Yes electrification, autonomous, ride sharing, and ride hailing have a place. Especially in Asian Cities, NY, SFO, LA, Chicago and a couple of dozen other major metros. The problem is that beyond some specialty high margin niches (e.g. Tesla S Model) all the rest are a race to the bottom in profitability. Those looking for autonomous rides to work etc care little about what they are riding in ... and will seek out the lowest common denominator. Who is going to serve the other 99% of the land mass ... the wide open spaces where nobody needs or wants an EV, autonomous vehicle or ride share/ride hail. They want SUVs, luxury cars and trucks that can take them anywhere and/or with the capability to tow their boats, horse trailers etc. And this 98% of the country have people who take pride in their vehicles, the luxury, freedoms and/or capabilities their vehicles offer them. These consumers are responsible for the lion's share of GM's profits ... and could be for decades to come if GM doesn't take the eye off the prize. Also is abandoning all cars not something someone else is worried about ... what if gas goes back to $4-5 per gallon ... are we setting ourselves up to be at the mercy of imports like we did in the 70's then again in the 80's?
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I was one of the many who got "the phone call" last November. The irony of the "future" that the Queen has for BEV and AV was evident at GPS Pontiac. Other than the charging stations on GM property, there were none within a three mile radius. However. Tesla has multiple charging stations on Brown road for well over a year.
Mary Barra was not chosen to run GM because of her superior competence.
GM to survive needs a Toyota, BMW or Mercedes Benz executive but fake pride blocks the directors.
GM is sick and weak, waiting to die.
Only a sick company can pay its top executive 23 million dollars while its top competitor, Toyota, with many times GM's market value, much higher profits, bigger than GM and a better run company than GM, pays its top guy les than one third of what GM pays Mary Barra.
Aside from Mark Reuss, there is nobody at the top of the company that has any passion for product. These others and their vision to “transform” GM into a bloated tech start up will face plant the company into oblivion - selling a little more of our collective soul day after day to the investors and other “international interests” who will drop GM like a hot battery pack as soon as they have extracted all the intellectual property they need.
@ @XuFPtA2
Figure on exterior design getting thrown out with the maven/autonomous bathwater too as who will care what the car looks like?
Folks who use that service will be buried in their Ic-ap phones.
Very good points made on the topic of electrification and autonomous as the future GM plan for success. Unfortunately, this grossly flawed company plan is not a big shock. GM has demonstrated its abilities in product planning for several decades by always having a portfolio with 80+% of the products NEVER producing sales volumes resulting in profit.
And it will take a very long time until the charging infrastructure is developed to allow people to drive any distance.
Yes, the strategic direction is definitely flawed.
Whoever is making the decisions is an id--t.
many good points.... mary&co are not impressed by them