Electric Vehicles

[snizzle]

I've always thought the Hummer EV was just GM's way of showing you can build an interesting EV that's appealing never intending to be a volume model. Wouldn't it be cool if they built a midsize version of it at a reasonable price?

EDIT: It looks like they've sold around 9k of them in '24 reported at last quarterly.

[Iron Lung Jimmy]

Originally Posted by Mr_Draco

Regular or premium? I filled up earlier this week and regular was $2.64 here.

I misread the price. It's 2.35 for reg and $3.01 for premium at Sams. Add about $.30 to each at Chevron.

[shaffe]

Originally Posted by 90503

FWIW, been seeing a lot of tv ads for Hummer, especially during the football games.

Good ads, but do they really need to advertise? Has production and sales taken off?

Have lower cost models become available? Not criticizing the Hummer at all, its a great new choice for an EV. Is it a huge money maker for gm?

Just curious what's going on with it. Peace.

P.S. Didn't they have deposits for ten thousand of them? I don't think they built that many yet. Just sayin'.

I've seen more of them on the road lately.

Side note, when I was next to one made me feel small in my Bronco. Like it made me feel like I was in a Focus next to a semi those things are massive

[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by snizzle

I've always thought the Hummer EV was just GM's way of showing you can build an interesting EV that's appealing never intending to be a volume model. Wouldn't it be cool if they built a midsize version of it at a reasonable price?

EDIT: It looks like they've sold around 9k of them in '24 reported at last quarterly.

GM has been very aggressive with lease and financing deals on all of their EVs the past couple of months. I think they are pushing to get to the 200k sold in 2024 mark that they eventually settled on. The Hummer EV ads I’ve been seeing focus on 0% financing. Equinox EV and Blazer EV are featuring ridiculously low lease prices, sometimes with $0 down. Lyriq is also showing some pretty aggressive deals. I can’t remember details but it may be the same 0% as Hummer or similar lease deals as Equinox / Blazer. Maybe both.

Also the Hummer is built at Hamtramck. Same plant as Silverado EV so they may be looking to achieve or maintain an efficient line balance / economy of scale to manage overall build cost. This is one of the little secrets of the auto industry. Used to be that companies would just unload a lot of product to rental car agencies to keep the plants operating at an efficient rate. Now they are more likely to leverage finance terms to move more metal to keep the plants running efficiently.

[Capricio]

Originally Posted by Martinjlm

Used to be that companies would just unload a lot of product to rental car agencies to keep the plants operating at an efficient rate. Now they are more likely to leverage finance terms to move more metal to keep the plants running efficiently.

...driven at least in part by the fact that rental car companies are only buying minimal, if any, EVs into their inventories.


https://www.reuters.com/business/aut...et-2024-01-11/

[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by Capricio

...driven at least in part by the fact that rental car companies are only buying minimal, if any, EVs into their inventories.


https://www.reuters.com/business/aut...et-2024-01-11/

I wasn’t at all referring to rental car companies buying EVs. I was referring to car companies having models like Malibu Classic and Impala Classic whose only reason for being was to stock rental car lots. And cars like Chrysler 200 and Ford Fiesta where if it weren’t for rental car sales would have experienced shift closures and layoffs. Rather than follow those paths of deep discounting cars for rental car agencies, the car companies have turned to more creative financing to keep plants running at efficient levels through stronger retail sales and leasing..

[90503]

Wasn't the Hummer only going to be built on a customer order (or whatever) only? There would be no inventory on a lot to choose from?? or something like that...

FWIW I have seen very few Hummers around here, but Tesla Cyber-Trucks are becoming a common sight.

The Hummer is huge. They're pretty hard to miss.

[Capricio]

Originally Posted by Martinjlm

Rather than follow those paths of deep discounting cars for rental car agencies, the car companies have turned to more creative financing to keep plants running at efficient levels through stronger retail sales and leasing..

Are these cheap consumer leases somehow more profitable than if the OEMs could use a rental fleet (typically one they at least used to partially own and control) to buffer their inventory? Call it "creativity" if you like, but I think if they could dump Blazer and Traverse EVs upon Avis or Hertz, that would be their first line of approach.

