General Motors this week asked the federal government for an additional $2.6 billion in low-interest loans, which the company said it would put to use to develop new hybrid vehicle lines.

The money, which brings to $10.3 billion the total amount of funding GM has sought from the government for creating a new generation of fuel-efficient vehicles, will go toward one new hybrid vehicle and two vehicles based on the all-electric Chevy Volt.

At the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year, GM unveiled a concept car that could fall under this new funding request: the Cadillac Converj, a four-passenger electric vehicle based on the technology behind the Volt.

The Volt is expected to hit the market in late 2010, and is the basis of high hopes in the domestic auto industry and for the future of low-carbon transportation. For more on General Motors' green goals, read General Motors' Second Century by GreenBiz.com executive editor Joel Makower, and GM's Woes: Bad News for Clean Energy by senior writer Marc Gunther.