In one area, car brands are like governments: they overlap to shout a year in which the combustion engine is finally put to the test. For General Motors, that target is 2035, but according to the American car manufacturer, that does not entail any guarantees.
“GM believes EVs are the future, but cannot let its business suffer from its ambitions if market demand deviates from ambitions.” That’s roughly what Steve Carlisle, the big boss of GM North America, has to say to Automotive News on the subject.
‘His’ car group has already stated that it only wants to make electric cars from 2035. This makes General Motors certainly not the only car manufacturer with such plans, but it is nevertheless very ambitious. At the moment, General Motors only has the Chevrolet Bolt and Chevrolet Bolt EUV in the EV field, so there is still a lot to do before there is an all-electric line-up.
Of course this is being worked on. Earlier we saw, for example, the (GMC) Hummer EV, a promising super pick-up and -SUV. In a similar segment, there is talk of an electric Chevrolet Silverado, vital in the US. In fact, luxury brand Cadillac wants to switch completely to electric as early as this decade, while GM as a whole wants to launch 30 new EVs by the end of 2025.
At the same time, Carlisle is realistic enough to state that the 2035 ambition does not bring any promises. If it were up to him, this ultimate deadline will be pushed back if it turns out that in 2035 there is still a serious amount of demand for cars with an internal combustion engine.
Does that ‘2035’ have no meaning at all? Certainly, says the GM CEO. “Goals like this keep us focused and make people know what we stand for”.
Europe
Since Opel falls under PSA (now Stellantis), General Motors is hardly relevant to Europe. Cadillacs are still officially sold here, but that actually remains with theory. On the other hand, that could of course change just like that if the Americans indeed come up with a series of capable EVs, because that would certainly make things considerably more interesting for Dutch buyers.