GM struggles to get behind Tesla (and takes off Twitter ads now that it’s Musk’s)
The Detroit house will be six months late on its brand's ambitious electrification projects. And GM's advertising disappears from the Tesla tycoon's freshly acquired social network
General Motors at least for the moment will not undermine Tesla. The American giant, despite the proclamations about the electric car, has had to admit that it will not be able to keep up with the previously announced production targets for electric models on schedule. This was told to investors by Mary Teresa Barra , CEO of the Detroit company, who even in her latest speeches had set very ambitious goals and a road map on electric mobility that now appears perhaps too optimistic. According to Barra, the delay will be six months, which means that shareholders will have to wait "the first half of 2024" to see the goal of bringing 400,000 battery electric vehicles to the market using the new Ultium technology: originally that goal. it should have been cut already by the end of 2023.
THE LAST QUARTERLY
This is a delay that partly spoils the excellent financial results just announced, with quarterly profit growing by 36.7% to 3.3 billion dollars (compared to 2.42 in the July-September period a year ago), exceeding even analysts' estimates. GM estimates US car sales next year to be 15 million, compared to expectations of around 13.7 million this year. Adjusted EBIT grew from $ 2.9 to $ 4.28 billion, net profit margin fell from $ 9% to $ 7.9%, and adjusted EBIT margin stood at $ 10.2% from $ 10, 9% previous.
HOW EVER GM SLOWS DOWN ON ELECTRIC
Mary Barra – according to what reported by TheD DetroitBureau.com – also explained the reasons that have slowed down the race to electrification of the brand: "It took more time for the assembly process of the battery pack – he said referring to Ultium technology – and our plans had not taken it into account ». It would also take "a little longer than expected to hire the roughly 1,000 workers" needed to convert the General Motors Lordstown Plant in Warren , Ohio.
GM has announced the introduction of 30 fully electric models by 2025, not all of which are planned for the US market and according to plan, no new models with internal combustion engines will be produced by 2035. At the moment, on the electric front, GM vehicles represent 7.6% of the US market in August: they will have to reach 20% by 2025. But there are numerous problems of various kinds, from Chinese boldness to inflation, from high cost of raw materials to the chip crisis, which continues beyond all expectations. On the other hand, however, the Detroit giant will be able to count on the aid just launched by President Joe Biden who has repeatedly indicated it as a model not only for the completely US supply chain and ambitious EV projects, but also because it ensures the necessary space for trade unions. of workers (what Tesla never did).
Meanwhile, the Detroit carmaker tries to make people forget the long delay by communicating that the extra time will still be well spent in terms of carbon footprint: by 2025 it will have secured enough clean energy to power all its US facilities thanks to new agreements. of green energy sales already signed with the owners of 16 wind and photovoltaic plants in 10 states of the country. “We believe it is critical for ourselves, our customers and the future of the planet to step up our efforts and achieve ambitious goals that bring us closer to a more sustainable world,” said Kristen Siemen , GM's sustainability manager. "Ensuring the renewable energy we need to reach our target demonstrates tangible progress in reducing our emissions in all aspects of our business, ultimately bringing us closer to our vision of a zero-CO2 future."
The Twitter question is more delicate. With Elon Musk who, in addition to driving Tesla, now also sits at the wheel of the social network, the Detroit carmaker has made it known that it is "pausing" the advertisement as it wants to first evaluate the new direction of the blue bird platform. . “We are engaging with Twitter to understand the direction of the platform under their new ownership. As is the normal course of business with a significant change in a media platform, we have temporarily suspended our paid advertising. Our interactions with customer support on Twitter will continue, ”reads a statement released by the US media.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/gm-fatica-a-mettersi-in-scia-di-tesla-e-toglie-gli-spot-da-twitter-ora-che-e-di-musk/ on Tue, 01 Nov 2022 07:32:51 +0000.