GM CEO Mary Barra Backtracks on EV Goals, Confirms Push Into Hybrids

by Carl Malek | July 17, 2024

GM CEO Mary Barra confirms that the company has backtracked on its EV plans as slowing growth in the segment is forcing the company to shift towards expanding into PHEV and hybrids in an attempt to comply with tightening efficiency and emissions standards.

GM revealed that it’s altering its plans for electrification due to shifting market conditions and insufficient production capacity.

It wasn’t too long ago that GM was all-in on EVs with GM CEO Mary Barra confident that the company would be able to produce 1 million electric vehicles by the end of 2025. Playing into this goal was a wave of new electric vehicles including the Chevrolet Equinox EV, Cadillac Escalade IQ, and the GMC Sierra EV.

However, slowing growth in the EV market is forcing GM to do a hard reset on these plans with Barra confirming that it’s now shifting its focus towards PHEV and hybrid models with the company aiming to introduce the first wave of these plug-in models by 2027.

Lack of production capacity forced GM’s hand

GM’s move comes after the brand experienced production issues with some of its EV models.

A key reason why GM is changing tactics is that the company does not have enough production capacity to reach the 1 million EV mark. This is partially due to multiple production issues that the company has experienced in regards to some of its recent EV models including the Blazer EV which endured a stop-sale order after multiple issues were discovered with the first wave of production units. These have since been fixed, but the incident raised doubt on GM’s ability to successfully fulfill its 2025 plans.

GM is instead focusing on a customer-oriented approach with Mary Barra saying that the customer will determine whether the company will reach the 1 million mark. “We won’t get to a million just because the market’s not developing, but it will get there.” GM has already invested billions of dollars into EVs with the company already having several models currently on sale. While the first wave of these models focused on appealing to well-heeled buyers, the company is just now beginning to roll out models that attempt to reach a broader pool of customers with the recently launched Equinox EV being a prominent example of this in action.

GM admits it has other problems

GM also admitted that deliveries of EVs have been decreasing due to more buyers moving away from EVs and into PHEVs.

In addition to not having enough production capacity, GM also admitted that deliveries of electric vehicles are sliding with second-quarter deliveries remaining flat when compared to the same time a year ago. This is due to more customers rejecting battery-electric vehicles with these jilted customers instead gravitating towards hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles which have lower price tags and are more attainable.

GM has stated in the past that it intends to give customers what they want and will be introducing PHEV models to try and give customers what they want. It’s not known which models will ultimately get a PHEV model with the company keeping that information close to the vest. However, one potential suspect is the Chevrolet Equinox with a PHEV version of that model serving as a bridge between the ICE-powered variant and its all-electric counterpart while also allowing GM to expand its presence in a popular segment too.

Ultimately, this expansion into hybrids and PHEVs will be an interim move with the company eventually continuing its transformation into an all-electric car company. However, look for the company to focus more of its attention on the behavior of its customers moving forward and using any information it gathers from watching customer trends to make key decisions moving forward.