Pam Fletcher, GM's electric vehicle chief, and North American President Alan Batey hold the Motor Trend Car of the Year trophy. for the Chevrolet Bolt.
With the pressure mounting in several corners of the globe to promote the use of electric vehicles on the road, General Motors Co. appointed Pamela Fletcher to the newly created position of Vice President, Global Electric Vehicle Programs.
Fletcher, who has spent a substantial part of her career with GM working on electric vehicles, led the team that launched the Chevrolet Bolt EV and “created the plan to accelerate us along the pathway to our vision of a zero emissions world,” the company noted.
The Bolt has been considered a technical success and is considered an integral part of the company’s future fleet of autonomous vehicles and GM’s car sharing initiatives.
It is beginning to show signs of becoming a commercial success as well. GM Executive Vice President Mark Reuss, who hailed Fletcher’s appointment in Facebook post, has predicted GM would emerge as the first company to make a profit on EVs.
(GM buys Lidar firm to accelerate autonomous car development. For the story, Click Here.)
The optimism around electric vehicles and GM’s promise to have as many 20 EVs in its product portfolio early in the next decade has also impressed investors, who have long been skeptical of GM’s ability to compete with rivals from Europe, Asia and California’s Silicon Valley.
The Chevrolet Bolt will soon by joined by "at least" 20 more battery-electric vehicles from GM.
Since Chairman Mary Barra’s recent announcement of the company’s EV plans, GM stock has climbed to record highs.
In this new role, Fletcher will lead the vehicle program execution for GM’s entire global electric vehicle portfolio, including the commitment to launch more than 20 all-electric vehicles globally by 2023. She will report to Doug Parks, vice president, Autonomous and Electric Vehicle Programs.
(Click Here for details GM stock soaring to record highs.)
“Nobody is more prepared to help us lead the way to a zero emissions future than Pam Fletcher,” Parks said. “Under Pam’s leadership, GM will continue to deliver electric vehicles that delight our customers and exceed their expectations.”
For more than a decade, Fletcher has been in leadership roles supporting the engineering of GM’s electric vehicle and self-driving technologies, most recently as executive chief engineer for Electrified Vehicles and New Technologies.
(To see more about GM going all-electric, Click Here.)
She has led the teams responsible for development of several of GM’s most honored vehicles, including the second-generation Chevrolet Volt, Chevrolet Spark EV, Cadillac ELR and the Chevrolet Bolt EV, the industry’s first mass-market, long-range affordable electric vehicle. Her team also led development of Super Cruise, the industry’s first hands-free highway driver assist system, which recently completed a successful coast-to-coast test.