General Motors believes its core business will remain its core business for decades to come. In a Friday report from the Detroit Free Press, Mike Abelson, GM’s vice president of global strategy, said electric and self-driving pickups like the Chevrolet Silverado are not on the table.
“The core business is going to be the core business for a couple of decades to come,” said Abelson. “There will not be any AV/EV pickups.” AV stands for “autonomous vehicle, and EV stands for “electric vehicle.”
GM’s core business, as the executive described it, is building pickups like the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, and SUVs, with (surprise!) internal-combustion engines. His comments may give us insight into the automaker’s future strategy—one where it builds affordable and luxury electric cars and operates a self-driving ride-hailing service and focuses on gasoline-powered utility vehicles.
Abselson said he expects GM will be the leader in the electric-vehicle segment in the coming decade with vehicles in the pipeline today. GM famously announced massive investments into electric-car technology and plans for 20 new electric cars by 2023. It’s unclear, however, just how many will make their way to the U.S. China has become the all-important market for EVs as the country moves to mandate an electric-car quota for automakers doing business in the country.
Yet, Abelson’s comment comes in contrast to CEO Mary Barra. She said this past September that the automaker she oversees has given a “tiny bit” of thought on the idea to build an electric pickup. She told students during a visit to Harvard University about the ounce of thought, but failed to go into specifics or comment further when reporters asked for more details.
We do know GM essentially future-proofed the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. The architecture (T1) can support numerous powertrains, and not just internal-combustion engines.
Comments
GM will bite the dust then. Truck owners only want the best. Sometimes that means turning away from GM. GM has proven time and time again, that they’re not about introducing the latest features, and listening to buyers complaints. In some point, in the next few years, an Electric Truck will provide more mileage and range than a gasoline truck, and/or diesel. One will probably even ask ‘How can that truck power a jackhammer, and I can’t?’ Gasoline is not a sustainable source of fuel, and will only become more expensive as the years pass by. EV’s are simply a better solution, and are the future
GM bit the dust already. And was financially rewarded for it. Just like a jobless drug addict who receives free medical care, housing, and food instead of being allowed to hit rock bottom. And then society is surprised when the old ways that didn’t work continue. It’ll die with a needle in its arm in a 7Eleven bathroom. Because it was allowed to mooch instead of getting better.
I am tired of companies listening to the millennial and tree hugger generations. They have no attention span and will be on to something else before what they said they wanted is in production. Take NASCAR, after Dale died the “new” race fans wanted to be entertained before and after the race. Before all they wanted happened they are now soccer fans and NASCAR can’t fill 1/3 of the seats even after taking out 20% of the seats at some tracks to make the stands look fuller on TV. If a company can’t build what I am willing to spend my money and loyalty on I will find one that does. I am at the end of the baby boomer generation and if GM or any other company forgets about us, shame on them.
You’re an uninformed individual. How does nascar and sports relate to electric mobility??
One day, when you’re older, you’ll look back and wish you would not have been as stubborn and naïve. But until then, you’ll have to sit and watch us millennials and generation Z clean up the Earth while you wither away and Die from lung cancer as a result of you polluting the own air you breathe.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Funny as I have yet to meet a Millennial or Z gen that wants to do anything but twiddle on there cell phone, play video games, that wants to work or has any type of loyalty or skills to do any such thing as you describe. And they all still live home and just can’t seem to handle any kind of stress. Sad but totally true.
Truck owners want them?
Not this one! nor anyone else I know of!
I want a diesel before an EV.
Maybe not a full EV pickup, but an EREV truck can’t be off the table, that would be silly.
Hard to imagine GM making serious money on EV/EREV technology unless they solve trucks.
It’s also part of the goal to become a ‘zero emissions’ company.
I can’t say I fully agree with not at least having a hybrid like they already had. I personally don’t think “Big Oil” will let Ev’s take over anytime soon and until ranges and charging infrastructure makes EV’s for work a true choice I believe GM may be right in thinking it is “decades” away.
What I really believe is that GM could be looking passed a move that could put them back to a leader’s role. What if they were the first to market with a “road locomotive”? A truck with a drivetrain like a locomotive that could handle monster loads of torque and lead it’s class with towing and payload. You would think that the resources they have in DMax Ltd. and surely they kept notes from the old Electromotive Division that they could produce such a vehicle that would be a true game changer.
There’s very little advantage to a locomotive driveline, a conventional mechanical driveline is the most efficient. Every time you convert energy (mechanical to electric and back) you will have losses. Unless you add a battery to make it a hybrid, then your energy savings from the battery may outweigh the losses.
Locomotives use that setup only because a mechanical driveline for a few thousand horsepower would not fit in a locomotive. Large mine trucks have mechanical drivelines with engines in that horsepower neighborhood, just are enormous.
GM is taking the position that many other companies have taken after the recession – cut as much fat as possible to lower the breakeven point to weather the next downturn better. There has to be a clear return on an investment into a new product. They wouldn’t sell many electric trucks and just the image of being a leader isn’t enough anymore to justify the money. It’s just like Ford with their sedans, they arn’t going to make cars just for the sake of being a player in the market, if they can stick that money into SUVs or trucks and get a higher return on investment, that’s what they are doing. Right or wrong a lot of companies are running their business that way now.
The guy completely botched that interview and Barra’s vision of GM as a tech company with that statement.
