Demand for electric vehicles is strong despite a still tiny market share.
In addition to infrastructure, most EV manufacturers agree that whoever is able to produce quickly and sufficiently on a large scale has a good chance of entering consumer garages.
In the United States, Tesla (TSLA) has taken a good step ahead. Elon Musk's group produced nearly a million electric vehicles worldwide in 2021 against crumbs to its local rivals.
However, they do not admit defeat. This is the case for General Motors (GM), which has decided to multiply by 6 the number of SUVs and Trucks it intends to produce between 2022 and 2023.
The production target for GMC Hummer EVs, Chevrolet Silverado EVs and Cadillac Lyriq SUVs has been increased from 7,000 to 46,000 as reported first by Automotive News.
"We now have teams working to accelerate all of our upcoming EV launches, and our target is to deliver 400,000 EVs in North America over the course of 2022 and 2023," Dan Flores, a spokesman said in an email statement to TheStreet.
He reiterated that GM's ambitious pledge to produce one million electric vehicles by 2025.
"As we have said, we have announced battery cell and assembly capacity investments that will give us more than 1 million units of EV capacity in North America by the end of 2025."
Chevrolet
GM Faces Pressure from Rivals
GM told suppliers to its electric Hummer and Chevrolet Silverado trucks to plan for production of 21,000 of those vehicles this year, up from the previous plan to build 3,800 vehicles.
The company told suppliers for its Cadillac Lyriq electric SUV that it plans to produce 25,000 of those vehicles this year, up from the previous 3,200 planned.
"We also recognize that we need to launch more EVs faster," CEO Mary Barra told analysts during the fourth-quarter earnings call. "So that’s exactly what we are going to do."
Mary Barra's and GM are under pressure from their rivals.
Ford (F), for example, has already announced that it will increase its production and now expects 600,000 electric vehicles to leave its factories by 2023. To show that it will keep its word, the group began delivering the electric Transit vans, a rival of GM BrightDrop cargo vans, last week and plans to start the production of the long-awaited F-150 Lightning in the Spring.
As for Tesla, it is about to start production at its Texas site in Austin and probably soon at its German factory as well. The effervescence is also among the youngest, Rivian (RIVN) and Lucid Group (LCID), who are in the process of increasing the production rates of their electric vehicles.
GM Wants to Grow Its Volume
GM's efforts therefore appear somewhat as a reaction to its rivals to whom the group does not want to give ground. Last year, GM produced almost 25,000 EVs in 2021, but suspended production of the Bolt/Bolt EUV, its only electric vehicle model, in September. It produced only one GMC Hummer, its second EV model, at the end of the year.
Barra said that Cadillac Lyriq deliveries begin in less than 60 days, "and additional BrightDrop EV600 production begins at CAMI late this year where we’ll launch with an annual capacity of 30,000 units and the ability to nearly double production by mid-decade".
GM has a substantial lead on Ford globally: "Last year, GM delivered more than 490,000 EVs globally, mostly in China. Ford delivered about 79K globally," a spokesperson said. By the end of 2025, we expect to have capacity to deliver more than 2M EVs in North America and China".
The Chevrolet Silverado EV launches next spring and the Chevrolet Equinox and Blazer EV will also reach the market in 2023.
"We have the teams working to accelerate the volume curves for all of these launches and to resume both [Bolt] EV and [Bolt] EUV production as soon as possible," Barra said.
She added that GM has received more than 59,000 reservations for the GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV, while more than 110,000 Silverado EVs are reserved so far.
"Not surprisingly, some of the first owners (of the Hummer) are very prominent figures in the sports and entertainment industries, and their initial feedback has been just incredible," Barra said.
The Hummer EV is initially available in a top-of-the-line $112,495 model, while the Lyirq starts at $59,990 and the Silverado EV at $39,900.
