Why waste any money right now? The American consumer is about to drop off the map with the unemployment rate soaring.
Besides EV production in Mexico might be salable in the EU with much lower tariffs.
Mexico has a free trade agreement with the EU. Ford probably builds the Mach-E in Mexico so it can be sold in both the EU and North America. Same with Stellantis and the Wagoneer S and Jeep Recon. Besides, why spend a nickle on EVs in the US, with a blatantly, proudly, EV-hostile regime?
Steve
Dear Steve,
EV production is already in the US with sales growth. But sales growth gets tricky this year.
ripped from the headlines
The so-called “Factory Zero” is D-Ham, aka “Poletown” in Detroit, which makes the Hummer EV trucks.
Last October:
I expect the Ford “Blue Oval City” greenfield plant to end up building F-series Super Duty trucks, rather than the EV trucks it was originally planned to build.
Steve
GM planned to build the new Bolt at Fairfax, Kansas. Don’t know if that is still a go. Hope so. We love our Bolt but it won’t last forever.
The Cadillac XT4 was discontinued to make room for the Bolt, GM said. Cadillac is also dropping the XT6. That division is going to be very heavily EV, for better or worse.
Meanwhile, three of the four models Buick offers are imported, one from China, two from Korea. Wonder what GM does with Buick? Turn out the lights, or badge engineer models from US production?
Steve
The Bolt was GM’s best selling. It was a mistake killing it. But then realized her err & revived it. Makes me wonder about the intelligence of US automaker CEOs.
I notice Mary is on various boards of directors or trustees and is on the Homeland Security Advisory Council. Maybe like Elon she has too much on her plate to do a good job at any of them?
The Bolt sold well at the end. First they very heavily discounted it, then they reduced the MSRP. Our 2021 model had an MSRP of over $41k. We paid $25k without any government tax subsidy. Plus they gave us two new traction batteries. They didn’t make anything on our Bolt.
It’s likely GM lost a lot on the Bolt. The new Bolt will be a success only if it is inexpensive. The Mexico built Equinox starts at $35k (supposedly). The new Bolt needs to be under $30k. Can they build those in Kansas and make a profit?