American multinational corporation General Motors Company (GM, Financial) has forecast a drop in sales of electric cars leading to non-achievability of 2017 targets of having 500,000 GM vehicles on U.S. roads by 2017. The downfall has occurred due to lower gasoline prices and a rise in model offerings from other automakers. All electrified models of GM including plug-in hybrids, pure electric vehicles and vehicles with eAssist system, which increases fuel efficiency in gas-powered cars, have been affected.
Projected figures
The newer General Motors Company founded in 2009 is headquartered in Michigan. It designs, manufactures, markets as well as distributes both vehicles and vehicle parts and also offers financial services. The company has production in 37 countries with 13 popular brands.
Not only GM, but also the entire automotive industry is going to miss targets in the category for 2017 as per the company reports. While GM chief executive Mary Barra held the global product chief position in 2012, she had shared plans of the company and its focus on eAssist system which would boost fuel efficiency by 25% in the vehicles running on gas and had set targets of “hundreds of thousands” of vehicles per year by 2017. The number one U.S. automaker is quite positive about its electric cars, whose projections have somehow declined from the initial interest shown by consumers. A total of 180,834 electric GM cars were counted by the company on U.S. roads last year which was an increase from the year 2013’s 153,034.
How far is the era of electric cars?
The electric cars industry has seen ups and downs owing to fluctuating fuel prices and consumer’s loyalty and comfort levels found in fossil fuel based cars. The U.S. Department of Energy in 2013 had also lauded President Barack Obama’s goal of having 1 million electric cars on U.S. roads by 2015. Despite many efforts, consumers have still not accepted electric vehicles due to its higher cost, the lower electric driving range and a less capable charging infrastructure. Adding fuel to it is the low gas prices, which has led consumers to look for larger vehicles, which includes full size pickup trucks and SUVs.
To meet market expectations, its high time that like other automakers, GM explores options of producing more fuel efficient cars that can meet more stringent U.S. requirements slated to come forth by 2025.
Getting back on road
GM still hasn’t lost hope to revive back the market for electric cars. The company has an all-electric vehicle in pipeline, the Chevrolet Bolt, which has a driving range of 200 miles and will undergo production by 2016. The new model will be priced at $30,000 after a federal tax rebate. In this year itself, the company is also coming up with a redesigned version of its Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid with an increased electric driving range of 50 miles and priced at approximately $1200 lesser than the current older version of the car.
The company has robust revamp plans for future, as it will make an effort to make the highly advanced electric cars more acceptable with its improved internal combustion engine. There are also plans to reduce the vehicle mass by using high-strength steel, carbon fiber and aluminum, which would be about 15% lighter than comparable vehicles present in the market with a rather efficient design and better material mix. From a total of 5 models in 2013, the company now has 6 models in the U.S. all Chevrolets that have the capacity of doing 40 miles per gallon or even better on highways.
