GM dealers aren’t happy future EVs won’t support CarPlay: ‘There’s an infinite number of ways this could go bad’
Earlier this year, GM announced its boneheaded decision to ditch CarPlay in all of its future EVs, opting for a partnership with Google instead. The company has received an incredible amount of backlash since that announcement, and unsurprisingly, GM dealerships are also none too happy about the move.
A new report from the Detroit Free Press rounds up comments and concerns from GM dealers who are still grappling with GM’s surprise announcement. One source “in close contact with multiple GM dealers” explained that the “risk of failure is very high” for the automaker to abandon CarPlay.
Despite announcing the move publicly in March, GM dealers haven’t received any communication from the company about what exactly is happening:
“CarPlay’s not broken. Why fix it?” asked a source in close contact with multiple GM dealers and who requested anonymity for business concerns. “The risk of failure is very high.”
“I don’t even know the name of (GM’s) new system, much less what benefits our customers can expect,” the dealer source said. “Nobody has had any communication from GM. What am I supposed to tell my customers?”
“The new system can’t just work,” the dealer source said. “It has to be the best in the market. It’s got to be better than CarPlay.”
That same dealer source also questioned the timing of GM’s move, killing CarPlay as it simultaneously plans to ramp up its focus on EVs with its Ultium EV architecture this year.
“Why are we doing this with the launch of our most important new vehicles? Shouldn’t all the resources devoted to developing it have been spent on launching the actual vehicles?” the source said to the Detroit Free Press. “There’s an infinite number of ways this could go bad.”
Other GM dealers cited in the report expressed similar concerns, including worries that the move could cost dealers and salespeople money. GM, of course, is hoping that this move will boost its bottom line with an increased focus on subscription revenue. The company is targeting $20 billion to $25 billion in annual revenue from subscriptions by 2030.
GM dealers and salespeople are concerned the change will cost them money, too. Complaints about a vehicle or its features can reduce payments they get for customer satisfaction, potentially costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“We would hate for there to be a hiccup in the launch of these key new products,” one said. “We have a lot riding on this.”
9to5Mac’s Take
There’s only so much I can write about this move, but I’ll reiterate my thoughts once more in hopes Mary Barra comes across this story.
This is a change GM will regret. It’s a change that reeks of greed and shortsightedness. And it comes as automakers like Ford are doubling down on their decisions to support CarPlay.
In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Ford CEO Jim Farley said:
Seventy percent of our Ford customers in the U.S. are Apple customers. Why would I go to an Apple customer and say ‘good luck!’ That, like, doesn’t seem customer-centric. And Apple does a really good job. So our philosophy is different. Our philosophy is we’re going to make the best Android, CarPlay experience you can imagine.
We’re going to put on top of it a really good customization opportunity for the customer, so they can kind of get what they want out of the interior experience. And let’s go ship great productivity, partial autonomy, safety and security software. That’s where the data off the car makes a difference and we can be different.
Farley gets it and understands how important CarPlay is to buyers. GM and Mary Barra clearly don’t.
Tesla and Rivian are the two other major holdouts in adopting CarPlay, but at least they’ve spent years developing their respective infotainment systems.
I have zero faith in GM’s ability to create something that will even remotely match the reliability, familiarity, and feature set of CarPlay.
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According to a Tesla Semi customer, the electric truck program is suffering more delays and a price increase that is described as “dramatic.”
Tesla Semi has seen many delays, more than any other vehicle program at Tesla.
It was initially unveiled in 2017, and CEO Elon Musk claimed that it would go into production in 2019.
In late 2022, Tesla held an event where it unveiled the “production version” of the Tesla Semi and delivered the first few units to a “customer-partner”: PepsiCo.
More than 3 years later, the vehicle never went into volume production. Instead, Tesla only ran a very low volume pilot production at a factory in Nevada and only delivered a few dozen trucks to customers as part of test programs.
But Tesla promised that things would finally happen for the Tesla Semi this year.
