General Motors is working on one of the most ambitious electric vehicle (EV) rollouts this side of the Volkswagen Group.
The American automaker plans to launch 30 new EVs globally through 2025 and will have a US-market line-up that’s 40 per cent electric by that time.
GM has upped its EV spending, with US$27 billion (A$37.1 billion) earmarked through 2025. The company had previously budgeted US$20 billion (A$27.4 billion) before the pandemic.
The new figure means the company will be spending more on EV development than on conventional internal combustion engines. Indeed, more than half of GM’s capital spending will be devoted to EVs and electric autonomous vehicles.
Cadillac Lyriq 
Additionally, GM is pulling forward the launch date of the first electric Cadillac – the Lyriq SUV – by nine months. It’ll now launch in the North American market in early 2022.
GM says it’ll offer EVs at “all price points for work, adventure, performance and family use”, with Ultium battery-powered models boasting electric range of up to 724km.
It’s also moved up the development schedule of a raft of EVs, including a total of four Cadillacs, three GMCs and four Chevrolets.
One of the GMCs is a pickup that’ll be separate from the already revealed GMC Hummer EV. The four Chevrolets also include a pickup and a “compact crossover” – translation, a mid-sized SUV.
The latter hadn’t previously been announced. It joins the Bolt EUV, a small SUV using the existing Bolt’s EV architecture, in bolstering Chevrolet’s EV line-up.
Other EVs GM has previously announced include a small SUV for Cadillac plus two large, three-row SUVs, one of which will “build on the DNA” of the Escalade. This means GM will effectively mirror Cadillac’s existing internal-combustion SUV range.
The Cadillac range will be topped by the exclusive Celestiq passenger car, which is said to offer dramatic fastback styling.
GMC will follow its Hummer EV pickup with an SUV variant, while Buick is also in line for two SUVs. The brand already offers EVs in China, where it’s vastly more popular, but has yet to offer any in the US.
The GMC Hummer EV will launch after just 26 months in development, which GM claims is just under half the amount of time it’d take to develop a new model.
“Climate change is real, and we want to be part of the solution by putting everyone in an electric vehicle,” said GM CEO Mary Barra.
“We are transitioning to an all-electric portfolio from a position of strength and we’re focused on growth.”
“We can accelerate our EV plans because we are rapidly building a competitive advantage in batteries, software, vehicle integration, manufacturing and customer experience.”
More than two-thirds of this raft of EVs will be available in GM’s home market.
GM’s Chinese operations already offer some EVs not available elsewhere, including the small Chevrolet Menlo and Buick Velite 7 SUVs and the Buick Velite 6 wagon. These use the Chevrolet Bolt’s BEV2 platform.
