DETROIT -- Even as its chief executives battle some of the worst financial news in a generation, American automakers unveiled their new model lines for the coming year and beyond on Monday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

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General Motors Corp., a wounded company living on cash borrowed from the government, unveiled ambitious plans to research and assemble lithium-ion batteries in Michigan and picked a Korean company to supply the cells to power the Chevrolet Volt electric car.

A top executive raised the prospect that GM will need more federal loans later in the year if the U.S. auto market doesn't improve, saying that the company presented a worst-case scenario to the government last year that would require $18 billion in loans, $4.6 billion more than the Bush administration has granted.

The battery factory, to be opened somewhere near Detroit, will employ more than 100 people and be highly automated as it takes cutting-edge lithium-ion cells imported from LG Chem Ltd. of South Korea and welds them into battery packs for the Volt and other next-generation vehicles from GM.

GM also announced the creation of a 31,000-square-foot battery lab, the largest in the country run by an automaker, at its Warren technical center. It also said it has joined with the University of Michigan to test batteries at the Ann Arbor campus and train future engineers to design components for electric cars.

General Motors drew back the curtain on a fuel-efficient Chevy Cruze for the first time in North America.

GM's Lordstown plant in northeast Ohio is scheduled to produce the Cruze, which is expected to get 40 miles per gallon or better.

The car was designed in Europe and Asia and will be built overseas as well as in Ohio. Automotive journalists got their very first look at the Cruze in October at the Paris Auto Show.

GM turned its opening news conference in Detroit into a pep rally for the struggling automaker.

Several hundred GM employees, dealers and retirees gathered inside the convention center for the vehicle unveilings, cheering and waving signs that said, "Here to Stay."

New Prius Boasts Even Higher MPG

Toyota Motor Corp.'s sleeker, more fuel-efficient update to its iconic Prius goes on sale this spring in a market growing more crowded with competing hybrids and battered by the global financial crisis.

But the Japanese automaker's executives are confident that the third-generation gas-electric Prius, which promises a city-highway average of 50 miles to the gallon, will maintain its spot as the top-selling hybrid in the U.S.

"Since Prius was first introduced, the consumer demographic has shifted from an early adopter to a mainstream shopper," Bob Carter, Toyota Division group vice president and general manager, told reporters at a news conference unveiling the 2010 Prius midsize sedan Monday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The highly anticipated 2010 Prius boasts a 4 mpg improvement over the current model, which already is the most fuel-efficient vehicle ranked by the Environmental Protection Agency. When the Prius first was sold in the U.S. in 2000, it got 41 mpg. The 2010 version shown in Detroit will be sold in 80 countries.

Ford's New Crossover

Ford Motor Co. unveiled its 2010 Lincoln MKT crossover vehicle, which featured a new third row, making it larger than the Lincoln MKX mid-sized premium crossover, with the option to seat seven passengers.

Ford's team of Lincoln designers and engineers upgraded the quality of the interior of the MKT. Building off the success of its other luxury Lincolns, the MKT is poised to compete with the Acura crossover and Mercedes R-class.

Pricing and final mileage estimates have yet to be released for the MKT, which is set to be in showrooms later this year.