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GM CEO Mary Barra predicts mass electrification will take decades

General Motors is allocating a substantial amount of money to the development of electric technology, but Mary Barra, the firm's CEO, conceded that battery-powered cars won't fully replace their gasoline-burning counterparts for several decades. She stressed the shift is ongoing, but she hinted it will be slower than many assume. "We believe the transition will happen over time," affirmed Barra on "Leadership Live with David Rubenstein," a talk show aired by Bloomberg Television. She added that not every car will be electric in 2040. "It will happen in a little bit longer period, but it will happen," she told the host. She was presumably talking about the United States market; the situation is markedly different in Europe and in China, where strict government regulations (and even stricter ones on the horizon) are accelerating the shift towards electric cars. On the surface, it doesn't look like General Motors has much invested in electrification; the only battery-powered model it sells in America in 2020 is the Chevrolet Bolt (pictured), which undeniably remains a niche vehicle. Sales totaled 16,418 units in 2019, meaning the Corvette beat it by about 1,500 sales. In comparison, Cadillac sold 35,424 examples of the aging last-generation Escalade during the same time period. And yet, the company isn't giving up. It has numerous electric models in the pipeline including a slightly larger version of the aforementioned Bolt, the much-hyped GMC Hummer pickup, and an electric crossover assigned to the Cadillac brand. These models (and others) will use the Ultium battery technology that General Motors is currently developing. Its engineers are also working on a modular platform capable of underpinning a wide variety of cars. Bringing these innovations to the market is a Herculean task. EVs may not take over for decades, but Barra and her team must believe their 2% market share will increase significantly in the coming years if they're approving these programs. Autonomous technology is even costlier, more complicated, and more time-consuming to develop. Barra nonetheless expects to see the first General Motors-built driverless vehicles on the road by 2025. "I definitely think it will happen within the next five years. Our Cruise team is continuing to develop technology so it's safer than a human driver. I think you'll see it clearly within five years," she said on the same talk show. Her statement is vague but realistic.

Cadillac ELR, Nissan Resonance and Ford Atlas win Eyes on Design awards

This year's annual Eyes on Design awards were presented at the end of press days for the Detroit Auto Show on Tuesday. Given out for the best production and concept car designs that debuted at the show, and voted on by an esteemed panel of actual car designers, this year's award for best production vehicle design went to the 2014 Cadillac ELR. The 2014 Chevrolet Corvette, which was the show favorite among Autoblog editors, apparently did not impress the Eyes on Design judges enough with its all-new vent-festooned design.
The award for best concept design was actually split as a tie among the Nissan Resonance and Ford Atlas concepts. Last year's winners were the 2013 Ford Fusion and the Lexus LF-LC concept.
The Eyes on Design organization also presented a new honor this year called the Catalyst Award to Bob Lutz, former Vice Chairman of General Motors. Lutz is reported to have given a defense of design in his acceptance speech, arguing that advancements in quality across the industry as a whole have made good design a key differentiator for buyers.

Cadillac previews upcoming new XT5 crossover [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Cadillac has released another three images, which we've added to the gallery above. Cadillac is gearing up to unveil its new XT5 crossover at the Dubai Motor Show in November. We've already seen what it'll look like - from a couple of angles, anyway - but the all-American luxury automaker has given us another taste of what's to come with a quartet of images released on its official Facebook page. Set to replace the SRX that's now six years old, the all-new XT5 adopts the new design language we've seen on newer Cadillacs of late. That's most particularly emphasized with those vertically integrated LED headlights. The sharply creased styling is also signature Cadillac, as is the egg-crate grille capped by the brand's wreath-less new emblem. The dark brown paint job also looks like it has a deep metallic flake to it, offset by satin brightwork where you might have once expected to see glinting chrome. (Then again, it could just be reflecting a uniform backdrop.) The XT5 is expected to be the first of several new Caddy crossovers to wear the letters XT. A smaller model (likely to be dubbed XT3) is tipped to slot in below, with a larger XT7 to slot in above – but still below the defiantly truck-based Escalade that's not about to go anywhere anytime soon. Sedans will continue to start their nameplates with the letters CT. But after a dozen years, the letters SRX will be retired from the Cadillac lexicon. Related Video: