Chevy Volt Coupe: will such new-tech cars help restore Detroit's auto companies to profitability?

Chevy Volt Coupe
Originally uploaded by Taglane

Once the cars from Detroit ruled the world: Cadillacs, Impalas, Crown Victorias, Firebirds and Stingrays were state of the art models in the 1960's and 70's.

But the success of the Japanese automakers contributed to their American counterparts falling into a recession in the late 1970s, says Wikipedia.

Toyota overtook perennial world leader GM in both production and sales by early 2008. Their high-end brand, Lexus, became the top-selling luxury marque worldwide in 2000, despite being started up in 1989.

Honda is Japan’s second largest automaker and ranks sixth in the world, behind Toyota, GM, Volkswagen, Ford, and Hyundai. Mitsubishi and Mazda are in a distant fourth and fifth place compared to the Japanese Big Three.

Today the US car companies are hoping that high-tech designs will raise their competitiveness in the world market.

An example of the latest American product is the all-electric Chevy Volt, due to go on sale in 2011.