GM’s EV sales finally starting to gain momentum | Real Time Headlines

WARREN, MI – If all goes according to plan General Motors After spending the past three years, the Detroit automaker is quickly catching up Tesla in the sales of electric vehicles.

October 2021, General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced The automaker will “definitely” catch up with the U.S. electric vehicle leader by 2025. Electric vehicle adoption slower than expected The company remains far behind both in the industry as a whole and in the specific challenges GM faces in production, software and supply chains. Muskof automakers, as well as Hyundai/Kia and Ford Motors.

Although General Motors has withdrawn most of its previously announced EV targets, the automaker believes its EV sales are finally starting to gain momentum thanks to an expanding lineup of all-electric vehicles — with prices ranging from about $35,000 to more than $300,000. Dollar.

“We’re definitely growing faster than the industry when it comes to electric vehicles,” Rory Harvey, GM’s president of global markets, including North America, told CNBC. “Right now, we have every manufacturer in the industry in the U.S. The most comprehensive electric vehicle product lineup in China.”

General Motors’ electric vehicle sales grew significantly through August, according to electric vehicle sales data provided to CNBC by the Detroit automaker. General Motors sold nearly 21,000 electric vehicles in the United States in July and August, nearly equal to all of its electric vehicle sales in the second quarter. As of August, GM’s electric vehicle sales were up about 70% year-on-year.

“This is a step change in terms of our EV performance,” Harvey said in an interview this month at GM’s Cadillac headquarters in suburban Detroit.

After two consecutive record-setting months for GM’s electric vehicles, it was about 2,000 units behind Ford as of August. As of last month, its electric car sales were still more than 20,000 units lower than Hyundai/Kia’s electric car sales. Ford and Hyundai/Kia both report sales each month.

Traditional automakers are still vying for a distant second place behind Tesla, which Motor Intelligence estimates sold more than 164,000 electric vehicles in the second quarter — about as much as General Motors, Hyundai/Kia and Ford combined during the same period. twice.

Harvey declined to speculate on when or if GM expects to surpass rivals in electric vehicle sales, but the automaker expects strong results by the end of the year.

“We have momentum here,” Harvey said. “We expect EV adoption to be strong in the fourth quarter. So we’re looking forward to the results and expecting to capture a disproportionate share of the upside.”

Their range includes mainstream models such as Chevrolet Equinox and Blazer crossovers join Cadillac’s trio of large pickup trucks and luxury models, including The Celestiq costs $300,000 to customize. Two other Cadillac vehicles – an electric Escalade and Entry-level Optiq crossover—expected to join the lineup before the end of the year, bringing the total to an industry-leading 10.

“They’re doing what they say they’re going to do,” said Stephanie Brinley, chief automotive analyst at S&P Global. “Their plan is to have Ultium and get it into a lot of cars relatively quickly. “It’s not coming online as quickly as it should. As fast as they want. But that’s the plan. “

By comparison, Tesla’s five models range from the Model 3 sedan, which sells for about $39,000, to the Model 3 sedan, which costs more than $35,000. $100,000 Cybertruck. Hyundai, which includes its luxury brands Genesis and Kia brothers, has a lineup of nine cars and crossovers ranging in price from about $34,000 for a Hyundai Kona electric car to $80,000 for an electric car. Genesis G80.

With GM having so many models, expectations are high for increased sales. Brinley said the automaker spent billions of dollars developing the vehicles and now “is under pressure to sell them.”

“The pressure is to be able to navigate consumer demand and meet it,” she said. “But it will take 10 to 15 years before electric vehicles become more dominant than (internal combustion engines), and consumers still need time to warm up.”

Cox Automotive expects electric vehicles to account for about 10% of total U.S. auto sales by the end of the year, up from 7.3% in the first quarter.

It’s still somewhat counterintuitive for General Motors to sell more electric vehicles: They’re still far less profitable than other gas-powered models, but the automaker expects EVs to able to make a profit Once production reaches 200,000 units in the fourth quarter, it will be based on production volume or contribution margin.

Electric vehicles, which also help the company meet increasingly stringent federal fuel economy standards, have been a major growth area under Barra. The CEO has yet to fully backtrack on a goal announced in January 2021 that the automaker would offer all-electric vehicles exclusively to consumers. By 2035 consumers.

Harvey told CNBC that the automaker is “doing a really good job right now of doing road shows, getting customers into our vehicles, making sure we have the right level of electric vehicles in our dealership fleet.”

“In the US you say ‘butt in the seat sells the car’, in the UK we say ‘feel on the wheel and seal the deal’,” says Briton Harvey. “But it’s the same thing.”

Barra’s 2035 goals Will be guided by customer needsis GM’s transformation goal. The Detroit automaker was the first legacy automaker to go “all in” on electric vehicles and reshape its business to focus on cars, including announcing several other goals that have since been withdrawn or adjusted. .

Withdrawn 2025 targets include North American production capacity With 1 million electric vehicles, the profit of electric vehicles is equivalent to that of gasoline models. The status of other goals, such as $50 billion in pure electric vehicle revenue next year, is unclear.

GM maintained its near-term goal of producing 200,000 to 250,000 electric vehicles this year, down from the previously announced target of 200,000 to 300,000 vehicles.

Harvey said the company will continue to be guided by customer demand for electric vehicles.

“You have to plan what you’re going to do years in advance,” Harvey said. “If there are some spikes and dips as we go through that, then we have the ability to increase production or adjust production a little bit so that we can meet customer demand. . ” I don’t think we’re overinvesting in electric vehicles.”