GM & Hyundai Disappoint – CleanTechnica

Last Updated on: 7th August 2025, 12:43 am

GM and Hyundai announced today that they are partnering to co-develop five vehicle models. In total, the companies plan to produce and sell 800,000 units of these models per year. That’s a lot of vehicles. The target markets for four of these models will be in South America and Central America. These four vehicle models will include a compact SUV, a compact car, and compact pickup truck, and a midsize pickup truck. The problem is that these four models won’t be electric. They will be fully fossil-fueled, combustion-engine vehicles or will use hybrid propulsion systems. In 2025, I’m sorry, that’s just lame.

BYD and some other Chinese automakers are entering these markets with increasingly cheap, high-tech, appealing electric vehicles. Their growth is expected to skyrocket in coming years. However, GM and Hyundai are neglecting the potential there, delaying true electrification efforts in South America and Central America, and planning to develop and pump out millions of more polluting, fossil-fueled vehicles. It’s 2025, and these companies are behaving like it’s 1995. It’s a huge disappointment.

The tech is there to develop compelling, competitive electric vehicles, and it’s clear large portions of the market are heading in that direction. At higher volumes, with good planning, GM and Hyundai could surely become seriously EV players in these markets. Instead, they are going to pollute while clinging onto old tech. Disappointing…. (And people wonder why many of us cheer on Chinese EV leaders.)

Now, there is one piece of good news from these companies. The fifth model they’re collaborating on is an electric commercial van for North America. That model’s targeted sales is indeed part of the broader 800,000 vehicles a year goal this partnership is targeting. Though, I presume it’s not a large portion of that target. This electric commercial van will be manufactured in the US. Though, that won’t happen until 2028, at the earliest. Will these vehicles be able to compete with what’s being created by Ford, Rivian, and others? That’s what we’ll have to wait to see. It’s disappointing (again) that this project isn’t planning to get fully off the ground until 2028 or later. That’s a long wait for something that you would think would be commonplace by now.