Even though worldwide car ownership was growing 5% annually, rising fuel prices in 2005 reduced sales of GM’s profitable SUVs—resulting in a loss of $11 billion. Board members began signaling that it was time for management to take some riskier bets to get the company out of financial trouble. In February 2006, management reluctantly approved developmental work on another electric car. At the time, no one in GM knew if batteries could be made small enough to power a car, but they knew that choices were limited. According to Larry Burns, Vice President of R&D and Strategic Planning, “This industry is 98% dependent on petroleum. GM has concluded that that’s not sustainable.”