If I were Barra I would be furious.
Ms. Barra is far too busy counting her money, to be worried about such silliness as a botched interview.
True!
Ms Barra first commitment is to protect the company, the workers, stockholders and customers. And not one is more important than protecting the company. That is her job. But protecting the company is every employee’s responsibility. That includes you and your own job.
NO CEO does anything that either directly or indirectly benefits themselves.
Live to dream that this type of thinking is illogical given that General Motors CEO Mary Barra said of wanting the entire car fleet to go electric; Buick’s Enspire electric SUV concept vehicle could easily morph into the a full size electric Chevrolet Silverado and if the entire car fleet would move to electric then having electric trucks with all the same self-driving capabilities as in cars make sense and failure to do so would handicap General Motors which might be cause for replacing Mary Barra.
NO CEO does anything that either directly or indirectly benefits themselves.
Barra’s vision is a pipe dream and PR speak. Those in the know realize this. If MS Barra is to be replaced, it will be because of her taking the eye off core business of building cars and trucks and loosing market share as is happening now.
gm should budget a few million to a small team of dedicated EV fanatics to work on an electric truck.
let ’em loose and see what they come up with. just the PR value that would garner would be worth it.
Sounds like the next documentary “Who Killed the GM Truck?” Is going to be a short one.
While not all-electric, Ford has been touting its electrification of its vehicles with a lot more specifics than GM. Even if GM will be competitive, Ford wins the awareness game.
F-Series has been Canada’s best-selling truck for 52 years and counting, and like every truck in our lineup, the upcoming hybrid F-150 will make no compromises. Ford’s first hybrid-electric pickup will provide added capability, from low-end torque for extra pulling power to serving as a mobile generator on the job site.
https://www.ford.ca/innovation/ford-electric-2020/
Ford is currently developing F150 / F250 Stromer Trucks. GM does not want to develop a Stromer pickup, as the battery alone has to weigh 1.4 tonnes to reach a range of 400 miles. Are there fast charging stations in nature and in the mountains? Should GM not develop electro cars like the Bolt EV and small SUVs like the Buick Encore as Stromer? What is the meaning of 3.5 tonnes Stromer pickups without trailer load? I do not recognize one. Trucks over 2.5 tons should be fuel cell powered, as this is cheaper for customers. Have you ever thought about buying a 200kWh battery after 10 years? Costs utopian! Where is the trip with the pickups in the US and Canada in the next 20 years? Are all people driving pickups or are they still regular cars and station wagons? Will the small SUVs like a Buick Encore have the right size and use for shopping and visiting friends? Which vehicle will you want to go fishing or skiing? Do we want convertibles from off-road vehicles or rather from cars. The decision has the customer, because the manufacturer produces what the customer wants. What the customer does not want becomes the storekeeper. Should everyone wait or build a pickup that nobody wants …
Finally there is some sense coming out of GM . AV and EV together are marketing dreams and not reality. The MPG rating for the I4 Turbo proved that it takes a lot of power to move things and a truck where the battery may cost more than the truck itself is no way possible. For those who dream of AV vehicles, you have to realized that it will take smart roads and nearly every vehicle must be integrated to a network so every vehicle knows where the other one is. Cell phones can do it so it isn’t a dream. But when the day comes when vehicles have to be electric or other power source, if you think petro pollutes, wait until we have to deal with millions of highly toxic batteries. We have been doing it with lead acid batteries for 100 years of building a processing. Storing and recycling lithium is really dangerous stuff. As of now there is probably more petroleum than lithium on this planet.
People who use their trucks to make a living are more interested in the bottom line. A truck that can be charged overnight than go 80-100 miles all electric will satisfy the needs of the vast majority of trades using trucks for their business and save a lot of money on fuel and maintenance costs, even if the battery has to be changed every 10 years or so.
A plug-in pickup equipped with a small ICE powered range extender can provide unlimited range, and like smaller plug-in hybrid sedans, provide significantly better fuel economy than comparable vehicles. The 1st generation Chevy Volt when operated on gas was essentially a serial hybrid. Which meant that the power out of the ICE incurred the extra loss of efficiency of powering a generator to make the electricity to power the traction motor. Even so, the Volt got about 30% better fuel economy than its sibling, the Chevy Cruze, even though it weighs about 600 pounds more. The reason is the electric drive is more efficient and thus required less power from the ICE than that required in a conventional drivetrain. Another advantage of an electric drivetrain for working trucks is they can quietly and efficiently off load a tremendous amount of power, enough to handle most jobs where grid power is not available without having to bring in a generator.
GM truck chief engineer Tim Herrick dismisses calls for a plug-in Silverado as calls from the lunatic fringe and says real truck buyers don’t want an electric truck. Meanwhile Ford and Ram say they will have a plug-in pickup in the very near future. GM is squandering their lead in electrification with this stupid decision. When Ford and Ram start selling plug-in pickups they will qualify for the $7500 Federal Tax credit, something GM could have also had if the 2019 Silverado had a plug-in drivetrain. By delaying GM hands a big advantage to their competition.
Only a suggestion,how about a COPO electric Colorado.
There will only be a very select few who will want an EV and/or AV pickup and 95% of those will be wealthy individuals who want to tow their boat and make home improvement store runs…
Good because I have yet to speak to even a single person that would want one. And I know and speak to a ton of people.