GM’s Mark Reuss on Cadillac’s electric vehicle plans and the return of the Corvette ZR1
MONTEREY, Calif. — Mark Reuss has a unique perspective from his perch at Automobile Corporation (General Director). Reuss, General Directorhas been president of GM since 2019 and a GM employee for 34 years, with involvement in all GM brands, including Cadillac, Chevrolet CarsAnd Buick. He is responsible for everything from global research and development to manufacturing and tram initiatives, such as battery strategy and development
He is also an enthusiast. motor sport and race car driver has seen GM move deeper into racing with programs through Chevrolet and Cadillac. Reuss joined Yahoo Finance to chat at Monterey Car Week, where Cadillac debuts its latest product: Opulent Velocity concept car Not only does it introduce the next phase in Cadillac’s electric vehicle expansion, it also marks the 20th anniversary of the brand’s foray into motor sports, pioneered by Reuss.
The following is an edited excerpt from the interview.
Pras Subramanian
Pras Subramanian: Monterey Car Week is a big event for Cadillac, with a lot of high-profile customers and clients gathering around to see the company’s vision. Is Opulent Velocity Cadillac’s vision of the future?
Mark Reuss: You know, if you think back to the Celestiq [Cadillac’s $300,000 EV sedan]When we first showed it, it was a concept car and everyone said, ‘Oh, you should do that. That’s really a statement. That’s something that will really set Cadillac apart.’ And of course, we’re going to do it, and we’ve tested it.
But if you think about it, we’re looking at the future horizon of Cadillac and what that design language is going to be. And if you look at our product portfolio, we’ve taken that language from the front to the back to the really progressive design of the Celestiq into all of our products. And it’s time to take a step back and use this car to look at the horizon and look at the technology and the performance and the elegance and what Cadillac is going to be. So you’ll see some of those things, maybe quite a few of them, come out in the portfolio as we move forward.
Cadillac’s electrification strategy has changed, with 2030 being the target for full electrification. Now Cadillac is saying, ‘We’re going to have options for everyone on every powertrain.’ Is that the strategy?
Absolutely. We’ve always said that we have a really good inherent advantage in terms of capacity and acreage where we can really do both, and we can let the market really tell us what they want and when they want it.
And that’s what we’re doing. And, you know, the Lyriq is off to a great start; it’s like the number two luxury electric car in the world. And we’re doing close to 3,000 [in sales] one month, this is awesome, and we do so because this is a great car.
You also note that GM’s electric vehicle sales are growing, up 40% year over year in Q2. Let’s talk about the overall auto market in the United States and where GM is. What does the market look like for that consumer right now, both at the high end and the low end?
Well, General Motors is known for basically our entire corporate history of making different things for different people of all income levels, all tastes. It’s like America, right? And we do it for everyone. So it’s everything from [Chevy] Trax arrive [Buick] ConsiderCelestiq does all of that, and we’re really proud of that. And so I don’t think that’s going to change.
The market outlook itself — we’re right around the corner [a 16 million annual run rate, or total number of cars sold in the US] here, plus or minus, next year, I think. So maybe 16.2 million, 16.3 million. We’ll see.
But we [nearing full capacity] because of that, and we will make those decisions, but we will not overproduce vehicles. In fact, we are running the lowest incentive of any company in the industry, and that is because of the strength of our product.
So people really want what we have; we charge a fair price and don’t create incentives.
One more item while we have you. The new Corvette ZR1 was on display in Monterey at a couple of locations. I know you played a big role in making that show happen. What did you have to do to push the engineers, push the people, get this car to the level it needed to be called a ZR1?
I think it started with creating a mid-engine car. We have the best people in the world, and that’s a big advantage. So when we started designing the Stingray [current generation C8 Corvette]We designed the car to carry the battery for the E-Ray. [hybrid]. We designed the car to carry a 67mm twin-turbocharged engine [ZR1’s] Gemini engine.
Front engine car [prior generation C7]it had to be turbocharged because we couldn’t package those turbos in. So those are the things we had to do on the ZR1.
When you start expanding architecture and aperture, people get really creative and excited, and we’re very fortunate to have people like that in the company.
Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and above Instagram.
Read the latest business and finance news from Yahoo Finance
