Mary Barra named CEO of General Motors

[dha]

This story showed up in my inbox this morning and naturally my thoughts turned to Tesla and electric cars. I tried doing some research but could not find much useful information regarding Ms. Barra's thoughts on product lineup or her general position on electrification. I was hoping this thread could serve as a place to discuss the implications--if any--that this change in leadership may have on the EV competitive landscape moving forward.

G.M. Names First Female Chief Executive - NYTimes.com

 

[Robert.Boston]

The NYT's quip that "she has gasoline in her veins" doesn't bode well for future EV development at GM. She was head of automotive development during the period when the Volt was made; if so, we can see how she dumbed down the Volt from a potentially revolutionary design to a "Cruze with a battery". Her style is to reuse existing platforms for vehicle development -- a tried and true Detroit method. What Tesla has shown clearly, however, is that a successful EV must be built from the ground up as an EV.

So, my take: her appointment as CEO, plus the bad news from Envia, takes GM out of the EV picture for the next decade.

 

[Rifleman]

So, my take: her appointment as CEO, plus the bad news from Envia, takes GM out of the EV picture for the next decade.

I hope your wrong, but fear that you might be right. GM has been really silent about the Gen 2 Volt, and their talks of a 200 mile EV have completely vanished. They also show now interest in selling the Spark EV outside of CARB states, even though by all reports it would compete very well with the Leaf.

Once again, Tesla's competition is refusing to compete.

 

[JohnQ]

The NYT's quip that "she has gasoline in her veins" doesn't bode well for future EV development at GM. She was head of automotive development during the period when the Volt was made; if so, we can see how she dumbed down the Volt from a potentially revolutionary design to a "Cruze with a battery". Her style is to reuse existing platforms for vehicle development -- a tried and true Detroit method. What Tesla has shown clearly, however, is that a successful EV must be built from the ground up as an EV.

So, my take: her appointment as CEO, plus the bad news from Envia, takes GM out of the EV picture for the next decade.

While I don't necessarily disagree with your analysis regarding product lineups, I will say not to read too much into the "gasoline in her veins" comment. It's an old saying for folks who came up through the rank and file as she did and is certainly catchy news copy. CNN repeated the same thing this morning.

GM is a strange place (they were a client of mine in the late 90s) with competing fiefdoms that have to be managed. It's much different than setting direction for a single platform car company. Sea change innovation is exceedingly difficult for an established company like GM. It's really easy to shut down a 20k annual volume platform that sucks up a lot of R&D costs and I consider the Volt a significant departure for GM that meets a need in the marketplace.

However, unless Barra is laser focused on EV platforms (and sets up and manages a separate group to execute) then they will just repurpose the Volt powertrain as they are doing with that god-awful new Cadillac.