This paper presents the design and test results for a biaxial excitation generator / motor for automobiles (BEGA), which has a three phase stator and a salient pole excited heteropolar rotor with multiple flux-barriers filled with low cost permanent magnets. For this new generator, the low voltage regulation is obtained by the flux-barrier PM combination with field (excitation) low power control and a full power diode rectifier in the stator. Good power / volume and superior efficiency (up to 80%) are obtained at costs comparable to those of existing Lundell generator. The generator configuration, principle, equations, finite element field analysis, design optimization, performance characteristics and test results, together with the generating system simulations make the core of the paper.