GM Forms Tesla Study Team in Innovation Push

General Motors Co. has assigned a group of employees to study electric vehicle startup Tesla Motors Inc. and how it might threaten GM's business, Bloomberg News reports.

Tesla's Model S electric sedan outsold GM's Chevrolet Volt extended-range sedan in the January-March period of this year. GM CEO Dan Akerson thinks Tesla could be a "big disrupter" if the auto giant doesn't pay attention, Vice Chairman Steve Girsky tells the news service.

Girsky adds that the Tesla team is part of a broader effort to revamp GM's research and development efforts. The unit's focus has shifted from collecting patents to developing technology that can be quickly implemented.

GM trimmed R&D spending 9% to $7.4 billion last year, and replaced Chief Technology Officer Tom Stephens and R&D chief Alan Taub, Bloomberg notes. The company gave Jon Lauckner, president of GM Ventures, the additional duties as CTO and R&D head in April 2012.

As head of the in-house venture capital unit, created in 2010 to invest in startup firms with promising technology, Lauckner has fostered a culture that encourages risk-taking, Girsky says. GM said at the time that Lauckner's new jobs would allow the company to quickly integrate the best new technology in its vehicles.

Girsky, who was spearheading efforts to turn around GM's Opel unit, is spending more time in the U.S. after handing over the European business to a new CEO in March, according to Bloomberg. It says Girsky is devoting more time to strategy and innovation.