General Motors‘ decision to kill off the Chevrolet Volt was indicative of a long-term strategy that will see the automaker focus on pure electric vehicles instead of hybrids.
Company president Mark Reuss explained the automaker’s decision cease making hybrids in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, telling the newspaper that it would rather channel its green vehicle investments into EVs, as it believes they will eventually take over.
“If I had a dollar more to invest, would I spend it on a hybrid? Or would I spend it on the answer that we all know is going to happen, and get there faster and better than anybody else?” Reuss said.
WSJ notes that this strategy is a departure from other major industry players such as Toyota and Ford. Toyota sees hybrids as crucial to lowering green house gas emissions, as they are cheaper than EVs and thus carry a cheaper purchasing price and can be sold in greater numbers.
Ford, meanwhile, plans to invest heavily in EVs, but is also planning certain hybrid models, like the upcoming F-150 Hybrid. A Ford engineer explained the company doesn’t want buyers who desire a green vehicle to be forced into an EV, which are still more expensive than hybrids and have limited range.
GM isn’t the only automaker that sees hybrids as an unnesscary stop-gap between ICE and EV. WSJ also spoke to VW for its report, which echoed a similar sentiment to GM: if EV market share grows as it is expected to, why continue to invest in a stop-gap technologies like hybrids and plug-ins?
“Our strong preference is to go all-in where the market is heading, as opposed to hybrids as a way to hedge our bets,” Volkswagen America CEO Scott Keogh said.
Time will tell which automakers get this strategy right and which get it wrong. The winning strategy may depend on how quickly automakers like GM and VW can bring affordable yet profitable EVs to market with usable range. If EVs don’t end up accounting for a large chunk business, they may be forced to employ more hybrids in order to meet the 2025 government emissions regulations.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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If I had a dollar more to invest, would I spend it on a hybrid? Or would I spend it on the answer that we all know is going to happen, and get there faster and better than anybody else?” Reuss said.
Faster? Better? So far it seems you are getting nowhere fast. Sorry, selling 20k Bolts a year does not inspire a lot of confidence in your so called “all electric” future fantasy.
If you honestly don’t think Electric vehicles are the future, you’re in for a very rude awakening. The whole industry is heading there. It’s Toyota and Ford who are dragging their feet.
Also, whether you like it or not, GM is focusing it’s efforts on electric because of China’s electric car mandate requiring auto manufacturers to have at least 7% of it’s sales to be electric by 2025. GM has a much larger presence in China than both Ford and Toyota so the company has to double down on that technology.
The future will belong to companies that give customers what the want. Period. Not to companies that tell their potential customers what they are to buy. The companies that realize the latter will be the ones that thrive.
It’s not all about what customers want though. National and global responsibilities need to be acknowledged too. i.e global pollution, federal government regulations, a corporations own responsibility to be better.
The consumer is fickle, everyone wants trucks and SUVs right now, but when gas prices shoot up there is panic and people point fingers at manufacturers for not anticipating and providing better alternatives. Consumers rarely take responsibility for buying something that isn’t future proofed… same can be said about vehicle financing where people buy a vehicle that’s twice what they can afford but take an 8 year loan and think it’s fantastic.
Gas at $2.50 now isn’t bad (on a global scale it’s F-ing cheap), until that 20mpg Denali needs $4/gal gas 5 years into your 8 year loan and at that point the vehicle isn’t worth the amount left on the loan so you can even properly offload it to cut your losses. And the same thing is happening to the person’s house/mortgage, but hey it’s not their fault.
No, it’s about what the customers want.
People don’t buy national and global responsibilities.
You could try to force them with regulations and laws, but that’s a great way to get voted out of office.
Have you and Tigger ever heard of a little company called Apple? They have been designing and selling products that there was no market for before Apple showed everyone a well designed and technologically advanced product and MADE them want one. History is repeating itself with the automotive industry now.
Agreeing with other Andrew: right now people want SUVs and large pickup trucks. By your logic, automakers shouldn’t even be focusing on hybrids because they don’t even crack the top ten in sales.
