General Motors announces hybrids for several segments in the US — OilPrice
General Motors has announced plans to add hybrid vehicles in several segments of the US market. CEO Mary Barra said this on October 20 during a third-quarter earnings call, OilPrice reports. At that time, the price of gasoline in the US was $4.28 per gallon, compared with $3.04 a year earlier.
Hybrids in existing segments
Responding to a question from UBS analyst Joe Spak, Barra said that the company would have hybrids. According to her, GM will disclose more details closer to the launch of the models. Hybrids will appear in segments where General Motors is already represented.
Barra noted that a significant share of current activity in the hybrid market is in compact and midsize cars, as well as minivans—segments where GM does not currently operate. According to her, hybrid models have already been added to the company’s plans, so they will not require additional capital expenditures or engineering development.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Sales and fuel prices
In the third quarter, General Motors sold 670,974 vehicles in the US—37,751 more than Toyota. At the same time, GM’s sales in the US market fell by 6%. Barra also said that rising diesel fuel prices are a recent phenomenon. In her assessment, GM diesel vehicles had already been more fuel-efficient than hybrid trucks, while their cost of ownership was lower. According to Reuters, US retail diesel prices had remained above $6 per gallon since September.
Toyota’s sales of electrified vehicles rose 28.5% in the quarter to 363,367 units, or 57.4% of the company’s total volume. Toyota’s total US sales increased by 0.6% to 633,223 vehicles.
Researchers at Resources for the Future estimated that about 56,000 US households that would have bought a gasoline-powered vehicle from February through May chose hybrids or electric vehicles after gasoline prices rose from about $3 to $4.50 per gallon. Of these, 38,000 chose conventional hybrids and 18,000 chose electric vehicles, nearly all of which were plug-in hybrids. GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson also said that at current oil and fuel prices, electric vehicle market penetration could continue to grow.
