Add Cadillac to the list of brands moving the goalposts on the electric vehicle (EV) transition.
In 2021, then-brand-chief Rory Harvey said the brand aimed to offer a fully-electric portfolio by 2030. This week, his successor, John Roth, walked the date back.
Phasing In EVs, Not Phasing Out Gas
Roth didn’t say Cadillac would slow its introduction of new electric vehicles (EVs), but he confirmed that the brand won’t phase out gasoline by the decade’s end.
The Detroit Free Press reports that Roth told reporters this week that “EVs and ICE [internal combustion engine], we want to be clear, will coexist for several years” beyond 2030 in Cadillac dealerships.
Roth echoed a theme many auto industry executives have adopted: the brand wants to offer choice.
“We want to make sure that we have that luxury of choice in the marketplace, and both will have an opportunity to meet the customer needs as we look forward,” he said.
GM Hasn’t Set an ICE End Date
General Motors has never claimed it will entirely phase out gasoline engines from its lineup. However, the brand has promised to be mostly electric by 2035 and carbon neutral by 2040. Previous Cadillac leaders have been more bullish on EVs. Steve Carlisle, Cadillac head before Harvey, once said 2030 would be “the end of the ICE age for Cadillac.”
Today, the brand has one EV model in stores – the well-received Lyriq midsize SUV, which will be joined this year by the Celestiq ultra-luxury car and the Escalade IQ full-size SUV. A smaller Optiq compact SUV and 3-row Vistiq midsize crossover are also in the works.
EV Sales Slowing, But Still Growing
However, EV sales have slowed in America. Last quarter, Americans bought 2.6% more EVs than they had in the same quarter a year before. That’s growth, but not the double-digit EV sales growth automakers had grown accustomed to.
New technologies often display an initial sales surge as early adopters jump to buy them, then see sales slow as more skeptical consumers must be convinced.
Most factors seem to align to push the auto industry toward a mostly electric stance. New EPA tailpipe emissions rules require most automakers to sell an EV-heavy lineup in 2032. Several states have banned the sale of new gas-powered cars after 2035. The industry has agreed to converge on a single charging port over the next several years, bringing order to a chaotic charging network that currently sees no charging network able to serve all cars.
All those developments have one thing in common – they converge after 2030.
