Photo: GM
In the final days of November, American auto group General Motors revealed that it is still to overcome the hardship of the late 2000s, despite the billions poured into the company by the American government.
With more plants to be closed and possibly thousands to be laid off or relocated, it is one of the most drastic sets of cost-cutting measures undertaken in recent years by GM.
Yet this doesn’t mean the company is out of the car business entirely. Currently, the General lost much of its former glory and only holds control of four car brands, namely Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC.
Apart from the four, together with Honda and Japanese conglomerate Softbank, GM holds control of Cruise, a brand purpose-built to create and actually sell autonomous cars.
This company of GM will be led from January 1 by Dan Ammann, appointed CEO this week. Ammann is currently acting president of GM and one of the men who pushed for the carmaker to join in the self-driving car race.
Accompanying Ammann at the helm of Cruise will be Cruise co-founder Kyle Vogt, who will assume the role of helping Ammann achieve his goals.
“These appointments further demonstrate our commitment to transforming mobility through the safe deployment of self-driving technology and move us closer to our vision for a future with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion,” said in a statement GM CEO Mary Barra.
“As we move toward commercial deployment, adding Dan to the strong team led by Kyle is the next step.”
Cruise is on the verge of manufacturing start for the first self-driving car it will produce. The car will be assembled at the Orion Township plant.
Softbank will invest $2.25 billion to support the development and large-scale production of the model, while Honda will pump $2 billion over the next 12 years in Cruise.
Yet this doesn’t mean the company is out of the car business entirely. Currently, the General lost much of its former glory and only holds control of four car brands, namely Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC.
Apart from the four, together with Honda and Japanese conglomerate Softbank, GM holds control of Cruise, a brand purpose-built to create and actually sell autonomous cars.
This company of GM will be led from January 1 by Dan Ammann, appointed CEO this week. Ammann is currently acting president of GM and one of the men who pushed for the carmaker to join in the self-driving car race.
Accompanying Ammann at the helm of Cruise will be Cruise co-founder Kyle Vogt, who will assume the role of helping Ammann achieve his goals.
“These appointments further demonstrate our commitment to transforming mobility through the safe deployment of self-driving technology and move us closer to our vision for a future with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion,” said in a statement GM CEO Mary Barra.
“As we move toward commercial deployment, adding Dan to the strong team led by Kyle is the next step.”
Cruise is on the verge of manufacturing start for the first self-driving car it will produce. The car will be assembled at the Orion Township plant.
Softbank will invest $2.25 billion to support the development and large-scale production of the model, while Honda will pump $2 billion over the next 12 years in Cruise.
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