????全球性公司的運營通常會非常復雜。通用汽車在全球辦廠，并在各國開展采購和銷售活動。您如何做到運籌帷幄？

????我們盡全力跳出最快的舞步。目前，通用汽車在全球33個國家共設立了167家工廠。我們任何時候為所有這些工廠提供的產品價值總額都高達900億美元。這是一種非常強大的能量。我們是真正以全球視野來管理公司的產品。包括產品的開發也是如此，我們全球的開發與設計中心都互相聯絡。

????通用汽車之前并不是一家真正的全球性公司。

????沒有必要太過苛刻，其實通用汽車是一家全球性公司。不過，我們的經營方式類似于許多小型公司。幾年前，公司僅有14%的產品是在全球平臺上完成的。我們的目標是，到2015年之前，實現65%的汽車制造在全球平臺上完成。我們可以提高質量、可靠性和耐久性。雖然我們已經實現了很大的跨越，但未來還有許多工作要做。

????目前，汽車行業面臨轉型。內燃機引擎的歷史已經超過了一個世紀，目前許多新技術都可以為機動車提供動力。對于私家非商業應用，電動汽車是否會成為主流？

????其實與1910年的汽車相比，如今的汽車還是四個輪子，還是在使用內燃機引擎。確實，汽車越來越安全、更加寬敞，也更加龐大，現在的汽車都配備了空調和自動變速裝置，但并沒有發生根本性的變化。

????的確，現在有大批可以替代內燃機的動力技術。首先是電力。在美國，80%的汽車用戶每天行駛里程只有40英里，甚至不足40英里。雪佛蘭伏特每充電一次便可行駛40英里，另外，它還配有一款小型內燃機引擎，且不會產生機械阻力。不過，人們總是優先充電，實際上伏特汽車使用的始終是電動機。我就曾駕駛我的伏特行駛了3,000英里，僅僅消耗了一加侖汽油。

????一加侖還是一油箱？

????一加侖。但是，要開著車在城里跑，我每天都給汽車充電。其實，如果我愿意的話，我可以駕車在紐約和加利福尼亞之間往返——但如果駕駛全電動汽車則肯定無法做到。所以，從某種程度上來說，這些新型汽車變成了城市汽車。我相信總有一天，汽車每次充電的行駛里程可以超過300英里，到時候，就得考慮怎么給汽車充電的問題了。

????我們研發出一種引擎，目前正準備投放市場，成本大約在1,500美元，引擎有兩個燃料箱，其中一個裝有壓縮天然氣，另外一個裝有汽油。我們開發這樣一種引擎的原因在于美國壓縮天然氣基礎架構尚未普及。而按能量等效來考慮，壓縮天然氣的價格大約只是汽油的三分之一。所以，這是引領市場改革的另外一種方式。

????The global business can get very complex. You have plants all over the world, and you are sourcing and selling all over the world. How can you stay on top of that?

????We're dancing as fast as we can. There are 167 plants globally in the General Motors universe. We're in 33 countries. At any one time we have about $90 billion of product being shipped to supply those plants. It is formidable. We do manage our products on a global basis. We develop them on a global basis, and we link our development and design centers around the globe.

????GM wasn't always a true global entity.

????Not to be critical, but General Motors was a global company run as many smaller companies. A couple of years ago only 14% of our production was on our global platforms. Our goal by 2015 is to have 65% of our total automotive manufacturing on global platforms. We can improve quality, reliability, and durability. We've made great strides but have more work to do.

????This industry is in transformation. After more than a century with the internal-combustion engine, a lot of technologies can now power a vehicle. For private noncommercial use, is electric going to be predominant?

????The car today vs. the car that was on the road in 1910 is still four-wheel, still run by combustion engine. It's safer, bigger, heavier, it's got air conditioning and an automatic transmission, but it's fundamentally the same game.

????A number of alternative propulsion opportunities are there for us. The first is electric. About 80% of the drivers in America drive 40 miles or less a day. The Volt will drive you 40 miles on a single charge, and then you have a small combustion engine that never experiences mechanical drag. It just cuts in to charge the battery, so you're always on electric motor. I've been driving my Volt for 3,000 miles, and I've used one gallon of gas.

????One gallon or one tank?

????One gallon. But I'm charging my car every day, for around town. If I want to, though, I can drive it from New York to California and back -- you can't do that in an all-electric car. So those to a certain degree are being reduced to urban cars. There will be a day when the average charge will be 300-plus miles, and then you'll have to worry about how to charge it.

????We've developed an engine we're now putting in the market that will cost you on the order of $1,500 and has two reservoirs of energy, one for compressed natural gas and the other for gasoline. Why are we building an engine that can burn either? Because the infrastructure is not ubiquitous enough in this country to have compressed natural gas. On an energy-equivalent basis, compressed natural gas sells for about a third of what gasoline sells for. So that's another way of revolutionizing the market.