Mary Barra Hedging the Future Why GM Is Playing Both Sides on EVs

Lately I've noticed Mary Barra doing something interesting and the strategy I guess makes sense but could be dangerous for General Motors. Mary Barra is playing both sides. If you don't know who Mary Barra is, she is the CEO of General Motors. Hello my friends, welcome to the channel. What is going on here? What am I even talking about? Well, General Motors still believes in Mary Barra believes that EVs will be the only kind of car people will be buying in the future. She hasn't said when that is but that's what she thinks. But plug-in hybrids are back in play as regulations and demand shift again. So Mary is playing both sides because of politics in the White House. General Motors are going to reintroduce plug-in hybrids unlike Ford which despite its EV first strategy. Mary Barra says hybrids remain under evaluation for key markets. Plug-in hybrids made up a minuscule percentage of US sales, 1.8% last year. General Motors is stepping into the plug-in hybrid game and this is despite shifting political winds that have made it easier to build thirsty combustion engine vehicles. GM still sees EVs though as being the end game. In fact, Mary used that exact word, the end game. While speaking at the Automotive Press Association, Mary Barra confirmed that GM had to make some fairly significant changes, including cutting billions of dollars worth of EV investments. But she also made clear that new hybrids are in development according to Automotive News. We are evaluating plug-in hybrids, Mary said. We have plans to do some. In the past, plug-ins were the only hybrids that actually counted toward the regulatory perspective. So we have plans to do those and we'll have hybrids where we think we need to. But again, we're mainly investing and continuing to work on EVs because we think that's the end game. Now Mary Barra said that, right, we think EVs are the end game. But at the same time, General Motors did just invest nearly a billion dollars on the new V8 engines, making some changes to their V8 engines. Now, honestly, I don't think people who buy V8s could care less about the changes that General Motors will make for a billion dollars. I think that's a waste of money. What do you guys think? In mid-2024, Barra revealed there were plans to start selling plug-in hybrids in the US in 2027. In her most recent remarks, she didn't provide an updated timeline or name any specific GM models slated to receive the new powertrains. But she did acknowledge that hybrids present their own challenges, particularly the fact that many owners don't bother to plug them in. In fact, Mary said, we know most plug-in hybrid owners don't plug their cars in, which is kind of crazy. But yeah, anyway, GM is weighing both plug-in and conventional hybrid setups as part of its evolving strategy. Now guys, I have a thought here. Some people are not plugging in their plug-in hybrids because the charging is so slow. I mean, I've looked at the charging of some plug-in hybrids. Some of them are like two kilowatts, some are three kilowatt AC, of course, but that's where you do most of your charging at home. And that is so slow. Now I get, yeah, some of these hybrid batteries are quite small as well. So it probably isn't that bad. But anyway, if you'd like to book a paid consultation, you can do so. And I'll put a link in the description below if you want advice on what electric car to buy, solar systems, all that kind of stuff, you can do that. We're trying to be very thoughtful, she said, about what we do from a hybrid and a plug-in hybrid perspective. Even though General Motors will invest in FEVs, it isn't pulling back from EVs quite as aggressively as Ford. Ford took a $19.5 billion write-down after axing several important EV programs and batteries and partnerships. General Motors, by contrast, expect to take a $6 billion charge related to scaled back EV spending, alongside a separate $1.6 billion charge posted in the third quarter, which was mainly from China. During her remarks at the same event, Reuters reports that Barra emphasized GM's desire to remain adaptable, especially given the uncertain regulator environment ahead. I'm a little surprised at some automakers that are really pulling away very quickly, she said, because we don't know what will be in 2930-32. In other words, let's be honest. Americans might have a pretty severe reaction to some of the insanity coming from Donald Trump, and they might vote back the Democrats in the next election. That's not that far away. And all of a sudden, EV tax credits come back in, everything changes again. And, of course, by then, EVs are better anyway. More range, better charging speeds, at least everywhere outside of the United States anyway. And that leads to more EV adoption. So I think Mary makes a good point here. But I should also emphasize the fact that Mary did say on Oprah and on CBS and many news platforms that in 2025, she guaranteed General Motors would beat Tesla in EV sales. What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for watching. ExxonMobil has just appointed the president of General Motors, or at least the former president of General Motors, to become the head of this enormous global oil company. Hello, my friends. Welcome to the channel. I'm Sam Evans. You're watching The Electric Viking. Great to have you with us. Isn't this kind of ironic here that a car company who says it's focusing on electric cars, its former president has left to run ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil said on Tuesday that Dan Ahmad, former president, now former president of GM, will take over its largest and most profitable business early next year. Now, if they want this business to continue being profitable, maybe they didn't hire the right person. Anyhow, Ahmad, who joined Exxon recently to run its clean energy unit called Low Carbon Solutions, will replace 34-year Exxon veteran Liam Mallon as president of Exxon's oil and gas pumping business effective February the 1st, 2025. So this guy runs the clean energy unit, then leaves very quickly to run their oil and gas pumping business. Interesting. The appointments of Ahmad and also Barry Engel, another General Motors executive, as president of Low Carbon Solutions reflects the U.S. oil producer's continued reshaping of its top management with outsiders from General Motors. It certainly is a new management model for ExxonMobil, which really started post-activist engine 11's board shakeup, whatever that means, said energy analyst Paul Sarkey of Sankey Research. This was a reference actually to an activist investors 2021 fight that won three Exxon board seats. As head of Exxon's upstream business unit, Ahmad will oversee a business that has contributed more than two-thirds of Exxon's operating profit this year. So essentially the former president of General Motors will hand up 66% of the ExxonMobil company. I mean, that's what it comes down to really, isn't it?