GM bets on electric Equinox to kick-start ‘massive adoption’ of EVs

2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV 3LT

GM

DETROIT – General Motors’ second chance at establishing itself as a mass-market leader in all-electric vehicles is expected to begin next year with the arrival of the Chevrolet Equinox EV.

The all-electric crossover is scheduled to go on sale in the U.S. next fall, starting at around $30,000 – a price level many automakers haven’t been able to achieve as the cost to build electric vehicles and the batteries needed to power them continues to rise.

GM executives expect the 2024 Equinox EV, officially unveiled Thursday, to become a high-volume seller for the Detroit automaker, as it transitions to exclusively offer electric cars and trucks by 2035.

“We think this is our big opportunity here to really start to get a massive adoption, and we have that expectation with the price; the volume that we expect to do,” Scott Bell, global vice president of Chevrolet, said during a media briefing. “This is a game changer for us and for the industry.”

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Bell said Equinox EV production at GM’s Ramos Arizpe plant in Mexico will ramp up gradually in the coming years. The Equinox EV is expected to join electric versions of the Silverado pickup, Blazer SUV, and the less expensive and smaller Bolt EV and EUV models for Chevrolet.

GM CEO Mary Barra last year said the Detroit automaker can “absolutely” catch industry leader Tesla in U.S. sales of electric vehicles by 2025. Those plans include more than 1 million units of EV production capacity in China and North America, each, by that time.

Priced to sell?

The Chevy Bolt, which went on sale in December 2016, was expected to be GM’s first affordable, mainstream EV but its annual sales have yet to top 25,000 – a far cry from mainstream sales such as the gas-powered Equinox at hundreds of thousands of units per year.

“The Bolt has seen mild success but was never really intended as a high-volume EV model,” said Paul Waatti, manager of industry analysis at AutoPacific. “The funky design and market positioning require a bit of a unique buyer.”

The Equinox EV will enter a much larger market than the smaller Bolt models. The new crossover is powered by GM’s next-generation Ultium electric vehicle platform that’s expected to enable more technologies and capabilities compared with the outgoing battery technology of the Bolt models.

2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV 1LT

GM

Equinox EV

2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV 1LT

GM

The Equinox EV will feature better performance than its gas-powered namesake but falls shy of the performance of the Blazer EV, which starts at $45,000 and offers up to 557 horsepower and 648 pounds-foot of torque.

The interiors of the electric vehicles also are similar, including a 17.7-inch-diagonal infotainment touch screen that’s standard on the Blazer and optional on the Equinox.

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Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/08/gm-bets-on-electric-equinox-to-kick-start-massive-adoption-of-evs.html