this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2024
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Electric Vehicles

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GM & Ford Are Struggling With EVs Again, But Why? (cleantechnica.com)
submitted 2 months ago by MyOpinion@lemm.ee to c/evs@lemmy.world
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Recently, there’s been some bad news out of Detroit. Ford’s backing off on some upcoming EV models, including a three-row SUV many had been looking forward to, and will instead be focusing more on hybrids. GM has been having different problems with software, recently laying off 1,000 developers after a string of Silicon Valley types failed to acclimate to more traditional corporate culture.

While these companies would like to have us all believe that making EVs and software for EVs is simply too hard, other companies like Tesla and Rivian have been doing a lot better. Tesla is now making more EVs than anybody, even beating out ICE models in some segments. Rivian is still climbing the profit ladder, but is selling software to Volkswagen, a pretty good sign that “legacy auto” is struggling in odd ways while newcomers are having no problem churning out EVs.

So, we need to ask ourselves why these established players are struggling while newcomers are doing just fine.

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[–] drdabbles@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

I'd argue that Rivian makes a vehicle that operates like a normal vehicle and the "tech" part (infotainment) basically gets out of your way. Not much difference between Ford's vertical screen and Rivian's horizontal one outside the software that runs on it. That's the mark of a good vehicle, IMO. That it's a vehicle, and anything else it can do comes at a distant second place.

GM and Ford, and every other automaker have adopted the infotainment craze. Some have done it better than others, some companies have tried to force it on users while the quality is far below what it should be (Tesla). But you're going to be hard pressed to find a new Ford or GM vehicle that doesn't come standard with a touch screen interface these days.