General Motors Co. in Detroit today reported strong second-quarter earnings that showed the company increased its market share in the full-size pickup segment, successfully prioritized production of its highest demand vehicles, and continued to accelerate its EV and AV growth initiatives.
The strong performance has led the company to raise its full-year guidance.
“With our engineering and capital investments, we are executing the industry’s most comprehensive and fully integrated EV and AV strategy, underpinned by the Ultium Platform, along with revenue growth opportunities like connected services, HYDROTEC and Super Cruise,” says Mary Barra, CEO and chair of GM in a letter to shareholders.
“The credit for our strong first half goes to our employees and extended team, including suppliers and dealers, who have collectively demonstrated strength, agility and resilience.”
The company reported earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) adjusted of $4.1 billion in the second quarter, and $8.5 billion in the first half. GM previously reported a full-year EBIT-adjusted projection of $10 billion to $11 billion and has raised that expectation to $11.5 billion to $13.5 billion.
It has also scaled up its EV and AV engineering and capital investments by $8 billion between 2020 and 2025, bringing the total investment during that time to $35 billion. These programs are supported the Ultium battery platform along with connected services HYDROTEC, the company’s hydrogen fuel cell technology, and Super Cruise, its semi-autonomous driving technology.
The accelerated projects include:
- Constructing two new battery cell manufacturing plants in the U.S., beyond the two currently under construction. The plants will create thousands of jobs, and more capacity will be added as needed.
- Adding new EV programs for commercial and small-business customers to its product plan and adding EV manufacturing capacity by transitioning production at existing plants.
- Developing the third generation of the HYDROTEC fuel cell technology.
The company will release its first two Ultium-based vehicles this fall: the GMC Hummer EV pickup, and the BrightDrop EV600 electric commercial vehicle. In early 2022, the all-electric Cadillac LYRIQ SUV will launch. Reservations for this vehicle open Sept. 18. Chevrolet and GMC also have confirmed plans to launch full-size pickups based on the Ultium platform.
“Our strategy capitalizes on the tight integration across GM to drive innovation and growth, and it allows us to advance on many fronts simultaneously,” says Barra. “As we build this all-electric and autonomous future, we will lead positive change and implement inclusive solutions that bring everyone along, especially our employees and communities. We call it equitable climate action.”
Through GM Financial, GM-owned Cruise, a self-driving car company in San Francisco, was extended a $5 billion line of credit to further advance its commercial ramp of the Origin, which is being built at Factory ZERO in Detroit-Hamtramck with an expected launch in early 2023.
The approach GM is taking to decarbonization, and electrification involves a full range of vehicles and services that make EVs accessible to the largest possible customer base and removing barriers to ownership, such as access to charging.
“Beyond direct action, we will make an impact at the grassroots level through community groups, because climate change does not impact everyone equally. To that end, GM created a $25-million Climate Equity Fund during the second quarter that will award grants to help close equity gaps across clean energy jobs, EV and infrastructure access, and community adaptation and resilience,” says Barra.
