DETROIT — Tuesday’s unveiling of the Chevrolet Volt electric hybrid car was supposed to be a celebration of new technology, the birth of a new class of automobile. Instead, the crowd at General Motors Corp.’s Renaissance Center was buzzing over who was going to pay for it: GM or American taxpayers? GM revealed the much-hyped vehicle at an event celebrating the automaker’s centennial. Immediately afterward, company executives faced a barrage of questions about whether some of the $25 billion in low-interest loans the industry is urging Congress to fund would be used to subsidize the Volt’s development and production. At the same time, GM executives called for federal and local incentives to boost the Volt program. The loans ‘certainly would help us finance the vehicle,’ said Frederick Henderson, president of GM. ‘This is exactly the kind of vehicle that was contemplated when the money was put into the bill,’ he added, referring to last year’s Energy Security and Independence Act. That law called for higher fuel economy standards and federally guaranteed loans to help offset the cost of complying with the mandate. The loan guarantees were never appropriated, however, and gained attention this summer only when […]