The General Motors XP-883 is one of the GM (General Motors) entries the open record knows by name, and by little else. That is not nothing: a name in the catalogue is where a car's story starts to be recoverable.
The background
In the late 1960s, General Motors Company directed its GM R&D and Pontiac divisions to develop concept mini-cars for urban drivers. GM developed the XP-883 an experimental plug-in hybrid car demonstrated by General Motors in 1969. Primarily intended as a commuter vehicle, the very small car had a fiberglass body with a design resembling the future Chevrolet Chevette. The two-door hatchback had seating for two adults and two children, though the children sat in rear-facing seats and would enter and exit through the tailgate. It was powered by the combination of a two-cylinder engine and a DC electric motor plus batteries. Electricity was stored in six 12-volt batteries placed between the rear wheels. The related Pontiac concept was the Pontiac X-4 with a radical two stroke aircraft type radial engine.
At 35 cubic inches (570 cm3), the engine was small enough to bypass laws of the day mandating emissions control devices. The batteries could be charged using a standard 115-volt wall outlet and could power the vehicle in all-electric mode during city driving. In hybrid mode, it had a maximum speed of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h), which could be reached in 28 seconds. A speed of 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) could be attained in twelve seconds. The electric motor powered the car until it reached 10 miles per hour (16 km/h), at which point the gasoline engine would kick in when running in hybrid mode. At cruising speeds, the gasoline engine would normally provide all of the power. While the XP-883 was built using off-the-shelf technology, General Motors did not provide an electric
Where it sits
Its GM (General Motors) stablemates include the 1955 Chevrolet and the 1957 Chevrolet.