GM Will Stop Selling Gas Cars in 2035
GM Will Stop Selling Gas Cars in 2035
Posted on February 12, 2023
GM released some big news last week that is going to change the way we drive. The company announced that it will stop selling gas cars by 2035. That’s the year many countries and Quebec has set as the limit for fossil fuelled cars.
It is one of the largest domestic automakers to publicly commit to stopping building gas powered cars. It joins a range of other global automakers to plan the retirement of fossil fuel engines at a given time period.
As GM has such a huge presence in North America, this is big news!
The continued shift towards electric
GM’s CEO Mary Barry made the announcement last week. She said the automaker would stop manufacturing gas cars by 2035 and that they would become carbon neutral as an organization by 2040.
That seems like a long time away but given the size and scale of the company and the changes required, it may not be long enough.
Whether or not it has anything to do with Joe Biden’s promise to switch the entire U.S. government’s fleet of cars to electric is anyone’s guess. That fleet is estimated at something like 645,000 vehicles across the country.
That number includes around 412,500 trucks and 224,000 passenger vehicles. That’s quite a segment of the market to lose if you’re a supplier!
Biden said:
“The federal government also owns an enormous fleet of vehicles, which we're going to replace with clean electric vehicles made right here in America, by American workers."
As GM is an American automaker that manufactures in America, it is likely one of the companies planning to bid on the replacement contract. What better way to do that with the current president than by committing to going green?
Tides are shifting
Whether we are just being cynical or not, it’s a good move for two key reasons.
One, General Motors is a leading automaker. Committing itself to going green is a big step. It’s also a step in line with public expectations and something many will respond positively to.
Two, where a leading automaker leads, others will follow. While GM is certainly not the first to commit to EV-only production, it is a global leader. Competitors are going to need to step up to not be left behind and to take advantage of the growing green movement.
Both these things should not only help reduce pollution and make life more sustainable, they should also help drive innovation and economies of scale.
When a company the size of GM takes on electric motoring, the supporting companies have to also step up. That should make components and electric motors cheaper, help drive battery technology and drive improvements for the thousands of other components that make up a car.
Savings made in production should equate to savings made at the dealership. The more affordable electric cars become, the more of us will be able to afford one.
Even though we don’t stock GM here at Car Nation Canada, we applaud what they are doing. They are taking a lead in domestic car manufacturing and committing to a more sustainable future. For that we thank them and hope other automakers will quickly follow suit.