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Mid-engined is most useful as a transition step to a modern skateboard design EV. Gets the center of gravity low and closer to the actual center point of the ca

Mid-engined is most useful as a transition step to a modern skateboard design EV. Gets the center of gravity low and closer to the actual center point of the car, which a skateboard design then improves. Corvette can't admit to aspirations of a Pure EV this decade (thanks, politics), but in my opinion, that's the only way to absolve a lot of the GM executive sins on being wishy washy about EV futures.

WorldPeas 1y ago
I think the path forward for GM, and most other companies that still make engines is plug-in/gas hybrids. The electric transmission (should be?) more desirable to car enthusiasts, and the engine can still be a moat, though I'd say it quickly starts to feel redundant(to me).
- WorldMaker 1y ago
  I still think 2019 GM was correct in killing the Volt that hybrids are a worst of both worlds in engineering trade-offs and strictly one or the other is the best approach for both. I also still partly agree that 2019 was about the right year to end that "transition tech" phase, at the very least as a political message (that wasn't correctly received). (I say that as someone who still owns a 2012 Volt as my only car, but mostly not because I still think I need a hybrid but because I want an full electric, reasonably sized sedan or hatchback, and all the car companies decided Americans only want EV crossovers/SUVs/assault tanks/land yachts this decade.) All hybrids (Prius included, and especially noted) are just sub-par Full EVs with extra weight albatrossed around their necks when gas gets hard to buy and it does seem like past time to stop sinking good money after multiple decades of sunk costs in ICE car engines. I think it would be more obvious if the US had more of the cheap EVs that China and Europe are producing, but we all know the US right now isn't politically aligned to have nice things.
  - vel0city 1y ago
    A Mach E isn't much bigger than a Volt. Its 5" longer, 3" wider, and 7.5" taller. A Polestar 2 is only an inch longer, 2" taller, and 2" wider. There are many EVs out there roughly the same size as the Volt. Its not like all EVs are about the size of the Hummer EV.
    - WorldMaker 1y ago
      The closest Polestar dealership (er, "retail location") is still a long drive or plane ride away for me. The Polestar 2 does seem the closest to what I want in the current market, though 2" wider isn't ideal and the Polestar 2 has a boxy Volvo thing about it that I don't quite like aesthetically (and that 2" wider does give it a bit of a land yacht feel to me), so it doesn't seem worth that sort of distance trip just for a test drive. (Also, and this is a silly complaint/wishlist item, but I had friends describe an old Volvo buying experience where you could pay a premium on top of the car purchase to include a factory tour and week's stay in the Swedish Alps; they said it was one of the best vacations they ever had. If Polestar offered that I'd be very much more inclined towards Polestar.) The Mach E strikes me as way too big for just me. Those inches add up, it seems way bigger than Volt I have. More than half a foot taller is a huge difference. Maybe I'm just a bad American because I use my car so rarely and mostly alone, and everything about the SUV form factor seems absolutely ridiculous to me for a solo driver mostly out to get groceries or visit family for a few hours. I'm not just making fun of the Hummer-sized monstrosities, I'm absolutely confused by the American love affair with the SUV entirely. It's way too much. (Not to mention I have almost been wishing I could downsize to a nice coupe or compact and that is entirely off the US market to even consider getting my hopes up. I've had love affairs from a distance with the Honda e and BYD Dolphin. Those are cute looking cars. Not really possible to put on a US road, and one company wouldn't sell me one even if I tried because their US arm is a Truck company now, and the other isn't allowed to sell cars in the US at all through trade tariffs and embargoes.)
      - vel0city 1y ago
        I get what you're saying about the American love affair for SUVs, it's insane how large so many people think their cars need to be to have a car seat and a dog and groceries. But I also think it's disingenuous to lump a car like the Mach E and Ioniq 5 in the same size class as a Chevy Suburban and Honda Pilot and Ford Expedition. They're far closer to the hatchback of yesterday than they are to any of those monsters, and yet they're both called "SUVs". And I do wish there were more smaller cars on the market. You're absolutely right, if it's pretty much only you or maybe you + 1 with a small bit of cargo even something like a Mach E (or even the Volt) is pretty much oversized. I do think people should have more choice in right-sizing their vehicles.
Sohcahtoa82 1y ago
> Corvette can't admit to aspirations of a Pure EV this decade (thanks, politics) I wouldn't attribute it to politics, but rather, the fact that the Venn Diagram of performance car enthusiasts and people willing to buy an EV are basically two entirely separate circles. When you consider cars that have a very big loyalty to the brand, like Corvette does, it gets even worse. I personally would LOVE to buy a Corvette EV convertible. But I don't have my hopes up of it ever happening. The demand just isn't there.
- WorldMaker 1y ago
  There's a reasonable sized overlap there. EVs might not interest the "I love the sound inefficiency as literal sound walls" crowd, but the performance car enthusiasts that love torque curves and min/maxing them will eventually begrudgingly admit that EVs have some very lovely torque curves and many of them even know and salivate that most of those curves are software-defined making min/maxing them a fun videogame to play (possibly hazardously while driving, though that's part of the sport of Formula E) rather than buying and installing expensive aftermarket parts. Brand loyalty I'll give you in that I have heard a lot of "the day Corvette makes an EV is the day Corvette is dead to me" hyper-masculine statements, but hyper-masculinity is political. (So is hyper-partisanship in many cases.)

