If low-cost, tech-heavy Chinese vehicles enter the United States, legacy automaker General Motors Co. is ready, a top executive told The Detroit News.

"Candidly, from a speed-of-innovation perspective, we've got our process there," GM Senior Vice President of Vehicle Products Jaclyn McQuaid said Wednesday, Oct. 21, when asked about a head-to-head showdown with manufacturing powerhouse China.

"I'm really proud of the speed of technology and innovation and development, both in the vehicle side, and frankly as well as in the manufacturing side," McQuaid said. "We're using these new operating systems to create our manufacturing footprint at a pace that we've not done before, so I'm very confident in the work that GM is doing in the technology that we're bringing to the product and to manufacturing."

At a swanky, highly-curated event in New York City, GM leaders laid out the Detroit automaker's strategy to face off with not only China, but Silicon Valley tech companies and other hungry global competitors. All are speeding in their own way to offer self-driving cars, low-cost electric vehicles and affordable, software-based amenities drivers have not yet imagined.

GM's plans include a new OnStar AI assistant debuting on the 2027 Cadillac Lyriq crossover SUV, new software-defined electrical architecture starting with the 2028 Escalade IQ full-size SUV, and a working goal of only two years to take a concept model from sketch to dealer lots.

"In previous generations it could take four to five years — and that was pretty industry standard — to get a new product to a customer," McQuaid said. "As we are developing our AI tools and our virtualization tools, we're able to cut that in half. When we do that, when we invest fewer resources, fewer time, amount of time into the development of a product and go faster, that enables those resources to then go do something else and allows us to bring the products to consumers in a more efficient way. And it allows us to be highly competitive from a price (and) from a value perspective."

For EVs, GM will stick to a single, cheaper battery chemistry and a new, cost-saving platform boasting "40x more computing power, 30% less wiring length and mass, and up to 50% faster cellular connectivity than prior systems." GM invested $900 million in U.S. battery engineering facilities in the past 5 years, according to the company.

GM's 4th-generation EV platform "is expected to be 25% more aerodynamic and 15% lighter, with a battery packthat’s 20% more compact and electric drive units that are smaller, more efficient, and contain 40% fewerparts," the company says.

The efforts are part of work to bring down the price tag on EVs so GM is ready when U.S. consumers eventually warm to the concept, as most industry leaders still believe will happen. Global industry analysts also view EVs as an important stepping stone to self-driving vehicles, also key to future competitiveness.

“These moves will certainly help them be more competitive, regardless of who else is in market," said Stephanie Brinley, Mobility Global principal automotive analyst. "The focus is on competing with Chinese (automakers) right now, but I think it’s broader than that."

The New York City event, branded GM Forward, is the automaker's second tech-focused showcase. GM last year first announced plans for a centralized computing system and eyes-off autonomous driving in the battery-powered Cadillac Escalade IQ SUV beginning in 2028.

Telemetry Vice President of Market Research Sam Abuelsamid at the time described the first showcase as mostly talk: "That’s all they are right now is announcements."

"Now what we’re seeing is real signs of some of the stuff coming to life," Abuelsamid said Wednesday. "The 24-month development cycle — I don't think they’re there yet, but right now they have vehicles running with their central compute architecture and all-new software platform. For that to come together in about a year is pretty good given nature of what they’re doing."

Abuelsamid's still holding out for promised EV and AV launches to become reality, he said of GM: "There’s definitely signs that they're on the right track. But ask me in 2028."

©2026 www.detroitnews.com. Visit at detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.