GM unveils new logo to emphasize its pivot to electric powered vehicles

Standard Motors debuted a new symbol intended to convey the automaker’s renewed motivation to the production and sale of electric autos. The company is also launching a new advertising and marketing campaign to underscore that dedication, as it seeks to compete with Tesla and other automakers that are rushing new EVs to current market.

It’s been about a ten years since GM has past tweaked its logo, but this update represents the starkest modify in the company’s 113-12 months historical past. The most clear adjust is the use of a lowercase “gm” in the brand, immediately after formerly only employing money letters. The underline has been shortened to just the “m,” in a nod to the company’s recently announced Ultium electrical auto battery and system.

The blue sq. has been rounded at the corners, supplying the brand a lot more of a smartphone application overall look. The blue is used as an outline rather than to fill the entire sq., and the destructive room in the “m” is meant to evoke the condition of an electrical plug.

“This is only the fifth emblem alter in 113 several years,” reported Deborah Wahl, main marketing officer of GM, in a briefing with reporters Friday. “And possibly the most progressive thing that we have done since 1964.”

A new advertising and marketing marketing campaign will punctuate GM’s shift to electrical cars. Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell has been tapped as a spokesperson for the automaker.

As an umbrella corporation for a family of vehicle manufacturers, GM’s logo isn’t as recognizable as some of its rivals like Ford or Tesla. For illustration, the new logo won’t surface on any of its new EVs, from the Cadillac Lyriq to the GMC Hummer EV. As this kind of, the new promoting campaign is meant to drive the concept of the company’s in general motivation to electrification rather than promote any 1 auto.

GM has been loudly trumpeting its multibillion-greenback pivot to electrification for months now, whilst maintaining an eye on the meteoric increase of Tesla’s stock price. On Thursday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk noticed his possess internet truly worth surpass Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, making him the richest man in the earth. And currently, for the initially time, Tesla’s inventory worth eclipsed the mixed values of GM and Ford.

GM has been seeking to influence buyers of its individual dedication to electric autos. The firm lately committed to spending $27 billion on electrical and autonomous automobiles via 2025 — up from the $20 billion it announced ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic. GM has also reported it will start 30 new electric powered vehicles about the planet, far more than two-thirds of which will be offered in North America.

GM unveiled two new EVs in 2020: the Cadillac Lyriq SUV, expected to go into creation in late 2022, and the GMC Hummer EV, slated for late 2021. But the car large has been criticized for bringing motor vehicles to current market as well late, although other automakers are racing to get their EVs to prospects substantially quicker.

Up up coming will be two new versions of the Chevy Bolt, the automaker’s mass-current market electrical car or truck that has been on sale considering the fact that 2017. A refreshed Bolt and a much larger Bolt Electrical Utility Car ended up initially declared at the automaker’s “EV Day” previously this yr and are anticipated to enter manufacturing in summer time 2021. GM has also explained it would release an electrical Chevy pickup truck with 400 miles of range.

The new advert campaign, relying on Gladwell and a bevy of actors to proclaim the “inclusiveness” of electric cars, is a much cry from GM’s initially professional for an electrical vehicle in 1995. The sick-fated EV1 was the automaker’s very first battery-driven auto, but was later on killed off in a collection of corporate selections documented in the movie Who Killed the Electrical Car?