Stellantis is quietly axing plug-in hybrid options across North America, citing weak consumer demand and shifting market priorities. The move consolidates their strategy around full EVs and traditional ICE platforms, abandoning the middle ground that never quite worked anyway. It's a tacit admission that the PHEV experiment was always a bean-counter compromise, not a real solution.

BYD's Shark 6 ute topped Australian PHEV sales in 2025, signaling a hard shift in how buyers are actually choosing vehicles. The plug-in hybrid segment isn't about virtue signaling anymore—it's about practicality and real-world range that doesn't require a 30-minute charging stop. Chinese manufacturers figured out what Detroit's been sleeping on.

GM's new plug-in hybrid arrives with the styling conviction of a corporate committee meeting—competent driver tech and a powertrain that works, but hobbled by the fact that it's China-market only. Another reminder that Buick's actual identity died somewhere around 2010.