GM charges ahead with ads plugging Volt before it's built

They've shown it around the world. They've discussed each technological breakthrough with reporters, and they've promised to do everything possible to produce it by 2010.

Now, General Motors has taken the unusual step of advertising its Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid vehicle nearly three years before plans to produce one.

Producing a car that could handle a typical daily commute without burning a drop of gasoline could catapult GM past Toyota as the leader in technologically advanced hybrids. But failure would prove the company unable to compete on innovation.

"We think it's important to tell people about our leadership in this area," said GM spokeswoman Ryndee Carney.

On radio, television and in print, the GM ads discuss the potential benefits of the Volt, an electric vehicle that can go 40 miles on a charge.

When the battery gets low, a small gasoline engine kicks in to recharge the cells. Owners would be able to recharge the vehicle overnight, using standard household power outlets.

"All those engineering students who got straight A's in physics? They're designing the batteries right now," GM says in radio ads.

The company plans to use lithium-ion batteries in the Volt. They're common in cellphones and some power tools, but no one produces auto-sized systems yet. Earlier this year, Toyota delayed a planned switch to lithium-based batteries for its Prius hybrid. It says the technology won't be ready for several years.

GM executives disagree. Vice Chairman Bob Lutz laid out a timeline in which GM will get sample batteries by October and have test vehicles by early next year.

Other companies are working on similar products. At the Frankfurt Auto Show this month, Ford Motor's Volvo subsidiary showed off the ReCharge concept, a Volvo C30 sedan that could go 62 miles per charge on electricity. And Nissan Motor showed off a concept electric car that uses lithium-based batteries.

Marketing experts said GM's strategy appears clear: It's not trying to sell the Volt as much as it is trying to sell the image of GM as a technological leader.

Advertising progress could help the company shift its reputation from being a fossil of a bygone industrial era to a leader in global environmentally friendly technology.

Thomas Powers, a marketing and management professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said GM could burnish its image with promises of futuristic cars, but there's a clear downside: "They have invested in this image-building exercise with unproven technologies. There's a big risk of over-promising."