GM’s Barra backs off one million electric vehicle target

More bad news for the US electric vehicle (EV) market as General Motors backs off from its 2025 production target. The aim was to build up its North American production capacity for one million EVs by the end of 2025. With less than 18 months to go, Chief Executive Mary Barra has had to dial down expectations. Speaking in an interview with CNBC, Barra stated: “We’re seeing a little bit of a slowdown here. We won’t get to a million, because the market just isn’t developing. But we will get there.”

GM has been investing billions of dollars into EVs. The push kicked off with the Chevrolet Bolt, which was later joined by electric models across the Hummer, GMC, Cadillac, Brightdrop, and Chevrolet brands. The current generation of its electric propulsion system (BEV3) introduced the Ultium battery system based on a new low-cobalt chemistry for lithium-ion cells. With Ultium providing significant cost saving, the promise was that all the upcoming new EVs from these brands would be profitable in their first generation.