General Motors has unveiled its highly anticipated, fully electric Chevy Blazer in direct competition with Ford's Mustang Mach E and Tesla's Model Y. Scott Bell, the global head of GM division Chevrolet, joined Cheddar News to discuss the latest electric vehicle entrant. “This is a chance for us to get after one of the biggest segments in the industry, and do it in volume here," he said. "So we're very optimistic about our ability to bring this to market on time next summer." 

Opening Bell

Electric Chevy Blazer Hopes to Hit Market by Next Summer

well. The wait is finally over. General Motors officially unveiling its all electric midsized Suv the Chevy Blazer in direct competition to ford's Mustang Mach E and Tesla's model Y welcomes as E. V. Adoption continues to skyrocket across the country amid a broader shift away from gas powered cars and the 2024 Blazer E. V. Is gonna hit the road next summer. So, for more on this, I do want to bring in scott bell Global head of Chevrolet joining me now, scott, Congratulations. This car looks pretty great from the outside. Tell me more about the specs and what drivers can expect. Yeah, thank you. Good morning. This is, it's great to get it out in the public here. Very excited about it. Yeah. So we've got three variants here. So an L. T and R. S and Ss. Um, the S. S, you know, 557 horsepower 0 to 60 in less than 60 seconds of just an outstanding performance vehicle range up to 320 miles here. Um, on a full charge, we've got front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, all wheel drive, great technology, great styling and design. So this, this vehicle's got it all, all of the specs extremely impressive. It looks very shiny red from the outside, smooth ride as well. My biggest question scott is, what is the inside like, what is the inside experience like for consumers? Yeah, almost I would argue as good as the outside. So the feedback we got at the reveal was phenomenal and and all day today has been really good. The inside, stunning 17 inch screen, 11 inch driver information center over top of the steering wheel. Great styling, great cues, hats off to our design team who, who put this together but really, really excited to get it in the consumer's hands. So are you feeling confident that next summer this can actually roll out and hit dealerships because we continue to see supply chain challenges scott and this pandemic continue to weigh on all industries out there and certainly the auto industry has been hit hard as well, especially when it comes to chip production. I have a semiconductor is needed in every single car out there. What can you tell me? Do you feel confident you'll be able to meet that delivery goal? Yeah, we do. I certainly, there are challenges in the industry and, and, and you know, we've, we've had our fair share as well. We're getting better at it. Production is improving, but we're not out of the woods yet, but all the work that we've been doing uh, you know, we've learned a ton. I think we're gonna be in a good place. We've, we've been rolling out new vehicles on our all tM platform at general motors. This is a chance for us to get after one of the biggest segments in the industry, uh, and, and do it in volume here. So we're very optimistic about our ability to bring this to market on time next summer. The new electric Chevy Blazer a little bit more expensive by several $1000 than the gas powered version that your company does still sell. Walk me through some of the money that consumers can save on this via credits as well as any sort of financing plans that GM might be offering. Yeah, we've, we've got a great price um, you know, right in the heart of the market where we're at today. So I $45- $5,000 on the base and um, you know, a lot of variants above and beyond that. We feel like we're in the sweet spot of where that we the range 300 Lost Miles, 320 here. All the different options and variants that we have. We're very optimistic that this is right where the consumer, where, where, where it needs to be to, to do the kind of volume that we want to do here and like I said, one of the biggest segments in the industry higher gas prices, certainly hurting the wallets of consumers scott that has been the case all year long and prices still elevated from the same time a year ago, even though we've seen them fortunately come down this past month or so. What would you tell anyone who's still on the fence about an electric vehicle? What makes sense to shift to electric from an original gas powered car? Well, certainly, you know, the performance. If you haven't driven an E. V, you know, it definitely is a whole different experience and this one given us the ability to, to put that kind of horsepower. Um, in this vehicle that 0 to 60 in under four seconds is comparable of any sports vehicle that's out there. Uh, you know, the biggest thing that consumers are dealing with is range anxiety. So having 320 miles is one of the best in the industry. So we're, we're really in a good, good place there and we're doing a lot of work on, on infrastructure and charging. So consumers, you know, want to see chargers more chargers, They don't necessarily understand just yet that most of that charging will happen either in their home or probably at their place of work. But um, so we're working, we're doing a lot of things to improve that infrastructure across the country. So I think those things together with a great product and a big segment is going to help adopt the adoption rate pick up here. Certainly electric vehicles, the cars of the future scott every automaker virtually pivoting into the space. And of course, the hope is that it will help the climate as well. But for consumers who want to purchase one of these vehicles, I'm sure they do see it as an investment And again, with gas prices always volatile elevated at these levels, how much money do you think consumers could save over the long term by switching to an electric vehicle. Yeah, it's, uh, you know, um it's significant for sure. Um, you think about any time that you're going to a gas station today to to fill up for the most part these cars, you know, charge at home. It's no different than your, your phone. You know, you bring it into the garage and you just kind of top it off each night. So, you know, think of all those trips that you're making today to a fuel station. Um, you wouldn't have to do that here with it with an E. V. And with 320 miles of range, you know, really can accommodate um, a majority of what people or consumers use their vehicles for. Well GM making a big pivot into electric vehicles as we've been discussing plans to roll out dozens of electric vehicles by 2035. This is an early model here in that big ambitious goal. And obviously a lot of loyal shoppers for your brand as well Scott who's the average clientele of a vehicle like this? Is it a family isn't someone looking for long haul trips? Is it someone looking maybe for more of an adventure or someone looking for a sports, you know, performance vehicle. Right. So there's, there's a lot of, a lot of things here um, for this vehicle, the adoption rate is picking up greatly and and to to see that you continue, we're gonna need to be in segments where consumers are today. So um, it's time to have a brand like Chevrolet, you know, bring vehicles into the mainstream and and bring them into segments that are very popular today. So, Silverado earlier this year we unveiled obviously a massive segment, large pickups. We've done Blazer here. Um, and in just a few weeks we'll be talking about an Equinox E. V. Which is the largest segment in the industry. So having one entry in each of those three segments, the three biggest segments in the in in the industry is going to give us a chance to do some real volume here and show customers just what they can benefit from by having an E. V. Vehicle scott. My last question to you, I do want to talk about the infrastructure of electric vehicles charging on the road so that you can make some of these long haul trips. I know GM the biden administration, other automakers investing in putting more charging stations near highways and interstates and elsewhere in the public to make this a more feasible lifestyle option. Will those charging stations be free of charge to GM? Electric vehicle owners? So there's, there's um you said we we've invested nearly three quarters of a billion dollars in infrastructure at GM or in the process of doing that. Um, there's home charging. So we're helping consumers today with both in both the U. V. That we have out in the marketplace now to install those chargers in their home and we're paying for that installation. To help with that adoption, we just announced some charging activity with a pilot Flying J facilities across the country. 2000 chargers. These are dc fast chargers. So in the blazer, that means you can put 78 miles of range into that vehicle in in 10 minutes. So that's uh, we're working hard on that. And then we've been working with our dealers. We've got 3000 of them in communities all across the country to do charging, help them fund charging infrastructure in their own communities. So, lots of great activity here and will continue to do that. All right, scott bell. Congratulations. It's a beautiful car scott's global head of Chevrolet at GM. We appreciate it. Thank you.