New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
GM looking to double revenue, lead U.S. in electric vehicle sales
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 two-day investor event in suburban Detroit, the company also pledged to unseat Tesla and become the electric vehicle market share leader in U.S., although no time frame was given.
The company also 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 second-best 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.
Electric vehicles will draw new buyers to GM vehicles, according to Reuss. He also said the company is going to create a dedicated factory to build electric trucks, from an existing facility.
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.
It also pledged to increase its investment in EV charging networks by nearly $750 million through 2025.
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 percent to around 12 percent.
To get there, CEO Mary Barra said the company’s revenue would rise from selling internal combustion vehicles, while at the same time revenue would be added from new electric vehicles. GM also plans to raise cash from software and subscription services including insurance and its OnStar safety system, as well as its Cruise majorityowned autonomous vehicle subsidiary. And executives said it should gain revenue from its defense and BrightDrop commercial vehicle businesses.
Barra said the company could see a $20 billion to $25 billion annual revenue increase from software and services.
Another revenue source will be Ultra Cruise, GM’s next generation of electronic hands-free driver-assist system that will be able to take on 95 percent of driving tasks. The company said the system, due in selected Cadillac luxury vehicles in 2023, will be a “virtually door-to-door hands-free driving experience.”
It will use cameras, radar and laser sensors to follow navigation routes and speed limits, automatically change lanes, obey traffic signals and make turns on 2 million miles of roads in the U.S. and Canada. Eventually it will learn all paved roads in both countries.
GM will still offer its less sophisticated “Super Cruise” driver assist system, and it’s coming in 22 vehicles by 2023, Barra said.
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 will have to overtake Tesla, which over the weekend reported record third-quarter sales of 241,300 electric vehicles, a 72 percent increase over the prior year.
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 also 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. “she said. ”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.“
EV leader Tesla has had to spend billions to build huge new assembly plants from the ground up near Austin, Texas, and in Germany and China.
While GM may have lofty visions for the future, it’s struggling in the present with the global shortage of computer chips. Third-quarter sales were down nearly 33 percent, and GM has lost nearly 2 percentage points of U.S. market share since 2019. The company’s share is 15.2 percent of the market so far this year, according to figures compiled by Edmunds.com.
Shares of GM fell 1 percent to $53.81 in Wednesday afternoon trading.