Over the past several months, a number of automakers have dialed back planned EV investments and delayed or canceled certain models amid slower-than-expected growth in demand. That list includes Ford, which nixed plans to build a pair of three-row EV crossovers for North America recently while also delaying the second-generation all-electric Ford F-150 until 2027. As for Ford’s cross-town rival, General Motors (GM), it too has altered its EV plans as of late, but the automaker still believes that it will turn the proverbial corner very soon.
According to GM Authority, General Motors CEO and Chair Mary Barra indicated that the company’s EVs will achieve positive variable profit during the fourth quarter of 2024 while speaking at its recent Investor Day presentation. “This inflection point in EV profitability is arriving much faster than many people thought,” Barra said. She added that GM is “on track to produce and wholesale approximately 200,000 GM branded EVs in the region this year, noting that the company “engineered a dedicated EV platform which is far more efficient and scalable than adapting existing ICE vehicles.”
“The scale, the quality and the efficiency” of GM’s U.S.-based battery plants “separates us from competitors who have not launched dedicated EV platforms or built their own cell plants,” Barra added. It’s worth noting that positive variable profit doesn’t indicate that GM’s EVs will profitable for the company overall, but it does mark the point where profit will exceed variable costs, including labor and raw materials – meaning that those models are at least covering the costs required to build them.
This news comes on the heels of GM revising its future EV production goals downward amid weaker demand, as well as its decision to drop its Ultium branding – at least, from the automaker’s batteries and motors. Meanwhile, GM President Mark Reuss also took time to throw a bit of shade at Ford’s skunkworks EV team during the same presentation, saying “we don’t need to create a skunkworks to create affordable electric vehicles. We know how to do this.”
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