GM Dealers Want Hybrids Instead of More EVs

by Chris Teague

Published: January 29th, 2024

gm dealers want hybrids instead of more evs

General Motors is pushing ahead with plans to become an electric automaker, but the road toward that goal hasn’t been the easiest so far. Cadillac and Buick dealers accepted buyouts in large numbers to avoid making investments to sell EVS, and now the automaker’s dealers are pushing it to develop more hybrids instead of releasing new electric models.

A GM advisory committee with several dealers is leading the messaging, saying that they believe the automaker risks losing customers with an overly aggressive electrification strategy. General Motors has several new electric models on the way soon, but it has so far overlooked hybrids in those efforts.

The company understands its dealers’ concerns but has not detailed plans to offer such products. GM offers hybrids in China, so the technology exists. That said, the automaker’s previous hybrids didn’t sell well in the U.S., but it has been several years since it last tried.

Hybrids could be a popular alternative to GM’s EVs, as the automaker hasn’t yet hit the affordable price targets it touted a while ago. The Chevy Bolt and Bolt EUV were solid, reasonably-priced options, but they’ve been discontinued with no firm date to revive them on GM’s newer platform. Toyota and other automakers have proven that the vehicles work and that people want to buy them, so it feels like a no-brainer for GM.

[Image: Chevrolet]

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Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

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9 of 170 comments

Vulpine on Jan 30, 2024

I've been saying for a long time that the dealerships are abusing the OEMs just as badly as they abuse their customers. This is open proof of that fact.

1 Reply
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- 28-Cars-Later on Jan 30, 2024
  
  This is the rare case were the OEM was flat wrong in reading the market.
  
  2
- EBFlex on Jan 30, 2024
  
  "This is the rare case were the OEM was flat wrong in reading the market."
  They didn't even attempt to read the market. They just took their marching orders from the government.
  
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- Vulpine on Jan 31, 2024
  
  Keep believing that, you two. Try actually thinking it through, instead of such emotional wailing.
  
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Crown on Jan 30, 2024

Remember how horrible the first Hyundai's were? Look at them now. I would still never buy one, but they have come a long way.

1 Reply
BklynPete on Jan 30, 2024

I got out of Ford at $12 a share once Mark Fields grew a mullet and made everyone speak Swedish. Without the F-Series to prop up the rest they are a dead company walking

1 Reply
- Jeff on Jan 30, 2024
  
  You could say the same thing about GM and Stellantis in America but that is not a good position for a company to be in. When sales slow down and a company becomes more vulnerable by having their eggs in one basket.
  
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Dave Holzman on Jan 31, 2024

Jeff--You got the heat pump in the dinosaur age of heat pumps! Almost 40 years ago!
Battery tech is almost certain to improve, but how much? Will it take half an hour to charge them with a fast charger instead of 45 minutes? Or will it get down to 10 minutes? How long will they ultimately last? I also just think internal combustion has a lot more personality. Of course, we really need to get CO2 emissions down to zero. I keep hoping for carbon capture or some other deus ex machina, and meanwhile I'm planning to drive the Civic for the rest of my life.

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- Jeff on Jan 31, 2024
  
  Dave Holzman--I didn't say otherwise. I said that even in 1987 when I had my first heat pump installed it still saved me money but that heat pumps in 2023 are much better than they were in 1987. Toyota has been working on solid state batteries and other types of batteries will be developed that are better and less expensive. I would say that EVs have improved significantly from GM's EV-1 in the 90s but they still have a ways to go and the charging infrastructure still needs to expand. I could very well drive my 2 current vehicles a 2013 Honda CRV and 2022 Ford Maverick the rest of my life but even if I decided to get an EV in the future I will wait till the battery technology is better and the infrastructure is better but I am not going to obsess over it. Some of us are late adopters of technology even of the past like vcrs, compact discs, dvds, streaming, desktop computers, smart phones, and other types of tech. I bought most of those items 5 to 10 years after they came out. As for personality of an ICE over EV most of the ICE vehicles of today don't have the same distinct designs or personalities of the cars of the 60s and 70s to me. Very few new vehicles today have the same appeal to me as the cars of 50 or more years ago.
  
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