If you look at General Motors’ lineup today, there are plenty of battery-electric vehicles and combustion-powered cars. One thing you won't find many of? Hybrids. It’s a segment the Detroit automaker is absent from, but that will change soon.

In an interview with CNBC, Mike Anderson, GM’s vice president of propulsion engineering, told the publication that hybrids are "part of the plan" even though the company still sees all-electric vehicles as the future. He said:

'We’re not tone deaf to our customers. We know what they want, and we want to give that to them as quickly as we can.'

While GM believes an all-electric future is “the end state,” Anderson acknowledged that “it’s going to be a journey that involves technology diversity.”

Chevrolet Equinox

Photo by: Chevrolet

While Anderson would not reveal the company’s plans, we expect GM to hybridize models like the Chevrolet Equinox, models with mass appeal. Toyota offers the latest RAV4 with only hybrid powertrains. Anderson told CNBC:

'You can see, without me saying what our plans are, where the customers are clamoring for these things and really, really going for them. We want to meet them where they want things.'

Earlier this year, GM CEO Mary Barra said the automaker was working on several hybrid vehicles, but she did not elaborate. A new GM hybrid could arrive as soon as next year.

Right now, General Motors sells just one hybrid: the Corvette. That’s not a mass-market vehicle that can compete with the Honda CR-Vs and Toyota RAV4s of the world.

The company’s first mass-market hybrid launched over 20 years ago in the form of the Chevrolet Silverado. GM introduced hybrid versions of the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon a few years later before launching the Chevrolet Volt, which was considered groundbreaking at the time.

Despite its success, and transferring the hybrid tech to the Chevrolet Malibu, GM killed both after the 2019 model year. It would announce its focus on battery-electric vehicles in 2021.

While General Motors records a sales loss for the third quarter, automakers with robust hybrid lineups are winning. Sales for Toyota’s electrified models increased 28.5 percent last quarter, with overall sales up 0.6 percent.

Hyundai saw hybrid sales increase 39.0 percent in September, with the Sonata and Santa Fe posting record months. For the quarter, hybrid sales were up 35 percent. Sonata hybrid sales doubled compared to last year, while the Santa Fe Hybrid had its best quarter in history.

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At Honda, hybrid sales rose 18.4 percent in September and were up 20.9 percent for the third quarter. The Civic Hybrid accounted for 35 percent of the model mix, while the hybrid Accord was 44 percent of sales. Last quarter was the best for Honda’s hybrids ever, with over 106,000 sold.

Even GM’s crosstown rival is seeing success. The Ford Maverick Hybrid saw third-quarter sales rise 59.6 percent, with nearly 28,000 electrified pickups sold. Ford has sold 74,300 hybrid Mavericks so far this year.

Hybrid Hoopla

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Extracted and lightly reformatted for readability. · Source: pt