General Motors during a media launch for the 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV in Detroit on May 16, 2024.
Michael Weiland/CNBC
Detroit – General Motors The company said on Tuesday it would again slow down its all-electric vehicle plans, further delaying construction of a second U.S. electric truck factory and the Buick brand’s first electric vehicle.
The reorganization of the Michigan electric truck plant has been delayed by six months until mid-2026, which also means that General Motors will not be able to meet its previous goal of having the production capacity of 1 million electric vehicles in North America by 2025.
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Barra’s comments come a week after she expressed concerns about GM meeting its North American electric vehicle production capacity goals.
Barra did not provide an updated launch date for Buick’s first electric vehicle, which is expected to be launched in 2024. .
The changes add new questions about the Detroit automaker’s plans for future battery factories, in addition to its two current joint venture plants in North America with LG Energy Solution. General Motors previously announced plans to build four multi-billion-dollar factories in the United States by 2026.
Barra said on Tuesday that the company would increase battery production at a “meaningful pace.”
General Motors Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson declined to discuss potential plans to delay or cancel the automaker’s future electric vehicle battery plants, except for two battery plants in Ohio and Tennessee.
“We will continue to be guided by our customers. We are rapidly scaling up our battery factories one and two,” Jacobson said at a media briefing. “We have nothing to comment at this time.”
General Motors’ electric vehicle deliveries in the United States increased 40% year-on-year in the second quarter, reaching 21,930 vehicles. Still, electric vehicles accounted for only 3.2% of its total U.S. sales in the second quarter.
Jacobson said the company will strengthen assembly efforts this year to achieve the production and wholesale of 200,000 to 250,000 all-electric vehicles in North America. He said the company wholesaled about 75,000 new electric vehicles in the first half of this year.
Jacobson reiterated that GM expects its electric vehicles to be profitable on a volume or contribution margin basis once production reaches 200,000 units in the fourth quarter.
“We still stand by that,” Jacobson said, adding that additional EV sales are expected to lower the company’s earnings because they will be below the company’s variable profit. General Motors’ conventional gas models