GM confirms it’s moving away from hybrids to focus on all-electric

As part of its renewed electrification effort announced last month, GM confirmed that it was killing the Chevy Volt, which many saw as counter-intuitive – but now the automaker says that it’s part of its plan to focus on all-electric vehicles.

GM President Mark Reuss made the comment during the Detroit Auto Show (via Fox):

“Answering an analyst’s question about the future of hybrids in the company’s lineup, Reuss called them a countermeasure to the internal combustion engine and said that resources would be redirected toward fully-electric cars, instead. The move represents a sharp departure by the company that championed plug-in hybrids with the soon to be discontinued Chevrolet Volt.”

Just over a month ago, GM was announcing a restructuring that includes factory closures and accelerated investments in electric vehicles.

At the same time, the company said that it will stop producing the Chevy Volt, GM’s longtime flagship plug-in hybrid, by the end of the first quarter of 2019.

The automaker has since focused back on all-electric vehicles starting with Cadillac revealing images of the brand’s first EV, which is going to be built on GM’s new “BEV3” platform.

Electrek’s Take

Well, that’s a refreshing take from an established automaker like GM.

It drives me crazy that legacy automakers claim to be heavily investing in electric vehicles and say that they will release ‘x’ number of new models, but then they call them “electrified” and they end up being mostly HEVs and PHEVs instead of all-electric BEVs.

In my mind, it’s simply crazy to unveil HEVs and PHEVs concepts right now to plan to launch those vehicles in the next few years.

Anyone following the EV market close enough can see that everything is going to all-electric.

I think it will become increasingly clear to everyone else starting in 2020 when there will be many more compelling all-electric vehicles available to buy, but I am glad that GM is recognizing it now.

Now if only they could start looking at going all-electric with their more polluting vehicle lines, like pickup trucks and large SUVs, and I would give them a good shot at surviving the rEVolution.