Already in November 2020 General Motors, the first US car manufacturer with 17% market share, had raised the bar: + 35% investments in the conversion to electric cars and autonomous driving. By 2025. Seven billion dollars more than the 20 announced just a few months earlier, in March. Yesterday, new acceleration for the Detroit company led by CEO Mary Barra: not 27 but 35 billion dollars to invest again by 2025, an increase of 30% compared to the plan at the end of last year. This is also thanks to better than expected results.
The US carmaker has raised its forecasts for the first half of 2021. Despite the chip crisis affecting the sector (Daimler is currently cutting working hours at its Bremen and Rastatt plants, next week it’s Volkswagen’s turn to Wolfsburg plant and Nissan will suffer a similar fate in two manufacturing centers in the United States), General Motors estimates an adjusted EBIT between $ 8.5 and 9.5 billion, up from the previous forecast of 5.5 billion. For the twelve months, the latest estimate, which has not been updated, is $ 10-11 billion. GM aims to sell over one million electric vehicles per year by 2025. 30 Phev (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle) models will be launched on the market and four battery systems will be built, one of which in Ohio. The second – 2.3 billion dollars – will be built in Tennessee, together with the Korean LG Chem and will be ready at the end of 2023. The locations of the other two plants are not known.
Loading…
A strategy, this of the do-it-yourself in the battery sector, which aims to control and evolve production and reduce costs, a crucial step for the success of the electric car. Tesla first thought of it, which is now seeing numerous disciples, from Volkswagen to Ford and BMW, who a few days ago started an alliance by investing 130 million dollars in an American startup, Solid Power, a manufacturer of state-owned batteries. solid. Daimler has already started its plans for a network of plants, some already active, between Thailand, China, Poland and the United States.
Investors are rewarding the change of strategy of the big houses, which have decisively turned around, choosing the electric perspective. The GM stock was also in positive territory yesterday for a couple of points but has been largely positive since the beginning of the year, + 53%. Of course, the big bet on vehicles on tap risks penalizing the range of internal combustion engine cars (they will cease to be produced in 2035), which means that GM could lose market share.
Plans for the Detroit-based manufacturer’s electric vehicles will accelerate starting later this year when a Hummer pickup truck and a Cadillac Lyriq SUV begin rolling off its production lines. The Chevy Silverado electric pickup is also on the way. “We are aggressively investing in a comprehensive and highly integrated plan to ensure that GM is a leader in all aspects of the transformation towards a more sustainable future,” said CEO Mary Barra in a statement. GM has big plans for electric vehicles in the US, but it could see more growth in China, where Cadillac has grown and demand for low-priced EVs is taking off.