Ford, GM, Stellantis comparison

Sep 16, 2021 20 Comments

I'm curious if anyone has idea about the culture of these Detroit based 3 big OEMs. How is their policy towards product improvement, research& development? Also curious about work life balance and salary/total compensation? If we want to work on electrification area, which one is best to work, has more engineering development opportunities and upper management support for that and test equipment?

General Motors Ford Motor Company Stellantis
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  • Stay far away from Stellantis if you're interested in EV propulsion. The former CEO Sergio was vehemently against EVs. The upper echelon will quietly state that the only reason they produce EVs and Hybrids is due to CAFE. Not a single stellantis EV (except perhaps the Maserati) is profitable. Most of their hybrid vehicles the Pacifica and Wrangler are a gas vehicles they've mated EV propulsion too and as a result have added ~1000 lbs of weight and made the drive train less efficient. The result is ~30 miles of electric propulsion after which you're lugging around extra weight with a less efficient drive train so for the majority of customers it's completely nonsensical. GM has the best engineering but is compromised by senior leadership and the fact a former HR rep is running the company. Ford is a racing team at heart and probably will put the most interesting tech out on the road but perhaps not as good of engineering as GM. Stellantis openly states that they do not do R&D they only comercialIize existing tech and the majority of their money making vehicles are nothing more than lifestyle products like the wrangler, challenger and charger. Also there is currently a hiring freeze with very positions being posted.
    Sep 27, 2021 2
    • OP
      Thank you for your insight!
      Oct 8, 2021
    • OP
      Do you also know GM's style of work. I heard that you are assigned a topic and you only work on that subject. For example, current control is done by one guy, pwm is done by another, flux weakening by another... Small subjects are assigned to individuals and you are expected to work on that and possibly improve. And probably your work will be limited by that subject as you will be allowed to work on only that.
      Oct 8, 2021
  • I've worked in two of the "Big 3." These are huge companies with different groups that span different functions etc.

    I used to work in a lab that was very specialized, and did modeling, and simulation, in addition to automation. It was like play time with extremely general wlb, but rather low salary (75k to 95k). Seemed like upper management didn't know anything about what we did but would just give us a blank check to buy whatever we wanted.

    Other groups, were extremely regimented, with poor working conditions and only slightly better salaries but were closer to production.

    One thing seems to be in common: lot's of people that don't like change and have an aversion to technology in general.
    Sep 18, 2021 3
    • I don't work in Electrification but more V2X stuff. So I don't know much about propulsion systems. Those entities tend to be very insular.. It seems Stellantis has more of a "startup vibe" in some areas. Lots of works, less money, but more autonomy and etc.

      As for age of manager. I wouldn't expect some of the more seasoned propulsion guys who have a religious devotion to ICE would be really useful for Electrification.

      What I mean to say is, I wouldn't expect a 55 year old diesel engine calibrator to be a shoo-in for such a role. And there are a lot of ICE enthusiasts at these companies still lingering around.
      Sep 19, 2021
    • Short answer: don't know about Electrification at Stellantis. But wouldn't use Manager age/background as proxy for development effort.
      Sep 19, 2021
  • Ford
    dingdongev

    Go to company page Ford

    dingdongev
    I have worked for all 3.

    Overall rank :
    1 - GM
    2- FORD

    They have real good engineers, good pay and overall feel like you are contributing to a great engineering product.

    Overall GM is slightly better in all aspects. Pay, R&D, growth,quality, wlb, benefits.

    STELLANTIS - STAY AWAY ! It's an assembly company. Best for managers making tone through politics and interns and frrshersdoing the work for them. They have some good products amd keep assembling them real engineering work is mostly outsourced.
    Oct 8, 2021 1
    • OP
      In electrification, GM seems to have had a really good r&d team in LA which was closed 5-6yrs ago. I have seen good patents from that team. But probably most didn't come to MI afterwards, and joined CA based startups. It's quite surprising to me that GM couldn't lead electrification like Toyota and recently Tesla, despite having good team of PhDs and r&d budget in that area. I mean product number is still less, even Ford has several hybrid vehicles. Toyota sells lots of hybrid vehicles in the meantime...
      Oct 8, 2021
  • OP
    I'm also curious of my prospective salary in GM or Ford. My present base salary is 135k. Additionally, there's 13% targetted bonus and 7% match for 401k and 3 week vacation. I have PhD and additionally 5 years of industry experience. I think I am an expert in my field. But curious of potential salaries for me in those companies.
    Oct 8, 2021 10