WorldPeas 1y ago

I think the path forward for GM, and most other companies that still make engines is plug-in/gas hybrids. The electric transmission (should be?) more desirable to car enthusiasts, and the engine can still be a moat, though I'd say it quickly starts to feel redundant(to me).

WorldMaker 1y ago
I still think 2019 GM was correct in killing the Volt that hybrids are a worst of both worlds in engineering trade-offs and strictly one or the other is the best approach for both. I also still partly agree that 2019 was about the right year to end that "transition tech" phase, at the very least as a political message (that wasn't correctly received). (I say that as someone who still owns a 2012 Volt as my only car, but mostly not because I still think I need a hybrid but because I want an full electric, reasonably sized sedan or hatchback, and all the car companies decided Americans only want EV crossovers/SUVs/assault tanks/land yachts this decade.) All hybrids (Prius included, and especially noted) are just sub-par Full EVs with extra weight albatrossed around their necks when gas gets hard to buy and it does seem like past time to stop sinking good money after multiple decades of sunk costs in ICE car engines. I think it would be more obvious if the US had more of the cheap EVs that China and Europe are producing, but we all know the US right now isn't politically aligned to have nice things.
- vel0city 1y ago
  A Mach E isn't much bigger than a Volt. Its 5" longer, 3" wider, and 7.5" taller. A Polestar 2 is only an inch longer, 2" taller, and 2" wider. There are many EVs out there roughly the same size as the Volt. Its not like all EVs are about the size of the Hummer EV.
  - WorldMaker 1y ago
    The closest Polestar dealership (er, "retail location") is still a long drive or plane ride away for me. The Polestar 2 does seem the closest to what I want in the current market, though 2" wider isn't ideal and the Polestar 2 has a boxy Volvo thing about it that I don't quite like aesthetically (and that 2" wider does give it a bit of a land yacht feel to me), so it doesn't seem worth that sort of distance trip just for a test drive. (Also, and this is a silly complaint/wishlist item, but I had friends describe an old Volvo buying experience where you could pay a premium on top of the car purchase to include a factory tour and week's stay in the Swedish Alps; they said it was one of the best vacations they ever had. If Polestar offered that I'd be very much more inclined towards Polestar.) The Mach E strikes me as way too big for just me. Those inches add up, it seems way bigger than Volt I have. More than half a foot taller is a huge difference. Maybe I'm just a bad American because I use my car so rarely and mostly alone, and everything about the SUV form factor seems absolutely ridiculous to me for a solo driver mostly out to get groceries or visit family for a few hours. I'm not just making fun of the Hummer-sized monstrosities, I'm absolutely confused by the American love affair with the SUV entirely. It's way too much. (Not to mention I have almost been wishing I could downsize to a nice coupe or compact and that is entirely off the US market to even consider getting my hopes up. I've had love affairs from a distance with the Honda e and BYD Dolphin. Those are cute looking cars. Not really possible to put on a US road, and one company wouldn't sell me one even if I tried because their US arm is a Truck company now, and the other isn't allowed to sell cars in the US at all through trade tariffs and embargoes.)
    - vel0city 1y ago
      I get what you're saying about the American love affair for SUVs, it's insane how large so many people think their cars need to be to have a car seat and a dog and groceries. But I also think it's disingenuous to lump a car like the Mach E and Ioniq 5 in the same size class as a Chevy Suburban and Honda Pilot and Ford Expedition. They're far closer to the hatchback of yesterday than they are to any of those monsters, and yet they're both called "SUVs". And I do wish there were more smaller cars on the market. You're absolutely right, if it's pretty much only you or maybe you + 1 with a small bit of cargo even something like a Mach E (or even the Volt) is pretty much oversized. I do think people should have more choice in right-sizing their vehicles.

Sohcahtoa82 1y ago

> Corvette can't admit to aspirations of a Pure EV this decade (thanks, politics) I wouldn't attribute it to politics, but rather, the fact that the Venn Diagram of performance car enthusiasts and people willing to buy an EV are basically two entirely separate circles. When you consider cars that have a very big loyalty to the brand, like Corvette does, it gets even worse. I personally would LOVE to buy a Corvette EV convertible. But I don't have my hopes up of it ever happening. The demand just isn't there.

WorldMaker 1y ago
There's a reasonable sized overlap there. EVs might not interest the "I love the sound inefficiency as literal sound walls" crowd, but the performance car enthusiasts that love torque curves and min/maxing them will eventually begrudgingly admit that EVs have some very lovely torque curves and many of them even know and salivate that most of those curves are software-defined making min/maxing them a fun videogame to play (possibly hazardously while driving, though that's part of the sport of Formula E) rather than buying and installing expensive aftermarket parts. Brand loyalty I'll give you in that I have heard a lot of "the day Corvette makes an EV is the day Corvette is dead to me" hyper-masculine statements, but hyper-masculinity is political. (So is hyper-partisanship in many cases.)