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GM stopped funding Cruise robotaxis

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After a series of accidents, the American self-driving car company Cruise, which became a subsidiary of General Motors, has suspended operations at the end of 2023. In May, it returned its vehicles to public roads, but now the company’s survival is in question, as GM has suspended financing.

Since taking over Cruise in 2016, GM has invested almost $10 billion in the company and now intends to reach agreements with shareholders and increase its stake from 90 to 97 percent. The company has also decided to end funding for robotaxis at a time when Waymo, backed by Alphabet, is expanding to more cities, and Tesla plans to start its robotaxis business in 2026.

General Motors’ primary goal is autonomous vehicles for personal use, and keeping the robotaxis project alive is financially unsustainable due to the enormous costs. In 2023, Cruise lost $3.48 billion, which could lead to large-scale layoffs.

“Given the time and cost required to scale up a robotaxi business in an increasingly competitive market, joining forces seems more efficient,” said Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors.

Source: Reuters; Photo: EPA-EFE

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The Pontiac G8 is a concept that never went into production

General Motors Design posted photos of a concept car that never went into production and that few people knew about, the Pontiac G8, on its official Instagram profile.

This car is the last concept car produced by Pontiac before GM shut down the brand in 2009. It was created at Advanced Studio in California and was supposed to represent a fully functional vision of future Pontiac design, but it never happened.

The problems for GM started at the beginning of the 21st century when this American multinational automotive manufacturing company began to shut down its brands one by one: Oldsmobile, Hummer and Saturn, and in 2010 they did the same with Pontiac.

Visually, the G8 resembles the sedan of the same name that an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors, Holden (formerly known as General Motors-Holden), sold in Australia under the name Commodore. It should be noted that Holden sold this car around the world under different names: Chevrolet Lumina (Middle East, South East Asia, South Africa), Chevrolet Omega (Brazil) and Holden Commodore (VE). Also, there were other ideas related to the G8, but they all failed in the meantime.

Source: @generalmotorsdesign via Instagram

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The Pontiac G8 is a concept that never went into production
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Toyota victim of computer chip shortage

The shortage of computer chips has led to a decline in vehicle production worldwide. This has mostly affected large manufacturers such as VW, Ford and GM, which will significantly reduce production and even suspend it in some plants. One of the victims of the chip shortage is Toyota.

Thanks to large stocks and a lesson learned from 2011, Toyota has successfully dealt with the shortage of computer chips. However, a long-running shortage of chips has forced the Japanese company to reduce vehicle production by almost 50 percent.

In an official statement, Toyota announced that only 1 of the 28 production lines in Toyota’s 14 factories will operate in September, while the remaining will be shut down. In the United States, production will be reduced by almost 100k vehicles, which should not lead to layoffs. Completely unexpected, because this is the biggest production stoppage in the automotive industry in recent history.

Due to this situation, Toyota said: “Due to Covid-19 and unexpected events with our supply chain, Toyota is experiencing additional shortages that will affect production at most of our North American plants. While the situation remains fluid and complex, our manufacturing and supply chain teams have worked diligently to develop countermeasures to minimize the impact on production. ”

How long this situation will last is not known. Many producers expect production to return to normal by the end of the year. Toyota is not so optimistic. They believe that the problem could continue in 2022.

Source: Toyota