While GM deserves criticism for it’s series duds on the market right now, I don’t think it’s long-term plans are off base and that includes Hydrogen Fuel Cell tech – which is where GM, Honda, and Toyota are also heavily investing.
Oh.. and for clarity – i’m NOT posting under two different names. : )
Moot point as GM already announced they’re going an all electric future…
They announced they were all in on hydrogen once too. Before they went all bankrupt.
Yes and how many failed hybrids is it going to take?
ICE is expected and in the plans of nearly all companies till 2050 .
The headline on the SAE Automotive Engineering is Not Dead Yet Engineering the ICE toward 2050.
The story details advanced planning on future ICE power plants that will remain part of the market as EV grows slowly,
That statement is mostly true but you are not taking into account Regulations.
EV’s will without a doubt become the next form of Transportation.
Toyota is dragging their feet but Ford has greatly increased their EV efforts…They invested in rivian and produced a video showing their F150 EV towing 1.25M lbs…
There has only been one Hybrid that did any good and that was the Prius. Even now sales on it have tanked.
The Hybrid was a compromise that just seldom worked out well.
People generally want one or the other and not a little of each if given a choice.
Hybrids added cost turn off gas buyers and the EV buyer if given a better car is willing to pay more.
The future at GM needs to focus on more expensive EV models that people really want and GM makes money on. The development on these models will in time drive component prices down to where smaller EV cars can be made at a profit in various sizes.
EV is much like most technology is not cheap but will get cheaper will volume.
Tesla priced there was a market for higher priced sedans but they also show no profits mid size yet.
GM is not alone here as VW is also dumping Hybrid cars too.
The future will remain a mix of ICE and EV but there will be little in the Hybrid area.
Many analyst speculate that in the US you won’t be able to buy a new ICE in 2050 yet the wild card is robotaxis; once they figure those out along with automated charging, companies won’t be able to produce enough of them…
Read the July August SAE Automotive Engineering edition and even GM still plans ice power till then. Yes it will decline but it wil, not vanish.
Tesla stands to become Huge if they can nail this. Would be an amazing American story.
Startup that overtakes the Auto Industry.
I would love to know how in the next 3-4 years all electric vehicles will be making enough profits for the high pie in the sky Barra and be affordable and relevant for the masses. And this doesn’t even take into account the charging times, poor infrastructure, range and for folks living in any type of apartment complexes of which I have yet to see any type of chargers in site. So until these two companies can come up with an explanation on what big change is coming to make this work i’m seeing another bankruptcy looming in the not to distant future?
I hope they’re smart enough to avoid bankruptcy this time. Instead, what we’re probably going to be getting is a few electric vehicles for the few people that will buy them, and a lot of ICE vehicles for the masses that will for sure buy them, at least in the US.
In a smaller country with shorter distances traveled, maybe electrics will catch on in a big way, especially if they have huge tax incentives.
Electric vehicles are really a great thing, but only for a small percent of the population.
It is very simple.
Gas Stations could care less if they sell you Gasoline or Electricity. They make their money from you walking into their little store and purchasing something. How quickly were Gas Stations added back in the Day when the Ford Model T was put into Production?
Same excuses and concerns from back then is what everyone is disusing now. The infrastructure will grow as the EV sales grow just as they did way back when the Model T was introduced. The only Industry that will be mostly left out in the Cold is Dealership Service centers.
We sent Humans to the Moon way back in 1969, do people honestly think in Modern times Europe, China, USA, and the Private Sector will be unable to figure out charging solutions?
Bob McNamara in the 50s at Ford pioneered the idea of it’s not what the customer wants now it’s what they want 3-5 years from now for the dovelopment time of a new model (which was the main decision behind the 4-seat T-Bird, in turn lead to the Mustang). The all-electric idea is the continuation of that idea.
Me personally I’ll go with a hybrid for a truck but for automakers you have to think about what satisfies the buyers and the regulators with a “crystal ball”, not easy work.
