Hooniverse Asks: Which automaker will make the last gas-powered car, and when will it be?

Jeff Glucker

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I understand that the future will be electric. I also actually like a lot of electric vehicles currently on offer in the market. Still, nothing beats firing up a big old V8 engine and hearing it crawl to life before breaking into a steady, thumping churn. The whole reason I bought my Jag was that it has a V8 and I missed the noise. Regardless, the days of the gas-powered car are numbered. No, not in days, weeks, or months. Not even years really. It’s decades. But the end game is looming at some point in time down the road.

So when is it? And which automaker will sell the last gas-powered vehicle?

About

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker is the co-founder and Executive Editor of Hooniverse.com. He’s often seen getting passed as he hustles a 1991 Mitsubishi Montero up the 405 Freeway. IG: @HooniverseJeff

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11 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: Which automaker will make the last gas-powered car, and when will it be?”

  1. Sjaloracle Avatar
    Sjaloracle

    American Freedom Motors, the united remnants of Chrysler and GM left in the seceding states after the great /r/antiwork revolution of the 20s?

    Nah, I guess a better bet would be one of the local Iranian factories, if they remain a market cut off from the rest of the world, where oil is still being pumped up in vast quantities.

    Reply
  2. Zentropy Avatar
    Zentropy

    Chrysler will undoubtedly still be stuffing Hemi V8s into their platforms for decades to come, even if everything else they sell is an EV.

    Reply
  3. Craymor Avatar
    Craymor

    In the end it will be the six car companies, and Morgan. Or whatever it was Mr Honda said, Morgan will be the last:P

    Reply
    1. crank_case Avatar
      crank_case

      Morgan has already dipped its toe in the EV world. I reckon once light off the shelf battery/drivetrains are there, they will jump straight in.

      Reply
  4. Maymar Avatar
    Maymar

    Mazda, because 200 years from now, they’ll still be *thiiiiis* close to making the rotary work.

    Reply
  5. OA5599 Avatar
    OA5599

    In the end, there can be only one.

    Highlander >>> Sean Connery >>> James Bond >>> ASTON MARTIN

    or

    Highlander >>> Toyota (but probably as part of a hybrid)

    Reply
  6. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    Mahindra? Tata?

    The ICE will persist wherever the electric grid is patchy, and Mahindra and Tata seem to make farm trucks that will be in demand in markets they service from Kazakhstan to Borneo.
    Mahindra already has some electric three-wheelers for the urban market.

    Reply
    1. Zentropy Avatar
      Zentropy

      This is the realistic answer.

      Reply
  7. Salguod Avatar
    Salguod

    Personally I don’t think the all ev future will materialize. Most cars will be EVs, but there will still be a market for ice vehicles for specific needs and, as batshitbox said,for parts of the world without good electricity.

    Reply
  8. outback_ute Avatar
    outback_ute

    Just read about a road house in the Nullarbor, halfway between the SA border and the first proper town in WA (450 mile distance) that has just installed a crowdfunded EV charger that is powered by used cooking oil; the electricity grid doesn’t go out there and a 50kW charger would take a helluva lot of solar and batteries!

    From what I can find it is still over 500 miles to the next charger in Ceduna, South because that one at the border is yet tobe constructed so any EV drivers who have driven across already have used three phase outlets to charge (which can’t be very fast!). One guy who did it said that they got to 3 stops with 3 miles or less range remaining.

    Reply
  9. crank_case Avatar
    crank_case

    Might be the slightly wrong question in a way. The last engine to run on petroleum based Gasoline will be likely in whatever country allows them to still burn dinosaur juice.

    If the likes of JCB reckon there’s a future in hydrogen combustion, then the combustion engine may never fully go away, but it may become a much more niche product. Toyota and others are looking at it for motorsport at least.

    Lamborghini have the most invested in continuing to make ICEs, no other maker is as defined by their engine, but even they will capitulate for multiple reasons. The main one being in the EU which seems hellbent on moving the timeline up faster than anyone else, the other being that I reckon if you’re not electric you won’t be able to keep up in the hypercar arms race. The whole point of a hypercar is its the fastest thing out there and honestly, I do not see how combustion engines can keep up with the finite control of motors that makes 1000bhp+ entirely civilized for normal people while getting its power down with zero fuss (an ICE torque vectoring/traction control system is limited by the delays caused by the combustion cycle, a motor response near instantaneously).

    If it’s purely about analogue feel, ICE supercars crossed that bridge over a decade ago and if that’s what you want, save your cash and buy a Miata, or a classic.

    Reply