What happens if the bet to go all-in on EV completely flops and the profits from trucks and SUV's is not enough to balance losses from EV and autonomous programs?
7 replies (most recent on top)
IF the bet flops? That bet is among the worst bet ever made.
When the company that says they're going all-electric NEEDS to go to the government to BEG for incentives in order to get people to buy those cars, that is a bad bet.
Total EV sales in 2018 were 360k
That's a whopping 2% of the market. Take Tesla out of that, and it's less than half that.
That isn't a market. That's Tesla fandom with a halo.
btw, the Volt outsold the Bolt last year, and was the 3rd best selling non-Tesla plug-in.
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/us-electric-vehicle-sales-increase-by-81-in-2018#gs.83316f
GM created the most technologically advanced car on the planet (Chevy Volt) - then refused to advertise it. Now they are closing the only plant that made it, all while claiming to embrace an electric future. I know recreational m-r-j-a-a was just approved in Michigan, but does it kill brain cells that fast?
And the flop can and might happen even if the basic high-level strategy is correct, through inadequate execution.
Can't think of a better way to do that than to can a large share of your sharpest people.
We can only hope!
It's not if, it's when. Infrastructure and buying habits do not define a global desire for electric or autonomous. This is the start of the last bankruptcy GM will have.
Cars will just be hardware. The real moneymakers in autonomous will be platforms like google.
Good point