The General wants to take command
GM aims for dominant role with electric vehicles
WARREN, Mich. — General Motors plans to cash in as the world switches from combustion engines to battery power, promising to double its annual revenue by 2030 with an array of new electric vehicles, profitable gas-powered cars and trucks, and services such as an electronic driving system that can handle most tasks on the road.
In announcements Wednesday ahead of a twoday investor event in suburban Detroit, the company pledged to unseat Tesla and become the electric vehicle market share leader in U.S., although no time frame was given.
“There’s a lot of things that we have that when we put our foot on the accelerator pedal, we can really move quite profitably,” CEO Mary Barra said.
The company teased upcoming new electric vehicles including a Chevrolet small SUV that will cost around $30,000, as well as electric trucks from Chevrolet and GMC, crossover SUVs from Buick, and luxury vehicles from Cadillac. An electric Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck that can go 400 miles per charge will be unveiled at the CES gadget show in January. A GMC electric pickup will follow.
The $30,000 Chevy SUV should bring serious sales to GM because it’s the size of the Equinox, GM’s secondbest selling vehicle, President Mark Reuss said. He said the company is working on a smaller Chevy Blazer electric vehicle, as well as a smaller vehicle at a lower price point. He gave no details.
The Detroit automaker plans to have more than half of its North American and China factories be capable of making electric vehicles by 2030.
At the same time it’s rolling out new EVs, GM will improve its combustion engine products, including making them more efficient with less pollution, Reuss said.
GM’s average annual revenue over the past five years is $140 billion, so doubling that would be about $280 billion. The company also pledged to increase pretax profit margins from the current 8% to around 12%.
To get there, CEO Barra said the company’s revenue would rise from internal combustion vehicles, at the same time new revenue is added from new electric vehicles.
To capture U.S. electric vehicle market share leadership, GM plans to spend $35 billion to roll out more than 30 new battery vehicles globally by 2025. The company has set a goal of selling only electric passenger vehicles by 2035.
GM wouldn’t say when it would take the lead, but Barra said GM would have a strong portfolio of affordable electric vehicles as well as an upcoming reliable charging infrastructure. The company has existing factories that can efficiently be converted to built EVs, and a dealership network for service, she said.
“That’s why we believe that we’re going to attract those customers,” Barra said.