General Motors 2023 Preview
Led by its Bolt EV and EUV models, General Motors recently announced its end-of-year sales milestones and offered a preview of its 2023 EV business expansions.
After closing 2022 with solid sales results, General Motors aims to grow its electric vehicle market share this year with nine new all-electric models.
A pre-production version of General Motors’ all-electric Lyriq SUV. Image used courtesy of GM/Cadillac
The Michigan auto giant recently revealed its year-end sales report in early January, charting notable growth across its two flagship EVs: The Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV accounted for 38,120 U.S. deliveries in 2022, a 53% jump in sales volume since 2021. Facing high demand, GM previously announced in the third quarter that it plans to increase Bolt production from 44,000 units in 2022 to over 70,000 this year.
Meanwhile, the new Hummer EV pickup netted 854 deliveries last year, while the Cadillac Lyriq electric SUV totaled 122. The latter model’s delivery figures are notable because of GM’s delayed rollout. After starting Lyriq production last March, the company ultimately ended 2022 with only 8,195 units produced, according to data from GM Authority. It will need to ramp up production in the coming months to meet demand, as Cadillac’s website indicates that 2023 Lyriq orders are already full.
Despite its expansion in the EV market, gas-powered cars remain king in GM’s sales figures, with 2022 deliveries totaling 2.27 million, up 2.5% from 2021. By 2025, however, the company expects its EV lineup to turn a profit and account for more than two-thirds of the EV market’s volume.
General Motors outlines its upcoming EV expansions in its 2022 sales release. Image used courtesy of GM
GM is expanding its capacity to support EV development, recently starting production at its first EV-dedicated assembly plant, dubbed Factory ZERO, in Detroit. There, it will assemble battery components based on its Ultium platform. As part of its joint venture with South Korean battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution, the company recently started production at a new battery plant in Ohio. An additional production line at its upcoming Tennessee battery cell plant is expected to start in 2023.
This year, GM is gearing up for a series of much-anticipated launches centering around the Chevrolet brand, including the Silverado EV (available this spring) and Blazer EV (summer), and the Chevrolet Equinox EV (fall). It also plans to launch its GMC Hummer EV SUV in mid-2023.
Other Players Outpace GM EV Sales
GM battles the likes of market-leading Tesla and other original equipment manufacturers. Tesla closed 2022 with 1.3 million Model S/X and Model 3/Y deliveries (up 40% year-over-year) and production topping 1.36 million units (up 47% from 2021).
Ford, which offers three all-electric models (the F-150 Lightning truck, Mustang Mach-E SUV, and the E-Transit van), recently revealed its annual sales figures with a record 61,575 EVs sold in 2022 (up 126% year-over-year). Volvo is also gaining market share in the U.S.; its electric C40 Recharge crossover and XC40 Recharge SUV accounted for 27,909 U.S. sales last year (up 22.3% from 2021).
Other companies are lagging, though. For example, Honda’s first fully electric SUV (the Honda Prologue, based on GM’s Ultium platform) is not expected to launch until 2024.
GM has a way to go before reaching its goal of selling 1 million EVs in North America annually by 2025. Last October, the company walked back its previous target of 400,000 EVs between 2022 and late 2023, pushing it to mid-2024. An executive told the Wall Street Journal that the delays were due to a slower-than-expected production launch at its new facility in Ohio.
Zooming out to the larger market, S&P Global Mobility recently projected that battery electric vehicles’ share of new U.S. light vehicle sales would reach 6.2% in December, a 5.4% increase in volume year-over-year (or around 260,000 units). S&P also predicted that electrification in 2023 would be dominated by multiple product rollouts, including GM’s Chevrolet Equinox EV and Blazer EV, as well as the Lexus RZ and Fisker Ocean.
