GM President Mark Reuss joined Cheddar News to discuss the company's new Cadillac Escalade electric vehicle and talked about how to make affordable EVs for the general public. "That's who we are as a company -- we will offer vehicles for everybody and every different income level," he said.

<div class="block">GM President Mark Reuss joined Cheddar News to discuss the company&#39;s new Cadillac Escalade electric vehicle and talked about how to make affordable EVs for the general public. &quot;That&#39;s who we are as a company -- we will offer vehicles for everybody and every different income level,&quot; he said.</div>

Stretching Your Dollar

GM President Mark Reuss on New Electric Escalade and Overall EV Market

Thanks so much for joining us today, Mark. So let's start with the latest news from GM, which is the all new electric Cadillac Escalade. Tell me more about this car. Well, you know, the Escalade, we, we've sold over a million escalades in its in its life life history there. It's become iconic, especially here in New York. There's black Escalades, you know, moving people and sort of the great fleet car, but it's also a big iconic American luxury SUV. And it's number one in segment one out of every three of these vehicles in the segment is an Escalade and that's the internal combustion engine version. We unveiled the redo of the, which is the Escalade IQ and that's our all electric version. So we're very excited about it today. It takes the design language for Cadillac to a different place, both interior and exterior, but also it's 450 miles of range. And you know, it's got four wheel steering, air, air suspension, a 55 inch front display. So it's really something different and you know, it's got more interior room than the, than the gas version too. So lots of good things right now, you know, a lot of people want to go electric, but it's a little bit more expensive than usually the gas powered counterparts. So, what is GM doing to make electric cars more affordable? That has been the pattern here. Um, over the last, I don't know, uh four or five years, I will say. However, we've got the most affordable vehicle in, um, in the whole electric uh vehicle segmentation at the, the bolt, the Chevrolet bolt. So we're going to pause that, um, manufacturing for a little bit while we retool a plant. But then it goes back into production and that's around $26,000 which is really reasonable. The other thing we're doing is we're coming this fall with the Equinox and Blazer, which is the Equinox is the biggest segment in the world. That's SUVC, that's what that's called, but it's a two row four do SUV. And that, um, that will be right in the 30 ish $1000 range. So General Motors, that's who we are. As a company. We will offer vehicles for everybody and every different income levels and especially the EV piece of it. So we're going to really crack the mold here with trying to do that. Now, do you see those EV prices going down in the next decade or so? I do, if you look at the, just the regulatory piece of this where it's becoming harder and harder to sell a gasoline vehicle and more expensive. That's one piece of it. But then you look at the chemistries for that we're developing for the batteries themselves and the cells and that's only in its infancy in terms of, you know what we use, whether it's lithium ion or nickel cobalt, whatever that is in the chemistries in the industry, again, in the infancy of energy density and cost. So that's all going to radically change as we go forward and people are really going to enjoy the value piece of that. Now, you haven't got rid of some of the gas powered cars as well. How is this a more affordable option for people who are looking at a new car at this time? Yeah, you know, the internal combustion engine piece of it we have from an infrastructure standpoint in the country. You know the complete petroleum, gasoline infrastructure, it's gasoline available within very short distances and it's plentiful and it's all that, that's, that's great. So we're going to still make those. But as the world transitions and transforms, you see the climate change that's happening today, you see all that happening. We're going to do our part and we're going to do our part as a company and an industry. Now also in the news headlines for General Motors is the current negotiations with the United Auto Workers. They're asking for at least a 40% increase in pay. Now, what is your response right now? And how are you talking with them. You know, I really don't have anything to say publicly about what we're negotiating with our representative workforce. Other than we, as always in earnest, enter into negotiations to get a deal that is fair for everybody and good for the business too. So that's where we're at on it. And that's really all I can say right now. Now we are seeing a decline in new car buyer. What are you, what would you say as the president of GM, to people who might think, hey, I want a new car but it might not be in my budget at this time. Yeah, I think, you know, we, we electric vehicles proposing aside, you know, we're offering one of the, I think the very best entry level vehicles that is really, doesn't feel very entry level. I've driven one for quite a while, the new Chevrolet tracks and that starts at under $22,000. So we are offering those. We've got the trail blazer, we've got the tracks, we've got, you know, great vehicles at really low price points to get you a new car, which is freedom and mobility for you in a way that you can afford it. So we're going to do that. We're going to keep doing that.