this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2024
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[Dormant] Electric Vehicles
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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...
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
There's still unexplored niches that GM can capture. Silverado and GMC Sierra are likely going to be the first PHEV pickup.
The market is beginning to get crowded at the practical, affordable car range. Prius Prime is a very solid car for the compact car segment, and RAV4 Prime in the CUV segment is also solid. Even then, there's Hyundai Tucson PHEV and Kia Niro. Ford Escape PHEV is being killed off (damn it Ford), but the low-end PHEV segment is basically saturated as it is. Its probably a good idea for GM to have left it, there's just too much competition now. And that competition is Toyota.
Moving away from Toyota-covered niches is probably a good business move. Even if it means giving up the "practical driver". There's just too many "practical drivers" who instinctively buy Toyota these days....