General Motors boss Mary Barra has acknowledged they fell short on their EV ambitions this year but expects production of battery-powered vehicles to rise significantly in 2024.
While recently speaking on a call with analysts, Barra expressed confidence in the company’s EV portfolio and in citing the company’s share price dropping roughly 50% over the past two years, asserted that the market isn’t giving GM the credit that it deserves.
“Frankly, we didn’t execute well this year as it relates to demonstrating our EV capability,” Barra said. “I am very confident with the EV portfolio that we have and the work that we’ve done to deliver significantly more Ultium-based products that customers, I think, will really appreciate.” She added that EV production will be “significantly higher” in 2024.
While discussing the company’s current share price, Barra noted that GM’s moves to exit underperforming businesses, develop its Ultium EV platform, improve its internal combustion vehicle portfolio, build out its supply chain of raw materials and the vertical integration of battery cell production, which she noted it has not been fully appreciated by the market but in reality it positions it ahead of some competitors.
“Because we started this [EV] journey earlier, we are much farther along than the market is giving us credit for,” Barra said. “This work will really never stop. We will continue to optimize,” before adding that the brand’s share price “is disappointing to everyone.”
Read: Cruise Plans To Start Running Robotaxis Again But Will Cut Jobs, Delay Origin
GM intends to have the capacity to build 1 million EVs in North America by the end of 2025 but in October, it revealed that it will no longer provide incremental EV production targets.
Speaking with analysts, Barra added GM will spend “hundreds of millions of dollars” less at its Cruise autonomous driving unit next year than in 2023 due to the firm narrowing its focus in the wake of an October 2 accident and the nationwide pause in its testing of self-driving robotaxis.
