GM News: Barra Confirms GM is Working On EV Pickup

[Drew Dowdell]

Fresh on the news that Ford invested $500 million into electric truck startup Rivian in order to gain access to the startup's EV platform, General Motors CE) Mary Barra confirmed that General Motors is working on an EV pickup of their own.

This was during an investors earnings call when Barra said GM has "an industry-leading truck franchise as well as EV capability" and that the company "would not cede our leadership on either front".

Talks between Rivian and GM were rumored to have broken down over GM's insistence that they have exclusive access to the platform.  If that is the case, then there is a possibility that Ford may not be the only manufacturer other than Rivian to use the skateboard platform.

Any EV from GM will likely use GM's new BEV3 platform that it plans to unveil in 2021.  GM plans for at least 20 all-electric or fuel-cell vehicles by 2023.

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[smk4565]

Well duh.  

I think pickups make the most logical EV.  They have high margin to hide battery cost, they have a lot of space to add battery packs, they require torque which EV is best at and if you take away the front engine for a trunk you have massive cargo and utility ability.

 

[ccap41]

"or fuel-cell" ? That's interesting to hear. I think that part will be overlooked. 

[Drew Dowdell]

I wonder if they'll do full-size or mid-size. 

[surreal1272]

47 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I wonder if they'll do full-size or mid-size. 

You would think it would be both but it would seem to make sense to start with the higher volume model (full size) in a effort to mitigate the costs. I could them also starting with midsize just to test the waters but if you’re going to go all in then you might as well start with your bread and butter models. 

[surreal1272]

58 minutes ago, surreal1272 said:

You would think it would be both but it would seem to make sense to start with the higher volume model (full size) in a effort to mitigate the costs. I could them also starting with midsize just to test the waters but if you’re going to go all in then you might as well start with your bread and butter models. 

Really iPhone? That should say “I could SEE them also starting...”

 

Fat fingered typing. 

[Robert Hall]

13 minutes ago, surreal1272 said:

Really iPhone? That should say “I could SEE them also starting...”

 

Fat fingered typing. 

Been there done that..sometimes I get to typing fast and leave out verbs.  

[surreal1272]

25 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

Been there done that..sometimes I get to typing fast and leave out verbs.  

I apparently do that more often than I’d like lol. Such is life sometimes though. 

[ocnblu]

No one will buy it

[riviera74]

37 minutes ago, ocnblu said:

No one will buy it

Yes, a few people will buy it.  And in a few years, more people will buy it.

[surreal1272]

7 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

Yes, a few people will buy it.  And in a few years, more people will buy it.

At one time, some folks thought that no one would ever buy a Tesla. History is not being very kind to those folks. 

[Drew Dowdell]

I don't see why people buy the Bolt... but people still do.

[ocnblu]

6 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I don't see why people buy the Bolt... but people still do.

Fewer this year than last.  In the USA.

[surreal1272]

I don’t know why people buy the Jeep Compass but people still do. Fewer this year than last year as well. 

The Bolt, for the record, is only down 59 units for the year compared to this time last year, which is far less than many other models out there even when accounting for percentage loss. 

[ocnblu]

So we agree.  Chevrolet Bolt sales are dropping, and have dropped every year since 2017.

[surreal1272]

Only in the most technical sense, yes it is down. However, given that the year over year loss is less (percentage wise) than the majority of ICE autos out there, it means nothing. It doesn’t mean EVs are crap. It doesn’t mean that no one wants them. It literally means nothing. 

[oldshurst442]

Well, it actually DOES means something...

It literally means that the Bolt is 59 units down for the year as compared to the last.

How one interprets that information also has a certain meaning...to the the eye of the beholder...

For me however:

Alls I know is that certain governments on all levels of government in different parts of the world are influencing the manufacturing and the selling of EVs.

Alls I know, ENOUGH peoples of ALL types ALL OVER the world are also influencing this trend. 

Enough that ALL automobile manufacturers around the world are very antsy about it...and THAT in turn makes them go all out in the R&D and manufacturing of EVs. 

THAT is what I know and THAT is what all this means...

Including GM and now Ford courting Rivian...

Edited May 1, 2019 by oldshurst442

[surreal1272]

4 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

Well, it actually DOES means something...

It literally means that the Bolt is 59 units down for the year as compared to the last.

How one interprets that information also has a certain meaning...

For me however, it means nothing.

Alls I know is that certain governments on all levels of government in different parts of the world are influencing the manufacturing and the selling of EVs.

