What a shit show. Nothing but bullshit, second guessing, and mistiming from GM. Ultium is proving to be a disaster, Bolt program was great but they ruined that, they killed the volt and other hybrids but now want to bring back hybrids as if a random piecemeal strategy for power train development is remotely practical, all while focusing on big ass dangerous vehicles exclusively. As much as I'd love to buy a union made homegrown EV their portfolio is just awful. Godspeed Mary.
Well, the strategy is to electrify their highest-margin vehicles and try to charge a premium for them. I think its a reasonable strategy.... but...
they killed the volt and other hybrids
Yeah, this is the key problem. GM is killing their own momentum, while Toyota's redesigned Prius 2024 / RAV4 lineup is extremely competitive, Ford with the Hybrid Maverick and Hybrid F150, and finally F150 Lightning.
All these GM vehicles are arriving years late. Its going to be an uphill battle. But I'm glad that GM is at least trying to move in now.
The good news for PHEV fans is that there's Prius Prime, RAV4 Prime, Ford Escape PHEV, Lincoln Corsair PHEV, Kia Niro PHEV, Hyundai Tucson PHEV just off the top of my head. We don't need GM vehicles per se, though as you note... it'd be nice to have a US union-made GM as part of this market. (I think the Ford and Lincoln models are US-made and union made btw)
The problem is that it was a decent strategy. When practical BEVs were new and exciting, and you have all the excitement around startups and new technologies, the strategy of starting with high priced, high profit models worked. There were enough early adopters and market excitement. Now there are options, and GM hasn’t been the center of excitement in a century, so who’s going to buy high priced, high margin stuff from them? They missed that winDow of opportunity, and really need to iterate on the Bolt/Volt legacy they started. Their opportunity now is their bread and butter: making practical, affordable cars for everyone
You take all the complexity of a gas car and add more parts. My MIL has a Ford Fusion. The EV bits are inside the transmission. She had a problem and it was quoted $14k by Ford to fix it. A second hand shop charged her $6k. That totally blew any savings she would have had on fuel.
Hybrids have all the maintenance cost of ICE vehicles and twice as many drivetrain components to break. The extra cost to keep a hybrid on the road easily cancels out the gas savings.
Buy an EV and you have a simple drive train that will rarely break and has no maintenance.
Yep, it’s the same resistance to change, just delayed a bit. For all this time, no one wants to buy hybrid, especially plug-in hybrid, they’re too complicated and expensive, Toyota must be taking a loss on every one, they’ll never fly in the US. Now that market focus has moved on, BEVs are compelling and desirable, there’s that looking back to the last new thing, rather than figure out the new thing
From my experience with a Rav4 PHEV, no. That said if I could get a sierra to run on battery for quick trips around town, but also tow our family camper on gas or diesel throughout the summer I would buy one tomorrow.