GM targets sales of 500,000 electrified vehicles a year by 2017

General Motors plans to sell 500,000 electric or hybrid-electric vehicles yearly by 2017, according to the carmaker’s head of product development.

In order to meet this ambitious goal, GM will use various technologies including plug-in electrics, pure electrics and hybrids that use the eAssist technology, said Mary Barra, GM’s senior vice president of global product development. Barra said General Motors is on track to sell more than 50,000 vehicles equipped with the company’s electrification technologies in the U.S. this year. She added that plug-in technology will play a bigger role in the future for GM.

GM engineers are working on the next-generation propulsion technology that powers the Volt and will power the Cadillac ELR to improve the “system’s value and efficiency in the not too distant future,” Barra was quoted as saying by the Detroit News. “In fact, we’re looking at new ways we can use EREV (extended-range electric vehicle) technologies to provide more innovative options to our customers,” she added.

Barra said GM wants to focus on technologies that create value for customers and shareholders. “We’ve narrowed our core focus to a set of technologies that will help us best meet long-term customer demand with the best, most fun to drive, most cost effective solutions for educing fuel consumption,” Barra said.

The Chevrolet Volt aside, GM will launch a new Spark Battery Electric Vehicle next year and has plans to build a new plug-in Cadillac ELR coupe with the same technology that powers the Volt.