Then:
GM CEO Mary Barra said in 2021 that the company would exclusively offer EVs by 2035, citing carbon emissions.
“For General Motors, our most significant carbon impact comes from tailpipe emissions of the vehicles that we sell — in our case, it’s 75 percent,” Barra said. “That is why it is so important that we accelerate toward a future in which every vehicle we sell is a zero-emissions vehicle.”
From another GM management dweeb, Dane Parker, former GM chief sustainability officer:
“We feel this is going to be the successful business model of the future,” he said in 2021. “We know there are hurdles, we know there are technology challenges, but we’re confident that with the resources we have and the expertise we have that we’ll overcome those challenges and this will be a business model that we will be able to thrive in the future.”
Yeah, about that:
General Motors has announced plans to expand production of gasoline-powered vehicles and SUVs in Michigan as well as the manufacturing of pickup trucks.
The Detroit-based auto manufacturer said in a statement on Tuesday that it will “begin production of the Cadillac Escalade, as well as the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra light duty pickups at Orion Assembly in early 2027 to help meet continued strong customer demand.”
Yeah, it seems as though not that many people want to buy their, or anybody’s Duracell cars after all — at least, not enough to keep once-mighty General Motors in business.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to borrow Sarah Hoyt’s Shocked Face.
EV’s certainly aren’t for everyone, and people should be allowed to choose. OTOH, I just listened to a podcast of an interview with a former GM engineer who talked about how, over the last twenty years or so, GM has intentionally cut corners to the point that their engines and transmission have a greatly reduced chance of going much over 100k miles. Even their bread and butter full-size pickups and SUVs have designed obsolescence built in now. They consider this a feature, not a bug, because their customers, to be safe, largely trade in their 60k mile GM vehicles every few years and get a new one, leased or financed through GMAC, where corporate makes most of their money anyway.
Me? My ’20 Chevy Bolt EV is the first GM product I’ve owned after swearing off their vehicles a quarter century ago with the sale of my faithless ’94 Cutlass Supreme. It was a leap of faith, considering my past experiences and the Bolt’s notorious reputation. Happily, the little thing doesn’t even HAVE an engine or transmission that might fail on me, and this is the first five-year-old car I’ve owned that has had literally ZERO issues. Not even the smallest sign of poor design or workmanship. It’s virtually indistinguishable from a new one. My last two cars, both Toyotas, couldn’t make that claim. An aberration? Perhaps, and the thing might start falling to pieces at any moment, so don’t take this as an unqualified endorsement of GM products, but perhaps their electric vehicles will turn out to be better built than their ICE ones. Unlikely, though, so I’ll probably buy a used Toyota EV as my next vehicle, if I live long enough to need one.
I read about ten years ago that GM had sold their GMAC unit (for God only knows what reason). How did they get it back.
Excellent question, so I did a quick nugget of research. According to one source, GMAC is now jointly owned by GM and a group of investors led by Cerberus Capital Management. Evidently, GMAC’s name was changed to Ally Financial in 2010. Another source says that GM doesn’t have any shares of Ally anymore. If you look up how to lease a GM vehicle, they say it’s through GM Financial, which is perhaps what the engineer from the podcast actually meant. Sigh, I’m just an old school bus driver. What do I know?
I read about ten years ago that GM had sold their GMAC unit (for God only knows what reason). How did they get it back.?
Didn’t someone describe GM some time back as a health-care provider that co-incidentally made vehicles?
Has anything changed?