In stark contrast to the global strategy for an all-electric future communicated from the company’s global headquarters in Detroit, GM South America has just suggested that it is open to investing in hybrid technology.
The automaker’s South American subsidiary first suggested it is open to investing in hybrid powertrain technology during the recent AutoData Congress Perspectives 2024, held in Brazil’s São Paulo city. In fact, the latest statements from a senior executive represent a notable change of opinion with respect to the subsidiary’s previous refusal to develop hybrid vehicles during the transition to fully electric models.
“Our goal is electric power for 2035. New technologies may emerge over time and we cannot deny the possibility, from now on, [of having] fuel cell cars, hybrids… I don’t know what the future holds for us in terms of […] scale and competitiveness,” said Vice President of Communications and Government Relations at GM South America, Fábio Rua. “If this future tells us that we need, perhaps, to be a little more open to our spectrum of investment in new technologies, we will be,” he added.
Speaking about the immediate future of GM South America, Fábio Rua announced that the company will soon announce a new investment cycle for their operations in Brazil and suggested that there will be electrified vehicles among the future products to be manufactured in the country. While he reiterated the automaker’s overall goal to exclusively build electric cars by 2035, he said GM’s plan is ambidextrous and includes developing decarbonized technologies along the way to make existing ICE cars more efficient.
As such, GM South America could adopt a strategy similar to that currently executed by General Motors’ two joint ventures in China – SAIC-GM and SAIC-GM-Wuling. Both companies are simultaneously developing both fully electric and hybrid vehicles to serve different customer needs, leaving hybrid technology to maintain entry-level Wuling brand vehicles at more-affordable prices.
This indicates that the idea of GM and its subsidiaries is to develop vehicles with hybrid powertrain technology for emerging markets where fully electric models will continue to be expensive and will take much longer to become viable than in first world countries. This includes important markets such as China, Mexico, Brazil, as well as the rest of Latin American countries served by GM South America operations.
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Comments
According to several recent reports, GM plans to build plug-in hybrid vehicles in Korean factories from 2027. Are there any findings on this?
GM South America and GM China seem to know wtf reality is.
One has to think the extremely high R&D for Ultium batteries are ready to power a hybrid. I would love to see a hybrid Silverado 1500 with around 425hp and 525lbft with an engkne that can still perform decent when towing and batteries potentially drained – so engine alone would be around 300hp 375lbft. I’m curious what a hybrid 2.7T could muster for MPG
Buy a hybrid F-150 now and enjoy it, instead of waiting for GM. Ford still makes the best hybrids in the world. GM lost that lead when they canceled the Chevy Volt and licensed its technology to Honda.
I believe you are confusing Ford with Toyota on the best hybrids.
Voltec was not licensed to anyone, let alone Honda. GM partnered with Honda so they could use Ultium tech on Honda and Acura products. Big difference.
You are better off getting a full EV truck and putting a generator in and wiring it up. It is probably a weekend type of project if you understand what you are doing.
Warped Perception from Michigan who didn’t quite know what they were doing, did it with a Tesla on youtube “I Drove my Tesla 2700mi Without Charging (But With so Many Problems)” He has a nice fab shop
You’re in over your head on every comment you post.
Looks like the e-assist thing they did on the Malibus in the past.
So does this mean they might revive the Voltec platform?
now they could bring out the volt suv !!!