General Motors launched its Chevrolet Equinox EV On Friday. The all-electric crossover will go on sale in the US by next fall. It is priced at $30,000, a price other EV makers haven’t been able to achieve due to increasing supply chain costs. The batteries that are used in EVs continue to have high prices as the metals used in them are in high demand.
The vehicle has an estimated range of 300 miles. It will come in LT and RS models. The 2024 Equinox EV will test GM’s ability to make an affordable EV that appeals to US customers who cannot afford Tesla. GM CEO Mary Barra last year said the Detroit automaker can “absolutely” catch industry leader Tesla in U.S. sales of electric vehicles by 2025. Those plans include more than 1 million units of EV production capacity in China and North America, each, by that time.
Furthermore, the Chevy Bolt, which went on sale in December 2016, was expected to be GM’s first affordable, mainstream EV but its annual sales have yet to top 25,000 – a far cry from mainstream sales such as the gas-powered Equinox at hundreds of thousands of units per year.
Increased competition
To be sure, GM and Tesla both have formidable competitors in the rear-view mirrors: Ford, as well as Jeep, which just this week unveiled its own plans to roll out plug-in versions of its lineup. Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Kia, and newer EV makers including Rivian, Fisker, Nio, Xpeng, and others are also working on cranking out battery-powered vehicles.
“When we started out here, we were told electric cars were impossible, and even if, really if you could make an electric car with a couple of hundred miles range, then nobody would buy it anyway because people love gasoline cars,” Musk told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting last month. “When we started out it was dumb to start a car company and then dumb squared to [start] an electric car company. Now we have the highest operating margin in the whole industry.” Further added, “There’s a lot of talk of competition among electric vehicles. But really EVs take market share from gasoline cars. And from Tesla’s standpoint, we obviously welcome this,” at the meeting.
At $35,000 less than the Tesla Model Y, the Equinox should have real competitive power — at least on the pricing side. General Motors (GM) CEO Mary Barra last year said the company can “absolutely” catch industry leader Tesla in US sales of EVs by 2025. A special company emphasis is on safety as a priority for families with the hope that the model will become a best seller for the company.
