Just weeks ago, Amp Electric Vehicles CEO Steve Burns told the New York Times
G.M. doesn’t know if we are friend or foe… They’re trying to figure it out.
What The General was trying to figure out was whether allowing Amp to sell $50k electrified versions of its Chevrolet Equinox is a good or bad thing. After all, if BMW can charge $800 per month for EV-anxious consumers to test its disappointing MINI E, why shouldn’t GM get in on the early adopter-scalping game? Two weeks ago, GM spokesfolks said
We’re pro-E.V., and it’s a good thing that there others out there moving the electric vehicle market forward.
Today, Amp is announcing that it has signed an agreement with “a major OEM” to electrify one of its SUVs… within 60 days, no less. Though the press release doesn’t specify which OEM is sponsoring the project, the fact that AMP exclusively electrifies GM products and hires former GM consultants should speak for itself. And with Tesla prepping an EV RAV-4 for Toyota, would it be shocking to find out that GM is playing the me-too game by commissioning an EV Equinox? On the other hand, maybe we should take the “SUV” label seriously and consider the possibility that Amp is electrifying a full-size GM ute? Either way, the trend towards rapid outsourced development of EVs is seriously starting to take hold…
This sounds a bit like the relationship between Ford and Saleen, except the Saleen buyers are happier.
If I had the cabbage to buy a Saleen, I’d be pretty happy too.
Way to show the world you have the ability to do things yourself GM!
And what’s wrong with letting other people get the burn with an “unpolished” product ;)
Or gather experience from that experiment. It’s perfectly valid for me.
You’re not bashing Toyota for letting Tesla develop an EV RAV4.
Yeah, I think that’s a bit of a cheap shot. If they bought Amp, then Amp would be GM and it’d be in-house… So? And then you’d just be saying it’s doomed to failure.
GM is on my mega-sh*tlist for screwing Saab so thoroughly, but if you’re going to go after someone, stick to rationality rather than using damned-if-you-do damned-if-you-don’t logic. The latter reduces your credibility.
Well that didn’t take long for the GM bashing to start.
Have we already forgotten Toyota management called electric cars nonviable and the Volt technically impossible less than three years ago? Aren’t they scrambling in their own efforts with Tesla? Does that somehow make it OK for Toyota but not GM?
Golly guys, how many times have I said, because my taxpayer money is invested in GM I want to see them succeed. Don’t you think in the billions they spent on researching the Volt and their own Hybrids and the EV1 they would have learned enough to put an electric GMC together. Shouldn’t they be leading from within? How many people on here have stepped up to say that GM has “world-class engineers?” So why can’t they do it on their own? (BTW I believe GM has world class engineers, I went to high school with 3 guys who went off to receive their education from GMI. Pretty good for a tiny rural high school in Ohio that graduated a class of 48.
Dan but who said there are no GM engineers involved.
If that people is converting/has converted GM cars to EV, I would bet at least once a GM engineer has given an eye to what they’re doing.
FYI, Equinox is a mid-size crossover SUV.
This is Great! The more people drive battery powered cars the more oil remains for my car! Press on with it!.
AMP was at the NY Auto Show — in the electrics area. They had a Solstice or Sun that you could drive around a *very* short track. But the other cars they had in their display — the Equinox for instance — had all the ICE stuff removed — but had not yet been converted to electric. THAT was lame.
Isn’t Ford outsourcing the work on the electric Focus, too?