Browse
Log in / Register
Share
General Motors is running its product lineup in two directions at once. On May 9, 2026, GM's vehicle products chief sat down with The Drive to explain how the company plans to keep selling gas-powered trucks while building the electric, self-driving future.
Jaclyn McQuaid, senior vice president of vehicle products at General Motors, has spent most of her career in trucks. That background matters, because the company is asking its most loyal customers to come along for a transition. Her interview on The Drivecast was recorded as GM executives laid out a roadmap that includes new V8 engines, a reborn OnStar, a 2028 electrical architecture, and next-generation EV batteries.
McQuaid told The Drive that she learned to drive in an '82 Suburban and has been a body-on-frame truck person ever since. She became GM's first chief engineer for heavy-duty pickup trucks at a time when HD trucks were no longer going to be treated as simply heavier versions of light-duty models. That led to a long run overseeing the full-size truck and SUV portfolio.
She later moved to Europe to help GM restart its presence there, then came back to run Buick and GMC's sales, service, and marketing operations. Six months ago, she moved into her current role running all vehicle products. She still gets a big sense of pride when she sees one of the heavy-duty trucks she launched out on the road.
That history gives her a direct stake in the juggling act GM is attempting. The company is launching sixth-generation V8s and a new heavy-duty powertrain known as Mongoose while also promising that EVs are the eventual destination. To McQuaid, the two goals are not in conflict.
"It's not a binary switch," she said. "You don't go from gas and diesel portfolio to an EV portfolio and expect the entire consumer base to switch."
GM's product development teams are being rebuilt around AI and virtualization. The company says those tools will cut vehicle development time by roughly half, from about four or five years today to something much shorter. McQuaid described the shift as a move away from a serial engineering process toward a more parallel one.
The AI push goes beyond engineering. GM is also rebooting OnStar. The plan is to turn the connectivity service into a personal AI assistant instead of just an emergency and telematics tool. Part of that shift will be visible to owners in 2027, when GM discontinues its individual brand smartphone apps and consolidates everything into a single OnStar app. That means owners of Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac vehicles would eventually use one app for vehicle controls, service, and assistance.
The next major hardware shift arrives with the 2028 Cadillac Escalade IQ. That model will introduce a clean-sheet electrical architecture built around a central compute unit. It will also bring the first version of GM's hands-free, eyes-off driving system.
At launch, that system will be limited to highways. GM says it will then expand to more roads and quickly move into its gas-powered light-duty trucks. The longer-term goal is a vehicle that can run errands for you without anyone behind the wheel.
This architecture is not just about self-driving. It is also the foundation for GM's next-generation EVs. Those vehicles will use LMR battery chemistry, which GM believes will be less expensive than today's NMC batteries while offering better energy density than LFP cells. In other words, the company is aiming for a cost-versus-range sweet spot that can make EVs more practical for mainstream buyers.
GM's new gasoline engines are not a throwback. The Gen 6 V8s arriving now in light-duty trucks are designed for improved efficiency as well as output. The heavy-duty side is getting the Mongoose powertrain, which GM says has the horsepower, torque, and towing numbers to back up its launch campaign.
McQuaid described those combustion products as part of the same journey. Trucks have long lifecycles and a customer base that tends to keep vehicles longer, so GM cannot simply cut off V8 sales overnight. Continuing to improve efficiency in gas and diesel engines gives the company more time to bring down EV costs and mature its self-driving systems.
"It's a journey," she said. "Part of that journey is more efficiency in the ICE and diesel space."
Asked whether GM will ever launch a new van, McQuaid was cautious but not dismissive. She said she loves the van, added that "you haven't worked at GM until you've worked on van," and ended with "stay tuned, Joel."
For a company that just announced a giant technology shift, the van comment was the closest thing to a playful non-answer. Still, the fact that a senior executive did not rule it out is enough to keep the rumor alive.
GM's strategy under CEO Mary Barra and product chief Mark Reuss has long been to use profits from gas-powered trucks to fund the EV and autonomy push. McQuaid's interview puts a human face on that plan. She is not asking customers to make a sudden jump; she wants them to stay in the GM family while the company works to make the future accessible.
The 2028 Escalade IQ will be an early test of the new architecture and the eyes-off system. The OnStar app overhaul in 2027 will show how serious GM is about turning its data history into a digital relationship with owners. And the V8s launching now will need to keep cash flowing while all of that is being built.
Listen to the full conversation on The Drivecast, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Amazon Music.