Alls I know, ENOUGH peoples of ALL types ALL OVER the world are also influencing this trend. 

Enough that ALL automobile manufacturers around the world are very antsy about it...and THAT in turn makes them go all out in the R&D and manufacturing of EVs. 

THAT is what I know and THAT is what all this means...

That is not the context on which I was speaking but I get what you’re saying. My remark was pretty much a trolling deflection. 

[oldshurst442]

5 minutes ago, surreal1272 said:

That is not the context on which I was speaking but I get what you’re saying. My remark was pretty much a trolling deflection. 

I did not want you to think I was targeting you with this because in fact, I was targeting @ocnblu. 

But yeah...my post was more in compliment with yours...but I must admit, it does not seem to be that way.  

Edited May 1, 2019 by oldshurst442

[surreal1272]

18 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

I did not want you to think I was targeting you with this because in fact, I was targeting @ocnblu. 

But yeah...my post was more in compliment with yours...but I must admit, it does not seem to be that way.  

No worries but thanks for clarification. I did not want anyone to misread my intent here. 

[FAPTurbo]

4 hours ago, ocnblu said:

No one will buy it

because it’s a GM

2 hours ago, ocnblu said:

So we agree.  Chevrolet Bolt sales are dropping, and have dropped every year since 2017.

because it’s a GM

[daves87rs]

8 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I wonder if they'll do full-size or mid-size. 

Thinking mid size.

More EV power from a smaller truck.?

[ocnblu]

YEAH, it'll be great, they said...

5 hours ago, FAPTurbo said:

because it’s a GM

because it’s a GM

Well the money grab phased out and nobody's buying Teslas either.  Have you been in Times Square recently?

[ocnblu]

7 hours ago, surreal1272 said:

Only in the most technical sense

Yes, the "most technical" basic math...

[Drew Dowdell]

3 hours ago, ocnblu said:

YEAH, it'll be great, they said...

Well the money grab phased out and nobody's buying Teslas either.  Have you been in Times Square recently?

Yeah, because the technology hasn't evolved at all.

People are buying Tesla, they're outselling Mercedes and BMW.

11 hours ago, ocnblu said:

So we agree.  Chevrolet Bolt sales are dropping, and have dropped every year since 2017.

No, 59 units difference is basically flat.

[oldshurst442]

3 hours ago, ocnblu said:

 

 

Well the money grab phased out and nobody's buying Teslas either.  Have you been in Times Square recently?

That message, my friend,  at Times Square, could very well be political...

We do not know the REAL motivations for this message. Could very well be what you are hoping it to be. But maybe its got deeper more sinister intentions...

[balthazar]

54 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

No, 59 units difference is basically flat.

Agreed. March vs. March was well up tho- 2166 vs. 1774 units. Bolt is also the #2 selling EV in the US so far this year.

That said, EV sales are still terrible in general.

[surreal1272]

5 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Yes, the "most technical" basic math...

Yet you don’t say what that decline means because your point was clearly to troll especially given that most models this year have suffered far greater year over year losses. 

2 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Yeah, because the technology hasn't evolved at all.

People are buying Tesla, they're outselling Mercedes and BMW.

No, 59 units difference is basically flat.

But “technically” he is right and that’s all that matters lol. We will just sidestep all the ICE autos losing sales by the thousands this year. All that matters is that one EV who is down a whole 59 units over last year. 

[Drew Dowdell]

5 minutes ago, surreal1272 said:

Yet you don’t say what that decline means because your point was clearly to troll especially given that most models this year have suffered far greater year over year losses. 

But “technically” he is right and that’s all that matters lol. We will just sidestep all the ICE autos losing sales by the thousands this year. All that matters is that one EV who is down a whole 59 units over last year. 

Toyota is down 40,000 units just year to date!

[Drew Dowdell]

2 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

That message, my friend,  at Times Square, could very well be political...

We do not know the REAL motivations for this message. Could very well be what you are hoping it to be. But maybe its got deeper more sinister intentions...

The time square thing is more an issue with Tesla service in China than it is with the cars. 45 days to repair would be just as unacceptable in a Camry

[ccap41]

10 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Toyota is down 40,000 units just year to date!

At an average transaction price of $30,000 that's $1,200,000,000 in revenue. 

That's a lot of cash. 

[surreal1272]

12 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Toyota is down 40,000 units just year to date!

But those are not EVs which is the only thing that matters here. Didn’t you read??

[Robert Hall]

What's going on at Times Square? 

