For Release September 24, 2003

General Motors Partners With Government, Universities In New Engineering Competition

"Challenge X" Tasks Students with Decreasing Total Energy Consumption and Emissions of a Crossover Vehicle

SONOMA, CALIF. —- General Motors (GM) announced today that it will cosponsor, with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and other industry organizations, a new competition series that will challenge engineering students from universities throughout North America to re-engineer a crossover vehicle to achieve better fuel economy and lower emissions. The competition, "Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility," will launch in the 2004-2005 academic year as a three-year program.

Challenge X will be a unique competition, modeled after the General Motors Global Vehicle Development Process, and will closely follow current real-world automotive design and engineering practices and better equip students with the tools needed to fully realize improved vehicle designs.

"GM is thrilled to sponsor this next-generation advanced vehicle technology competition and to take engineering students a step beyond what has previously been achieved," said Beth Lowery, General Motors Vice President of Environment and Energy. "Through this competition, students will experience real-world engineering skills that will make them highly valuable to the automotive community."

Students will work on a GM crossover vehicle platform, and employ cutting-edge advanced automotive technologies, including advanced propulsion systems, hybrid designs, lightweight materials, and alternative fuels. Year One of Challenge X will emphasize vehicle simulation, powertrain testing, and engineering trade-offs that occur in the early stages of vehicle design. The students will be challenged to do intensive modeling, simulation and testing that will guide hardware development — a key phase of the GM Vehicle Development Process.

"Challenge X demonstrates how the government, industry, and academic worlds are working together to find creative approaches and solutions to decreasing total energy consumption and emissions in some of America's most popular vehicles," said David Garman, DOE's Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. "Teams will integrate vehicle technologies and appropriate fuels to develop an approach that minimizes total environmental impact and builds on a sustainable transportation future."

General Motors will partner with The MathWorks and National Instruments to provide teams with the hardware, software and technical support they need to approach this engineering challenge.

Teams will receive their crossover vehicles at the end of Year One and will build upon the models and simulation efforts to bring the designs to life. The powertrains developed in the first year will be installed into vehicles in the second year, giving the teams a head start on the vehicle integration process. During Years Two and Three, the educational emphasis will be placed on validating the modeling and simulation tools in order to refine and improve the vehicles.

A selection process open to all accredited engineering schools in the U.S. and Canada will begin in September 2003, and approximately 15 teams will be selected in February 2004 for the competition. Challenge X participants will be announced in Spring 2004.