In an unusual pairing of duties, Larry Burns is responsible for General Motors' global research and development plus the company's product planning. As such, Burns has his hands full dealing with the challenges of developing alternative fuel vehicles while also planning GM's innovative future product strategy.
Some companies feel it is important to be seen as first with technological innovations.
Our definition of first is not necessarily first to market. We were first to market with a modern day electric vehicle. It seems that gets conveniently forgotten. There is a lot of value from taking that position, but the downside of that is those products had to be subsidized to sell them. You won't do that with a specialized niche, single vehicle application.