[oldshurst442]

30 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

The time square thing is more an issue with Tesla service in China than it is with the cars. 45 days to repair would be just as unacceptable in a Camry

I usually do not have conspiracy theories rolling around in my head without concrete information, but sometimes news coming out from China or...ahem, Trump's administration,  I do decide to wear a tinfoil hat.

[oldshurst442]

1 hour ago, Robert Hall said:

What's going on at Times Square? 

A Chinese ride hailing company bought time to advertise on New York's Time Square TV screens slamming Tesla for poor customer service and lost revenue.  And the message was written in...Chinese...

 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2019 by oldshurst442

[oldshurst442]

Actually, that photo of Times Square is just a rendering of how the message must have looked like.  I just read up on the story to get better details.  I think the message was written in Chinese. I think that part is accurate. The message was up for only about 30 minutes last Wednesday. 

[surreal1272]

Here’s the non-story regarding the Times Square message. Never take seriously, a Chinese company criticizing someone else’s quality. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mashable.com/article/tesla-iunicorn-chinese-ride-hailing-repair-costs-billboards.amp

[ocnblu]

2 hours ago, surreal1272 said:

Here’s the non-story regarding the Times Square message. Never take seriously, a Chinese company criticizing someone else’s quality. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mashable.com/article/tesla-iunicorn-chinese-ride-hailing-repair-costs-billboards.amp

Irrelevant.  Are you saying they made it all up?

[surreal1272]

2 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Irrelevant.  Are you saying they made it all up?

Really don’t want to bother with you because you don’t want to hear the answer but let me just sum it up though. A country that makes endless unreliable junk doesn’t get to make statements about American companies and their issues regardless of truth or not. 

Edited May 2, 2019 by surreal1272

[ocnblu]

Their junk doesn't excuse Tesla's junk.

[surreal1272]

33 minutes ago, ocnblu said:

Their junk doesn't excuse Tesla's junk.

Not once did I say it did but since you look for any reason to slam EVs as junk while you drive a car made by company with a history of junk (as well as just general history of negative trolling where EVs are concerned), your opinion on this means squat to me quite honestly. 

[ocnblu]

Not once did I say anything about what YOU drive.  Sounds like you're taking this game into personal territory.

[surreal1272]

5 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Not once did I say anything about what YOU drive.  Sounds like you're taking this game into personal territory.

Nope. Just a means of comparison. You like to point out how Tesla’s and EVs are just big piles of $h! yet the company that makes your vehicle routinely spends their time at or near the bottom of every reliability list out there. That’s not being personal. That’s stating a fact. 

 

Since you asked though, my Toyota is 24 years old with 266K miles on it and the only thing I’ve had to replace on it, in the three years I’ve had it, is an alternator. 

Edited May 2, 2019 by surreal1272

[Drew Dowdell]

My impression of the Chinese billboard was more that they were criticizing Tesla's customer service and long repair times. Cars of every make break down at some point, but 45 days average repair time is unacceptable no matter what brand it is. They'd be putting the same billboard up in Time Square if it was Camrys that were taking 45 days to fix also. 

[surreal1272]

41 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

My impression of the Chinese billboard was more that they were criticizing Tesla's customer service and long repair times. Cars of every make break down at some point, but 45 days average repair time is unacceptable no matter what brand it is. They'd be putting the same billboard up in Time Square if it was Camrys that were taking 45 days to fix also. 

Exactly my point in my "non-story" reply. Here's my question. Will the addition of the Shanghai plant help alleviate these problems with prolonged times? It would seem so but I don't know all the details. Maybe the current problem is a result of putting the cart before the horse (selling a completely new car in a market with no current production facilities).

[ccap41]

[surreal1272]

3 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Make sure to ask for extra butter lol!

[ccap41]

Just now, surreal1272 said:

Make sure to ask for extra butter lol!

FCK, I love extra butter! 

[FAPTurbo]

angry white man hates the EU and America’s best regarded carmaker, and is now stanning for China:

Edited May 2, 2019 by FAPTurbo

[ocnblu]

Oh I hate China, you misunderstand.  The billboards were paid for by a ride sharing company... not a rival automotive company.  So I think if they are dissatisfied with Tesla's junk and have the means, they have a leg to stand on.  Now if it were a rival automotive company out of China, I would poo-poo it.  Clear now, Booyah?

 

I'm still laughing at "America's best regarded carmaker", though, that is pure comedy gold.

Edited May 3, 2019 by ocnblu