He also ordered the destruction of the SR-71 program files and equipment, ending further production of the aircraft and limiting further development. It would make more sense to make all Hybrid and Electric and chuck none Hybrids. More R&D dollars today going to improving the electric components for the future while satisfying the wants of the consumer. Look at the Volt’s advancement of the Radio. It pioneered improved efficiency for all vehicles that will ultimately be beneficial for Pure Electrics!
I’d buy a sleek well designed EV sedan 400 mile range that don’t break the bank. But is that even possible?
Today no. By 2025 yes.
It looks like they’ve canned the Malibu Hybrid for 2020, as it was just taken out of the fleet order guide.
Nothing seems to get people more polarized about cars than electric vehicles compared to ICE. I ask each person have you driven an electric vehicle yet? Most will say no yet they bash it. As for the article, if you don’t want an electric car, don’t buy one. If you want a hybrid, buy one. So many options for everyone yet they attack the options with fervot. I would get an electric car if there are more chargers, but there aren’t. So what do I do? I own an ICE. If I lived in a house with a garage, I’d get a charger and use that.
If the new EV’s appeal to Tesla Enthusiasts, then it will sell well and make profits. The Bolt is good for now, just not good enough for the future. I anticipate a big price drop though, once the Crossover gets released. The Bolt will be an established Entry level competitor by 2025, and compete against the Civic rather than Tesla’s.
There is 2 possibilities now :
Hybrids still are valid for trucks as they are not fully ready to move to Electrics. The colorado would be the best on to have hybrid offering ( say 3.6L replacement with a 2.5L Hybrid ) and this can be shared across Colorado and Traverse.
The unibody offerings (specially say traverse ) would be the best candidate to have an EV and Hybrid version and use the electric AWD instead of conventional way. A Traverse EV with dual motor, skate board design, good range and with a Frunk would still blow people and make better perception for company and brand ). Again
Bolt was one of the best opportunities wasted because they didn’t push the envelope enough ( a better exterior design , Move motor to Back (RWD and Frunk ) and have a AWD version, better interior , fast charging ) would had made a lot more impression that the bland Bolt. End of the day bolt made only management can say , yes we have an electric product but i didn’t think it made any positive impact to company or public perception.
Again , i still believe , Hybrids still deserve to be a big application for HD truck space as electric motors can offer huge torque and can end up in a very less complicated mechanical linkage with very high reliability ( end of the day, its still a series hybrid with electricity generated from a heavily optimized diesel generator and ultra capacitors/some battery used to help of buffer conditions). Once batteries grow to replace the diesel generator , we will be still good.
General Motors never spent time or effort in expanding the Volt architecture as more powerful electric motors could have increased the performance and larger batteries could have increase range as it would have been interesting to have seen the Volt architecture on a larger sedan or crossover.
Here are the realities we face.
Ice is not going to vanish but will see a decline as EV becomes cheaper.
EV will increase but cost still have to come down and more infrastructure needs to be in place.
Hybrids were fine when ranges were short but that is no longer a problem.
Truck owners are not a group that is EV crazy as a whole and we have already seen the Hybrid trucks fail.
Oil prices should remain stable as long as we keep producing here and in Canada.
Regulations appear to be stable for now as automakers are not wanting breaks but also expect no major increases either.
The EV should have gone to Cadillac first not Chevy. Who knew people would pay $125k for a large sedan? Now that we know this it is time to move these Ev plans to more expensive lower volume models.
Contrary to what some think most people are either not EV fans or they are unwilling to pay more for a Hybrid.
This is all subject to change depending on global policies and possible wars. Also developments. The automakers have change plans before as have government regulations. How many times has a California resended the mandatory Ev laws?
The bottom line is nothing is going to change over night and most are going to be flexible. But will just see where this all goes.
But I do expect the Hybrids to all vanish as the EV improve.
Very Glad to hear GM is making the correct move and not trying to tip toe its way into the Future.
What they say and what they do are two different things. I would not trust Machete Mary and her wrecking crew to run a lemonade stand.
Does anyone believe that big oil will let electric vehicles just shut their game down? It’s a pipe dream like “triple zero”. Please, somebody clean the RenCen of these people!
