not a bad-looking little "city car" which might be fun to drive (with a 1.2 liter turbocharged engine driving the front wheels only) but ... Where's the hot new battery tech? Where's the alternative fuels capability? Any car company can build a cool and hip small car running on gasoline which gets great mileage. It's only when they are encouraged (through tax breaks, outright government grants, whatever it takes) to build vehicles which don't run on fossil-based fuels that car executives start hemming and hawing.