GM Plans Hybrids Alongside Its Electric Vehicle Goals

General Motors plans to add hybrid vehicles to its U.S. lineup while maintaining battery-electric vehicles as its long-term goal, propulsion engineering vice president Mike Anderson said in an interview conducted October 5. He did not identify models or provide a firm launch date, leaving the scope and timing of the plan unsettled. Anderson described hybrids as part of the company’s plan and said GM wants to respond to customer demand. He also characterized an all-electric future as the company’s destination, but said the transition would involve a range of technologies. His comments reaffirm a hybrid effort GM has discussed before, without amounting to a product announcement or a change to a confirmed vehicle schedule. Accounts of the interview differ on timing. One report said GM had previously targeted 2027, while another suggested a first model could arrive as soon as next year. Anderson supplied no firm date in the interview, so neither account establishes when a new hybrid will reach customers. GM has not named the vehicles or said whether the planned systems will be conventional hybrids or plug-in hybrids.