Gary Zhou 
Lyft CEO Johnathan McNeil has announced that he will join General Motors’ Board of Directors.
Johnathan McNeil has had an incredibly successful career in the auto industry. According to Reuters, Mr. McNeil joined Tesla back in 2015 as the brand’s President of Global Sales, Deliveries, and Service and then moved to Lyft in 2018, where he has been leading the ride-hailing company. Now he will be guiding General Motors as they electrify their enormous market share of vehicles.
In a comment to Reuters, Mr. McNeil stated his reasoning for joining America’s largest automaker, stating that he was “excited to help GM unlock the opportunities enabled by its transformative investments in technology.” And invest they have. Just over the past few months, General Motors has announced over $2 billion in investments in just two of their production facilities as they prepare for EV production.
Mr. McNeil will be joining a crack team of leaders at GM. The board of directors notably includes the previous CEO of Northrup Grumman, Wesley Bush, the previous eBay CEO, Devin Wenig, and a prior CFO of Walmart, Thomas Shoewe, along with multiple others.
This leadership change came shortly after GM made a series of announcements regarding its electric vehicle production. GM has temporarily shut down its GMC Hummer EV production facility to upgrade and prepare it for future production. Chevrolet will be boosting production of their Chevy Bolt and preparing for Chevy Equinox EV, Chevy Blazer EV, and Chevy Silverado EV production in the coming months in preparation for next year. And numerous GM brands have been working with dealers to establish deals or break ties regarding electric vehicle sales.
A leadership change may be pertinent as GM is nowhere near the top of EV sales within the US, falling behind historic competitor Ford, South Korean Hyundai/Kia, and the dominant force, Tesla.