Who says anything has to be shut down? Oil companies are energy companies by default. If anything, there’s money to be made in being an energy company selling electricity.
Europe and China have both passed regulations that ICE cars will not be allowed to be sold in the Future. Why is this so hard for some to understand?
GM and or any other Auto Maker cannot exist in the Future if they try to maintain only an ICE strategy. Every Auto Maker pretty much needs Europe and especially China. Our Government is unfortunately falling behind because both parties are Pro Big Oil.
I am glad GM realized that the Future is without a doubt EV’s and they have gone All In.
Having said all that, I sure hope their upcoming EV’s are legit and not just a Me Too effort.
Someday there will be Electric car Chargers at gas stations. But they will not be super fast. They will need to give you more time to go inside the store and spend money.
Think that’s the idea now as you have order-to-go gas stations like T/A, Wawa, Sheetz, etc, those places would probably have charging stations soon if not already.
Wawa already has Tesla Superchargers and they just announced more will be coming.
A lot of Royal Farms in my area already have fast charging stations. I was able to take a road trip a couple months ago just stopping at Royal Farms to fast charge.
I don’t want to wait around for an hour(s) or what ever it takes. No way.
The 2020’s are already out. All we have from GM is still the Bolt. Nothing seen yet on proving grounds or spy photos. , All I’ve seen is a shadow picture of a mythical Caddie in the works. That’s not much commitment to me.
Guess that there will be no hybrid C8 now after Mark’s comments. GM should pull support from all race series proposing hybrid powertrains, such as indycar and IMSA, since technology transfer will not be applicable.
GM need full ZEV credits to sell PUs and SUVs in big numbers and hybrids do not do that.
GM is making a 400mi Escalade EV. That’s some commitment for ya.
Hope to be the case. Would be a Game Changer.
They can go after the Rivian CUV with that.
The bottom line is you aready have the voltec system put it in a SUV 5 seater with 60-70 ev range then gas. it would be good till gas goes away GM you have no nation wide charging system that can deliver 5-10 minute full charges for long distance driving. Where are all the up coming vehicles that will be Electric, and what will they be and how many miles and how fast of time to charge. You need to get your head out of ground and smell the coffee, Because you are dead wrong on voltec system
Just as a note GM uses the CCS charging standard and there is now a decent network of 350KW chargers. These should be able to charge future EV’s to 80% in roughly 15 minutes.
people don’t understand that some people drive 400 miles round trip on a weekend just to ride their ATVs or snowmobiles so they need PUs that run on gasoline. I used to tow our race car 100s of miles every weekend to race. people do other things besides just drive to work and go shopping. my son and grandson just made a 750 mile round trip to the NASCAR races.
We understand and so does GM. I think some people don’t understand that many people don’t do that, so go electric.
The elephant in the room that nobody is addressing is the load on the power grid that a mass movement toward EVs will have. The system, as it stands today, would not be able to handle the load- not even close. Will customers be willing to spend three or four times on their electric bills to expand the grid perhaps 5 or 10 fold to handle an “all electric future”? I don’t care if it is the US, China, or Europe there will be political and economic prices to pay for such a move.
Also, consider this. There are electric companies that will partake in rolling blackouts when too much electricity is used like on hot days. Who do you think the electricity will flow to in this situation? Some motorist passing through the area wanting to charge their EV, or to homes and buildings where the elderly and vulnerable may be suspect to the heat?
Most power if not all in the Future will be from Hydro, Wind, and Solar.
Power will be stored by Battery packs for when needed. It will not be an issue at all.
That may be true, but who is going to pay for all that infrastructure?
Who “paid” for the 100,000 gas stations and Jiffy Lubes we have all around the country?
MaaS (Mobility-as-a-Service) should become very big business during the 2020s. The standout MaaS vehicles will be electric. ICE and hybrid will more expensive and then finally banned because of CO2 and NOx emissions
GM is in the business to make money not cars and till EVs become profitable and sell at a reasonable price you will see them just tinker around the edges