General Motors (GM) and Ford want to expand their range of electric cars. Already in the next one and a half years would be presented two more full electric models, announced GM. From the planned production target of 5000 Model 3 per week, Tesla is currently still far away. Tesla’s hopeful model 3 disappointed shareholders with weak production figures.
“General Motors believes in the full-electric future,” said the product development manager Mark Reuss. Two new electric cars, which are based on GM’s current Chevrolet Bolt EV, are set to be presented in the next 18 months. It is, however, only the first two of at least 20 new E models, which the manufacturer wants to bring to the market by the year 2023. The E-drive will not be “overnight”, according to GM manager Reuss. The largest US car manufacturer wants to work on electric cars as well as hydrogen fuel cells in addition to batteries.
Ford, the number two in the US car market, announced almost at the same time to intensify efforts in the area of electric car market. The company has created Edison team, which will focus on investing in e-cars over the next few years, exploring partnerships with suppliers and other companies in this area.
The new Ford CEO Jim Hackett wants to get back on track with drastic measures. Hackett plans to cut cost, bring a more attractive range of products and a radical strategy shift towards e cars and autonomous driving with an aim to make the company fit for the future, Hackett said on Tuesday at an investor conference in New York. Hackett wants to reduce spending over the next five years by 14 billion dollars. Material costs are expected to fall by 10 billion and development costs by 4 billion dollars.
In addition, the Ford boss look set to invest 7 billion dollars to re-engineer from smaller cars into larger models such as SUVs and pick-up trucks. In addition, one-third of the money would be spent on combustion engines, instead of developing e-cars – in addition to an already announced $4.5 billion funding program.
US car sales were rose in September, due to the replacement of hundreds of thousands of vehicles destroyed by hurricanes Harvey and Irma in Texas and Florida. About 1.52 million new cars were sold in the country in September, up 6.1%, which helped lift the sales of General Motors (GM) and Ford, the top two national carmakers.
GM’s sales jumped 11.86% from September 2016 and Ford’s sales were up 8.7% year-on-year.
According to analysts, demand will increase in the coming months, following the compensation of people affected by devastating hurricanes, especially in Houston. In addition to strong demand, the average transaction price increased by 18% in September, which is a good sign for carmakers’ profitability, triggered by the many promotions offered until August.
Auto sales dropped 2.7% in the first eight months of the year, just before Hurricane Harvey hit Texas. Analysts previously predicted that 2017 would mark the first year of decline after seven consecutive record years. But now they are on track to match their 2016 record.