Tesla has been building a new high-volume production factory specifically for the Tesla Semi program in a new building next to Gigafactory Nevada.
The goal was to start production in 2025, start customer deliveries, and ramp up to 50,000 trucks yearly.
Now, Ryder, a large transportation company and early customer-partner in Tesla’s semi truck program, is talking about further delays. The company also refers to a significant price increase.
California’s Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC) awarded Ryder funding for a project to deploy Tesla Semi trucks and Megachargers at two of its facilities in the state.
Ryder had previously asked for extensions amid the delays in the Tesla Semi program.
In a new letter sent to MSRC last week and obtained by Electrek, Ryder asked the agency for another 28-month delay. The letter references delays in “Tesla product design, vehicle production” and it mentions “dramatic changes to the Tesla product economics”:
This extension is needed due to delays in Tesla product design, vehicle production and dramatic changes to the Tesla product economics. These delays have caused us to reevaluate the current Ryder fleet in the area.
The logistics company now says it plans to “deploy 18 Tesla Semi vehicles by June 2026.”
The reference to “dramatic changes to the Tesla product economics” points to a significant price increase for the Tesla Semi, which further communication with MSRC confirms.
In the agenda of a meeting to discuss the extension and changes to the project yesterday, MSRC confirms that the project went from 42 to 18 Tesla Semi trucks while the project commitment is not changing:
Ryder has indicated that their electric tractor manufacturer partner, Tesla, has experienced continued delays in product design and production. There have also been dramatic changes to the product economics. Ryder requests to reduce the number of vehicles from 42 to 18, stating that this would maintain their $7.5 million private match commitment.
In addition to the electric trucks, the project originally involved installing two integrated power centers and four Tesla Megachargers, split between two locations. Ryder is also looking to now install 3 Megachargers per location for a total of 6 instead of 4.
The project changes also mention that “Ryder states that Tesla now requires 600kW chargers rather than the 750kW units originally engineered.”
Tesla Semi Price
When originally unveiling the Tesla Semi in 2017, the automaker mentioned prices of $150,000 for a 300-mile range truck and $180,000 for the 500-mile version. Tesla also took orders for a “Founder’s Series Semi” at $200,000.
However, Tesla didn’t update the prices when launching the “production version” of the truck in late 2023. Price increases have been speculated, but the company has never confirmed them.
New diesel-powered Class 8 semi trucks in the US today often range between $150,000 and $220,000.
The combination of a reasonable purchase price and low operation costs, thanks to cheaper electric rates than diesel, made the Tesla Semi a potentially revolutionary product to reduce the overall costs of operation in trucking while reducing emissions.
However, Ryder now points to a “dramatic” price increase for the Tesla Semi.
What is the cost of a Tesla Semi electric truck now?
Electrek’s Take
As I have often stated, Tesla Semi is the vehicle program I am most excited about at Tesla right now.
If Tesla can produce class 8 trucks capable of moving cargo of similar weight as diesel trucks over 500 miles on a single charge in high volume at a reasonable price point, they have a revolutionary product on their hands.
But the reasonable price part is now being questioned.
After reading the communications between Ryder and MSRC, while not clear, it looks like the program could be interpreted as MSRC covering the costs of installing the charging stations while Ryder committed $7.5 million to buying the trucks.
The math makes sense for the original funding request since $7.5 million divided by 42 trucks results in around $180,000 per truck — what Tesla first quoted for the 500-mile Tesla Semi truck.
Now, with just 18 trucks, it would point to a price of $415,000 per Tesla Semi truck. It’s possible that some of Ryder’s commitment could also go to an increase in Megacharger prices – either per charger or due to the two additional chargers. MSRC said that they don’t give more money when prices go up after an extension.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the 500-mile Tesla Semi ends up costing $350,000 to $400,000.
If that’s the case, Tesla Semi is impressive, but it won’t be the revolutionary product that will change the trucking industry.
It will need to be closer to $250,000-$300,000 to have a significant impact, which is not impossible with higher-volume production but would be difficult.
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