DAILY NEWSNYDailyNews.com Sunday, March 29, 2020 53
A
s General Motors and Ford
Motor Co. bet the farm on
electric vehicles, European
manufacturers are pulling
vehicles from the U.S. market
for lack of demand.
BMW confirmed this week that it
will not bring its electric iX3 cross-
over to these shores, following a deci-
sion by Mercedes in December to
delay the introduction of its EQC EV
here. They will be sold in interna-
tional markets such as Europe and
China where governments are forcing
electrification with penalties and
consumer incentives.
The BMW and Mercedes made
their decisions despite the fact that
the iX3 and EQC are aimed at the
heart of the American market: the
compact SUV segment. The similar-
size gas-powered BMW X3 and Mer-
cedes GLC are the German automak-
ers’ bestselling vehicles here.
The moves follow poor sales for
Jaguar’s iPace SUV, which debuted to
media raves last year as a Tesla killer
but which has failed to catch fire with
consumers. Tesla dominates the EV
market with 80% of sales and has
been the only automaker to sell involume.
The German automakers’ retreat
comes as GM and Ford go all-in on
electrification, hoping to duplicate
Tesla’s sales success.
Ford is investing $11 billion to pro-
duce 20 new EVs by 2023, headlined
by the Tesla Model Y-fighting Mus-
tang MachE compact ute. GM last
week said it will spend $20 billion on
2 2 vehicles in the same time frame.
Ford predicts a third of its vehicles
will be electric by 2030 while GM
says 60% of its research and devel-
opment is committed to EVs as it
electrifies all its brands.
GM CEO Mary Barra told the news
media at an EV Day recently that the
product overhaul is necessary to
prevent environmental catastrophe:
“We are building to an EV future
because we believe that climate
change is real.”
GM is targeting Tesla a decade
after introducing the Chevy Volt
plug-in hybrid in response to the
Toyota Prius hybrid, which industry
analysts expected to lead to a con-
sumer stampede to hybrids. Volt
production ended last year after dis-
appointing sales, while Prius sales are
off 60% from last decade as predic-
tions of an oil shock never came to
fruition.
This month’s drop in crude prices
may create more headwinds for bat-
tery-powered vehicles.
The national gas price average was
$2.21 last week, according to AAA, 33
cents lower than this time last year,
because of an international oil pricewar caused by decreased demand due
to the coronavirus scare.
Despite the debut of 45 pure elec-
tric and plug-in hybrids in the United
States last year, 325,000 plug-in pas-
senger vehicles were sold, down 6.8%
from 349,000 in 2018, according to
Edmunds. That is just 2% of the 17
million vehicles sold in the U.S. in
2 019.
BMW and Mercedes, however, are
bullish on sales of their EV SUVs over-
seas, especially in Europe and China
where government incentives are
heavily skewed toward electrics. In
Europe, auto fleets must meet carbon
dioxide targets of 95 grams/per liter —
equivalent to 57 mpg — or face mas-
sive fines.
To encourage consumers to buy
EVs, countries are dangling a host of
incentives and penalties. France, for
example is imposing a tax of up to
$20,000 on nonelectric cars. A new
VW Touareg diesel SUV will see an
increased tax this year of nearly
$8,000. Norway and Denmark tax
non-EVs by over 100% of sticker price.
Despite nixing the iX3 — and poor
sales for its current i3 and i8 EV lineup
currently — a BMW spokesperson
says more EVs are in the pipeline for
the US in 2021. “The iNext goes into
production in the middle of 2021,
followed by the BMW i4, which be-
gins production toward the end of
2 021.”
Both vehicles are based on BMW’s
all-new “skateboard” architecture.
GM EVs will also be based on a new
skateboard platform which the com-pany believes is game-changing when
combined with the continued drop of
battery prices. GM says that, in addi-
tion to its green benefits, its BEV3
architecture is more efficient to man-
ufacture, provides more crash protec-
tion and will offer a more refined
driving experience.
“No one knows the (customer)
adoption curve,” GM President Mark
Reuss said last week. “So we have to
be tooled and ready to go.”
Other automakers express similar
sentiments that EV adoption is inevi-
table both because of government
regulation and a consumer shift. At a
Volkswagen test program in Vancou-
ver this month, executives said the
millennial generation covets EVs
because they are environmentally
aware and because they expect the
same technology in cars as in their
smartphones.
In addition, many younger con-
sumers are interested in saving mon-
ey. A typical large EV such as the
Tesla Model S can do 3 miles per kWh
consumed, meaning drivers are pay-
ing about 3 to 4 cents per mile trav-
eled.
VW plans on introducing the first
of its all-electric ID line — the Tesla-
like ID.4 crossover — to the U.S. later
this year. Product planners say, how-
ever, EV acceptance in the U.S. may
come slowly.
So to meet consumer demand, VW
is introducing another variant of its
hot-selling gas-powered three-row
Atlas SUV — the two-row Atlas Cross
Sport.General Motors CEO Mary Barra, shown in 2017, said recently, “We are building to an EV future because we believe that climate change is real.”ERIC SEALS/DETROIT FREE PRESSAs GM, Ford go all in,
Europe pulls back
on EV plans in US
BY HENRY PAYNE
THE DETROIT NEWSTTHHEE EELLEECCTTRRIICC BBEETT