Concept Car of the Week: The GM Precept
2023-02-14T11:50:00
An innovative concept that emerged from an equally progressive government program, the Precept still has much to teach us two decades later
In 1993, the United States government and the Big Three American car automakers teamed up in a co-operative research program to re-envision the car for the twenty-first century. The alliance was called the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV), and involved GM, Ford, and Chrysler, along with eight federal agencies, and host of national laboratories, and universities.
The objective of the partnership was to make the typical vehicle more efficient, lessen the environmental impacts of the automobile, and decrease America’s dependency of foreign sources of oil. Affordability, comfort, performance and safety were not to be compromised in the new designs, and where possible, were to be enhanced. The vehicles soon acquired the nickname “Supercars”, although there was some doubt that the effort, which involved so many agencies and organizations, would be able to produce a truly advanced automobile.