General Motors said Tuesday that profits fell in the first three months of the year. But the company said it expected to grow rapidly as it began selling a wider range of electric cars and trucks.
Although it has sold only a small number of electric vehicles this year, GM has several new models nearing production and aims to sell 400,000 such cars by the end of next year, said CEO Mary T. Barra. ,.
“We are installing most of the manufacturing capacity to meet demand,” she said during a conference call to discuss the company’s first quarter results.
Ms. Barra also said a global shortage of computer chips that had hampered production and raised car prices was on the wane. GM expects car production to increase by 25 to 30 percent this year from 2021.
“There is still volatility in chips,” said Ms Barra, but “we think we will see stronger chip supply in the second half than in the first half.”
GM said it had profits of $2.9 billion in the first quarter, down 3 percent from a year earlier. But revenue for the three months rose nearly 11 percent to $36 billion. GM sold 831,000 vehicles worldwide in the quarter, 10,000 more than a year earlier.
The company said its outlook for 2022 was unchanged — it expects profits between $9.6 billion and $11.2 billion.
GM has spent billions of dollars developing electric models and building factories for those cars and their batteries. But it is far from overtaking Tesla, and recently it also lost ground to Ford Motor. Tesla is expected to sell about 1.5 million electric cars this year. Ford’s electric Mustang SUV has sold well and production of an electric version of its popular F-150 pickup truck began this month.
GM has made 140,000 reservations for a Chevrolet Silverado electric pickup that will start production next year, Ms. Barra said. The company also plans to introduce electric versions of its Chevrolet Blazer and Equinox SUVs next year.
The company said it was on track to begin manufacturing batteries this summer at a new facility in Lordstown, Ohio, and is building three more battery plants in the United States. The automaker has recently started making an electric GMC Hummer truck and an electric luxury SUV, the Cadillac Lyriq. It also continued making the Chevrolet Bolt this month after working to repair a defect in the car’s battery. And by the end of the year, GM will make electric vans at an Ontario plant.
Ms Barra is counting on building sufficient production capacity for electric vehicles to cut costs and offer affordable electric vehicles – “a part of the market that our competitors are not focusing on,” she said.
The cheapest Tesla, the compact Model 3, starts at over $48,000, and Tesla’s Model Y starts at nearly $65,000. GM says the Equinox will sell for about $30,000. The company is also working with Honda, the Japanese automaker, on affordable electric cars.
