GM Pledges To Attack Tesla Head On As War Begins For EV Market Share

Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors, claims that by 2025, Tesla’s market share in the United States may be caught.

CEO Barra claimed that GM’s growing range of electric vehicles would aid in its sales growth and ultimately match Tesla’s market dominance. By 2025, GM intends to have at least 30 battery-powered cars in its lineup, including the GMC Hummer EV, Cadillac Lyriq, and the Chevrolet Bolt’s most affordable variants. However, according to a report from Reuters , GM plans to add 20 more EVs by 2028.

GM has the manufacturing capacity to compete with Tesla, and Barra’s enthusiasm that the company might catch up to Tesla suggests it might be able to do so. “I am very comfortable because when people get into these vehicles, they are just wowed,” Barra quoted to CNBC. “So we will be rolling them out, and we’re going to just keep working until we have number one market share in EVs.”

According to a study from IHS Markit, Tesla is expected to have 56% of the overall US electric vehicle market share in 2021. However, in previous years, it was as high as 79%, but the growth of EVs and incoming competition has somewhat reduced Tesla’s market share. Despite this, Tesla is expanding its production lines and presence across the United States. Since Q1 2019, when deliveries were higher than those in Q4 2018, the firm has reported an increase in deliveries every quarter.

GM has had a difficult year so far. Following the Chevrolet Bolt EV’s battery fires, GM spent $1.8 billion to resolve the problem, leaving it still trying to iron out the kinks in its most popular vehicle. While production of the Bolt’s batteries has resumed, GM has not confirmed whether or not the Bolt itself is back in production. Daniel Flores, a GM spokesman, said “We will not resume repairs or restart production until we are confident LG is producing defect-free products for us.”

The acquisition has significantly boosted GM’s EV ambitions. The launch of the Chevrolet Bolt last year showed that the carmaker is serious about making good on its promises to produce affordable electric vehicles. GM has already invested several billion dollars in EV development and battery research and production, as demonstrated by the establishment of the Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center on October 5th where the company announced an “all-new facility that will significantly expand the company’s battery technology operations and accelerate development and commercialization of longer range, more affordable electric vehicle batteries.”