Demands around the luxury end of the car market for limited production are high, with the Hummer closing to new reservations after reaching 90,000 people.
The transition continues to grow. Auto companies are leaning to lead the EV adoption. GM rebrands as an EV company that showcases a growing variety of electric vehicles. From the Chevrolet Silverado to the Cadillac Lyric and to Bolt sedan, a base model under $30,000.
When electric vehicles come up, Tesla comes to mind. As the car company remains king (over 564,000), its market share decreased by another few percent to 19%, according to InsideEVs.
However, with the rise of electric vehicles, more and more competitors in the market arise. Mary Barra, General Motors CEO, has driven the company to a total conversion from gasoline-powered vehicles to electric vehicles as demand increases. GM reportedly plans to sell up to 175,000 electric vehicles to Hertz Global by 2027 – as rentals are one of the key methods to introducing more people to the use of EVs without having to commit to purchase, as per CNBC.
“We have to be even more clever,” GM CMO Deborah Wahl told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin at a recent CNBC CMO Exchange virtual event. “There is more competitive activity, more innovations I think, than at any other time in automotive history since we changed from horses to cars.”
The message it ought to deliver was clear. The economy is in a period of uncertainty over the issues of inflation, which disrupts making purchase decisions. Additionally. Wahl also told CNBC that GM is focused on its core objectives and to work on the transformation of the industry to EVs. Wahl added they believe that EVs are the future.
Furthermore, there are few key ideas of GM that Wahl shared with CNBC on how the company plans to make EV a mass-market success.
Let car buyers ask a lot of questions.
“People are at different levels of knowledge of EVs, and so they need different information,” Wahl stated. “It’s a different exchange overall”
GM’s video chat platform GM EV Live allows consumers to call in to live showrooms, ask questions, and grasp a better understanding of GM’s electric vehicles, whether it is a question about charging, mileage, or new technological features.
Focus on all the in-car technology, not just EV technology.
GM focuses on advancing the technology in order to create better and safer driving experiences. GM has many technological advancements including active noise cancellation speakers and hands-free driver assistance.
“They’re already mesmerizing people because the experience is so stunning, not only just the core driving, but the technology that you have inside,” said Wahl.
Moreover, GM is still currently testing Cruise, its first ever autonomous vehicle unit, in San Francisco and aiming to expand Cruise testing to Phoenix and Austin and forecasts a business worth $1 billion revenue by 2025.
Maintain core principles through EVs
“I do believe in the core basics of marketing, which is tell the story, tell it well, do it in an engaging fashion, and if you’re really good, you’ll make a cultural impact,” Wahl said. As the underlying principles of marketing have not changed.
Keep up with the celebrity and influencer trends
“Influencers are the new media channels,” Wahl stated. “It allows us to get the core messages out to the right audiences at the right time. It’s pretty easy to see, you know, which influencers impact which targets”
Notably, GM is partnering in new ways with iconic celebrities to new social media personalities, from NBA star LeBron James to TikTok influencer Breland. In addition, the Hummer EV is being promoted in video games like ‘Call of Duty’.
