Future for GM

[JOD]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlto...-for-new-e-bike-brand-ariv/#2d2f56376f56 While it pales in comparison to what they spend on auto R&D, they've invested a lot of time and money in this thing. Curious what folks think about it?

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Seems to me that funding was crowd sourced or was that just the name?

 

[RedlineOilUser]

I thought their future was like Amsoil and going to China.

 

[JOD]

Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl

Seems to me that funding was crowd sourced or was that just the name?

crowd sourcing was just the name--they paid for the R&D on their own--and it wasn't cheap. This has been almost 10 years in the making.

Originally Posted by Marco620

I thought their future was like Amsoil and going to China.

Well, I'm sure it is. It's the largest car market in the world. This particular bike though would likely struggle there, given the prevalence of cheap options. Personally, it seems like a boondoggle to invest this much time, effort and $$ into such a low-margin business as electric bikes, but time will tell if it's successful for them. b

 

[Mr Nice]

GM will still be around in 100 years.

 

[JamesBond]

I'd rather get run over on a regular bike so I have some money left for the hospital bills. They'll probably sell a hundred per year at a loss of $100,000 each, and a Chinese knock off will be 3/4 as good for 1/4 the price and beat them to market.

 

[nthach]

GM, Toyota, Ford, VAG, et al are mobility companies. They need to answer to their shareholders even if the model of traditional car ownership is changing. GM took stakes or ownership in Cruise, Lyft, and the recent electric truck to compete against Tesla as well as entering a partnership with LG for BEV batteries. They also shedded what wasn't useful. Toyota doubled down on Uber, Getaround(to compete against GM's Maven and Daimler's Car2Go), Didi and a few other things.

 

[Linctex]

Originally Posted by Mr Nice

GM will still be around in 100 years.

As long as people are willing to "bail them out"..........

 

[joekingcorvette]

Originally Posted by Linctex

Originally Posted by Mr Nice

GM will still be around in 100 years.

As long as people are willing to "bail them out"..........

Oh so true!

 

[loneryder]

Check out Sondors.com. I've had 2 and they are very well made bikes. I now have the Fold which is aluminum and goes 20 mph with my 225# and goes over 20 miles on a charge.

 

[JOD]

Originally Posted by nthach

GM, Toyota, Ford, VAG, et al are mobility companies. They need to answer to their shareholders even if the model of traditional car ownership is changing. GM took stakes or ownership in Cruise, Lyft, and the recent electric truck to compete against Tesla as well as entering a partnership with LG for BEV batteries. They also shedded what wasn't useful. Toyota doubled down on Uber, Getaround(to compete against GM's Maven and Daimler's Car2Go), Didi and a few other things.

oh, no doubt. If the ARE going to be around in 100 years, they have to be prepared for a world when passenger cars barely/don't exist, or they'll end up the way of Kodak and IBM. I also understand the idea of throwing various ideas against the call to see what sticks. This particularly thing is of interest to me since I know the guys at the bike factory who've partnered with GM on it to actually produce it. I wish them the best with the project, but having a rough idea of development and production costs, I just think they're going to have some tough sledding.

 

[PandaBear]

This is someone's promotion project, and PR piece. Do you seriously think bicycle is the future in a nation full of SUVs?