1. New Cadillac Converj Concept electric car is driven onto stage at unveiling at motor show

2. Mid of media

3. Unveiling of Buick LaCrosse CXS non-electric car

4. Rick Wagoner, Chief Executive Officer of General Motors walking to stage

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rick Wagoner, Chief Executive Officer of General Motors:

"I think it is fair to say in today's world we need to be doing both. So we have a significant number of hybrid offerings for example here in the States and we will expand that this year to two more, and in order to meet the fuel economy requirements that we have coming in the future we will see more and more expansion of that technology. Having said that, I think if we look a little bit farther down the road, we think that the electricity has huge capability really to significantly diversify energy sources that our industry uses. So we think it's fundamental and critically important. So I guess the answer is that we are working on both of them as hard as we can."

6. Ford Battery Electric Vehicle demo

7. Ford Magna power source

8. Close up of electric cables

9. Wide of Ford display

10. Ford unveiling new non-electric Taurus

11. Cutaway of photographers

12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Derrick Kuzak, Vice-President of Ford Motor Company:

"We are making sure these platforms can accommodate three different kinds of electric power systems. Hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure battery electric vehicles or BEVs."

13. Chrysler unveiling 200C EV concept electric vehicle

14. Front of Chrysler 200C EV

15. Jeep Patriot electric vehicle

16. Mid of Patriot EV engine

17. Mid of plug in fuel cap

Just weeks after ending a year marked by dismal sales and a federal bailout of General Motors and Chrysler, US automakers on Sunday touted new products with a focus on fuel efficiency and new technologies that they say will help ensure that their cars and trucks will roll off assembly lines for years to come.

Amid a crowd of several hundred cheering employees, dealers and retirees at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, General Motors Corporation announced plans to build a 40-mile-per-gallon minicar for the US market, and it unveiled an electric-powered Cadillac concept car.

Meanwhile, Chrysler's chief executive told reporters that while its key new products wouldn't show up in dealer showrooms until next year, the automaker expects to survive 2009 and remain an independent company.

Ford Motor Company said that by 2011, it will sell an electric car that can go up to 100 miles (161 km) on a single charge, and it will offer plug-in versions of its gas-electric hybrid vehicles a year later.

Late last month, the Bush administration approved 17.4 (b) billion US dollars in short-term loans for GM and Chrysler after both automakers warned that they could soon run out of cash without federal help.

Ford didn't take any government money because its executives said it had access to enough credit to get through the industry's sales slump.

The chief executives of all the automakers told reporters on Sunday that their companies were on a path to recovery.

GM Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said the company's restructuring plans submitted to Congress, which include concessions from the United Auto Workers union and other cost cuts, combined with GM's lineup of new products, will make the company prosper when the worldwide auto market recovers.

Chrysler's Robert Nardelli said that while his company's plan for new vehicles has a hole in it for 2009, the automaker will make it to 2010, when it plans to introduce an electric car and a subcompact.

It also has a new 300 sedan, Charger performance car and Jeep Grand Cherokee in the works.

Many analysts have predicted, however, that Chrysler will be acquired by another automaker by next year, or sold in pieces by its majority owner Cerberus Capital Management LP, a New York private equity firm.

Ford's executive chairman, Bill Ford Junior, said the company was working on four high-mileage electric vehicles to be introduced in the coming years.

Ford plans to have a battery-powered commercial van on the market in 2010.

GM's stable of 17 new or upcoming models displayed on Sunday also had a focus on fuel efficiency.

The Chevrolet Spark subcompact, a three-door hatchback that was called the Beat when GM unveiled it as a concept car in 2007, is set to go on sale in Europe next year and in the US in 2011.

GM also announced that the Chevrolet Orlando seven-passenger crossover vehicle will go on sale in North America that same year.

But the surprise of the automaker's event was the unveiling of the Cadillac Converj concept car, which is designed to go 40 miles (64.3 kilometres) on electric power alone after being recharged from a standard wall outlet.

A small gasoline engine would extend the range to hundreds of miles.

It's the same powertrain technology GM is using in the Chevrolet Volt, a much-anticipated extended-range electric vehicle set to go on sale next year.

Chrysler unveiled a concept version of an electric-powered sedan and added the Jeep Patriot small SUV to the stable of electric vehicles it is developing.

Toyota Motor Corporation confirmed plans to have an all-electric vehicle on US roads by 2012, introducing an ultra-compact battery-powered concept car at this year's Detroit show.

Honda Motor Co. unveiled its next-generation hybrid, the Insight, and said the car will arrive in US showrooms this April.

Honda's much-anticipated car is expected to compete head-on with the Toyota Prius, which remains the top-selling hybrid in the US.

Honda said the 2010 Insight will have a lower price than the Civic Hybrid, which has a base price of 23,650 US dollars.