New platforms give GM more global flexibility

General Motors is one of the largest carmakers in the world, yet its presence here is small these days. That may be about to change, writes Damien O’Carroll.

When General Motors killed off the Holden brand in 2020, we would have been forgiven for thinking it would be the last we would see of the bowtie brand in this part of the world. But the company quickly introduced the GMSV brand here and in Australia, retaining a foothold in the region.

GMSV stands for General Motors Specialty Vehicles and sells niche GM vehicles like the Silverado pickup, which is converted to right-hand-drive in Melbourne, and the factory-RHD Corvette.

But as well as offering small-volume flagships, it kept the GM brand alive in our part of the world, leading to the obvious speculation that GM’s transition to EVs could well see a wider resurgence of the company’s various brands, particularly given that it is simpler – and cheaper – to engineer an EV platform in LHD and RHD.

And while it is still refusing to confirm anything along those lines, at a recent event in Detroit General Motors’ top brass have not been shy in saying just how easy it would be to do.

The event was held to showcase future developments, the biggest of which is the company’s new Ultium EV architecture. A total of 65 journalists from 11 markets around the globe attended, including Australia and New Zealand.

Shilpan Amin, GM senior vicepresident and president of GM International told global media, at the two-day drive and technology immersion in Michigan, that GM is ‘‘committed to deploying its zero emissions and autonomous technologies globally to help build a sustainable future for the planet’’.

Amin said in recent weeks, the company has confirmed its Warren campus as the manufacturing site for the ultra-luxury Cadillac Celestiq. It has opened pre-orders in the United States for the Cadillac Lyriq EV (with other markets to follow) and revealed the ‘‘dynamic design’’ of the Chevrolet Blazer EV, ramping up production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV.

Amin forecast record Bolt sales this year and next, and said more than 73,000 people have already reserved a GMC Hummer.

‘‘Our zero-emissions, all-electric future is under way right now. GM is moving faster than ever – and we are fully focused on bringing our new technologies to customers around the world,’’ he said.

Asked if that meant the likes of the Lyriq and Hummer were destined to head down our way in RHD form, Amin said, ‘‘Here’s the exciting part of a purposebuilt electric platform – no longer do you have to design and develop unique engines and transmissions that have to go through calibration and field development.

‘‘We can efficiently scale these products and make them available around the world.

‘‘The other part of this is the conversion between left-hand-drive and right-hand-drive – it’s still something we have to design and develop up front into the architecture, but it is much simpler when you don’t have an engine sitting in front of you that limits your ability to provide these products in right-handdrive.’’

Another encouraging factor would seem to be the fact that because it is so efficient to design an EV up front with left-hand-drive and right-hand-drive markets in mind, a company doesn’t necessarily need large volumes of potential sales to justify it.

‘‘You can actually do it pretty efficiently at all volumes for markets around the world,’’ said Amin.

This ease of development and the flexibility of the Ultium architecture was also touched on by Christian Soemmer, president and managing director of strategic markets, alliances and distributors for Cadillac. When asked about General Motors expanding its right-hand-drive global presence, Soemmer said: ‘‘If I look at the right-handdrive markets globally, where do I really see opportunities? That’s the UK, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

‘‘Do we believe there are future righthand-drive models within the GM portfolio? That remains to be seen, but we have built our future EVs with the maximum most flexibility in mind to be able to potentially go into these markets.’’

Although none of that confirms that General Motors will be making a push back into wider right-hand-drive markets, the flexibility of the Ultium architecture and its easy potential for RHD was emphasised several times during the two-day event, as was the global nature of the company’s ambitions.

‘‘This was an unparalleled chance to showcase GM’s global future direction and provide insight into some of the amazing product and innovation GM will be delivering to markets around the world in the coming years,’’ said Marc Ebolo, managing director of GM Australia and New Zealand.

Ebolo said that while the company didn’t have any ANZ-specific announcements to make just yet: ‘‘The participation of our regional media in the programme was important as it conveys what may well be possible in the wider GM International region.’’

What that actually means remains to be seen, but the likelihood of New Zealand seeing future General Motors EV models based on the Ultium architecture suddenly sounds a lot more likely.

‘‘Our future growth plans will be taken from the things that you have seen here. That is the future of GM ANZ, and we will certainly be taking things from that,’’ said Ebolo.