[olrocker]

Well the new EPA administrator nomination was just announced today, and he vows quick deregulation and policy changes.

The wheels are rolling baby!

[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by Capricio

Are these cheap consumer leases somehow more profitable than if the OEMs could use a rental fleet (typically one they at least used to partially own and control) to buffer their inventory? Call it "creativity" if you like, but I think if they could dump Blazer and Traverse EVs upon Avis or Hertz, that would be their first line of approach.

Actually the cheap leases are more profitable for a number of reasons. For starters, how often have you driven a rental car and said to yourself “I really need to get myself one o’ these”? The problem (from a car company perspective) with rental cars is that since the rental car companies tend to buy stripped down models, they are nothing to grin about. Some rental car companies even require content below the most stripped down consumer model. It sets a certain expectation for the consumer for that particular brand and it’s typically not good. One of the reasons why when GM designed the new Epsilon Malibu, they kept the outgoing N-Car Malibu around as “Malibu Classic”. Same with going from the W-car Impala to the Epsilon Impala. It was so they wouldn’t have to put the then new Malibu / Impala into rental car fleets and tarnish the image of the new car.

But the primary profit point is that now the consumer will be in effect doing a 24 or 36 month test drive of the car company’s vehicle, using in most cases the car company’s captive finance partners and will most likely be coming back to market at the lease end. At that point they are more likely to buy or lease a same brand vehicle. So the car company knows when they’re coming back and a pretty good idea of what they like and can afford. Lease loyalty is a strong sales tool.

[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by 90503

Wasn't the Hummer only going to be built on a customer order (or whatever) only? There would be no inventory on a lot to choose from?? or something like that...

FWIW I have seen very few Hummers around here, but Tesla Cyber-Trucks are becoming a common sight.

The Hummer is huge. They're pretty hard to miss.

I really do not recall anything of the sort ever being discussed. I would not be surprised if there is a focus on minimal inventory, but restricting to “build to order” is a whole different animal. The only GM vehicle I am aware of as a build-to-order is the Cadillac Celestiq.

[olrocker]

More great news if you like real cars, and uh, not so good news on the EV front (this is my hometown Cleveland, Ohio guy BTW - I live less than two miles from the high end car dealers where he got his start )

https://www.cleveland.com/nation/202...v-efforts.html

Schedule F is coming boys

[silversleeper]

Originally Posted by olrocker

More great news if you like real cars, and uh, not so good news on the EV front (this is my hometown Cleveland, Ohio guy BTW - I live less than two miles from the high end car dealers where he got his start )

https://www.cleveland.com/nation/202...v-efforts.html

Schedule F is coming boys

The problem with the story is also a problem with implementation of opposing actions.
In the link We Need R&D for EVs. Ok agreed. We won't let anyone who has done that and makes a cheaper product import to compete. Is that how capitalism works best? We won't let manufacturing leave our country because it is easier due to regulations and worker pay and benefits, how do you do that? We hate EVs. But we need to R&D and compete.
I agree with some concepts but we can hurt more than help ourselves if we aren't wise. It is an EV thread and I don't like to talk about pro's and cons of unions except to say if I'm not mistaken Tesla is non union and my brother in law was working for Stelantis and they just had that strike and all the agreements then they agree to the higher pay and benefits then close factories and move production to other countries. The brother in law went to work for Toyota before he got laid off instead of an illusion of a pay raise. It reminds me of people who buy into that protest and actions chant of burn it down burn it all down.

[90503]

Originally Posted by Martinjlm

I really do not recall anything of the sort ever being discussed. I would not be surprised if there is a focus on minimal inventory, but restricting to “build to order” is a whole different animal. The only GM vehicle I am aware of as a build-to-order is the Cadillac Celestiq.

Yes. Thank you. " a focus on minimal inventory" sounds more like it. Just sayin' they won't have dozens on a dealer lot unsold.

On another note, EVs as rentals in large numbers hasn't worked out? Avis or one of the biggies have had a bad experience already for whatever reason.