GM Cancels Debut of Autonomous EV at CES 2020 Due to Strike-Related Delays: Report
General Motors CEO Mary Barra explained the brand couldn’t put its “best foot forward” by rushing the model’s reveal.
The tumultuous days of contract renegotiations between the United Auto Workers union and General Motors may be over, but the Detroit auto giant is still feeling the effects. GM reportedly isn’t going to meet its deadline to prepare an electric vehicle for display at the Consumer Electronics Show next year in Las Vegas, thanks in large part to the 40-day UAW member strike.
After speaking with a company spokesperson and receiving a quick word from GM’s CEO Mary Barra, MotorTrend learned that GM’s plans to debut a new electric vehicle at CES have been canceled. But the vehicle debut itself is only delayed as the car will supposedly still be ready within the first half of 2020.
"We had a plan to go to CES and frankly we can't go to CES without putting our best foot forward and we could not get the models done that we wanted to get done with the strike, frankly," spokesman Tony Cervone told the outlet, saying limited infrastructure kept the engineering teams from reaching its goals.
"We want to do it right because we've got a very powerful story to tell," Barra said to MotorTrend.
This isn’t the only product delay that GM has faced as a result of its long-winded negotiations. The strike also caused production delays for the new Chevrolet Blazer and one of the company’s biggest launches yet, the C8 Corvette.
Little is known about the new model originally meant to show its face at CES. Original rumors suggested that it could’ve been a preview of an all-electric Cadillac crossover featuring the manufacturer’s latest developments with its Super Cruise Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS).
Barra did say that the model highlighted the company’s latest strides in electric vehicles and autonomous driving technology, two of the brand’s focal points for future products. That’s because GM believes that autonomous vehicles should also be electrically driven not only to help reduce impact on global warming, but for the automaker to do its part in helping to improve road safety as well.
Cruise had nothing to do with what was going on with CES, whatever the concept was didn't have to do with anything with cruise.
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