GM Sales Up 24%; Demand Increases for EVs

DETROIT – General Motors Co. reported Monday it sold 555,580 vehicles in the United States during the third quarter, up 24% year over year, based on strong customer demand and improved availability.

Three of GM’s vehicle brands posted double-digit total sales gains — Chevrolet was up 30%, GMC up 24% and Cadillac up 50%.

GM cited improved semiconductor supplies, stable production and improvements in dealer inventory as factors in boosting retail market share by nearly 3-points, as well as significant sales gains in the commercial fleet market.

“The design, technology and manufacturing investments we have made are helping us meet strong customer demand for our products, and they’ve translated into sales leadership in some of the industry’s most important segments,” said Steve Carlisle, GM executive vice president and president, GM North America. “We are being very intentional in the way we are executing our EV strategy to position the company for the same kind of success that we’ve earned with today’s pickups and SUVs, and with supercars like the Chevrolet Corvette.”

Since unveiling the Ultium Platform in March 2020, GM and the company’s suppliers and joint venture partners have been executing a tightly coordinated strategy to scale EV capacity in North America to more than 1 million units annually by 2025. GM’s EV plans include:

• Four battery cell plants. In addition to the now open Ultium Cells site in Warren, Ohio, Ultium Cells will open a plant in Tennessee next year and one in Michigan in 2024. Details regarding the fourth site will be announced soon.
• GM has binding agreements securing all the necessary battery raw material to support its annual EV capacity goal in North America in 2025, including lithium, nickel, cobalt and full cathode active material supply.
• In addition to Spring Hill Assembly in Tennessee and Factory Zero in Michigan, which are already producing vehicles on the Ultium Platform, work is underway at CAMI Assembly in Ontario, Canada, which will build BrightDrop vans, and Orion Assembly in Michigan, which will build EV trucks. When production at Factory Zero and Orion is fully ramped, GM will have the capacity to build 600,000 EV trucks annually.
• To respond to growing demand, GM is pulling ahead body shop upgrades at Factory Zero for the Silverado EV and taking other steps to prepare to scale EV production in 2023. While the work is underway, GM will pause production of the GMC Hummer EV pickup for several weeks starting in late November. Chevrolet currently has 170,000 reservations and growing for the Silverado EV, including retail customers and intent from nearly 400 fleet operators. GMC has 90,000 reservations for the Hummer EV Pickup and SUV.
• Cadillac Lyriq production will increase in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter. Additional production shifts for GMC Hummer EV are planned for 2023. All of GM’s 2023 EV launches, including the Chevrolet Silverado EV, Chevrolet Blazer EV, and Chevrolet Equinox EV, are on schedule. 

Demand for the Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV have outpaced supply, GM said, especially since a new pricing strategy was announced this summer that makes them among the most affordable EVs on the road. The base MSRP for the 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EV now begins at $25,600¹ while the Bolt EUV begins at $27,200¹.

Among the other highlights of the quarter include:

• Surpassing Ford F-Series sales calendar year to date: GM sold more full-size pickups than Ford in 2020 and 2021, and is on track to do so again in 2022.
• The Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban and GMC Yukon and Yukon XL earned close to 70% of the retail market for full-size SUVs in the third quarter.
• The Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV earned close to 31% of the retail market for large luxury SUVs, leading the No. 2 competitor by double-digits.
• Sales of the Cadillac XT4 rose sharply in the third quarter, earning the No. 1 retail share position in the small luxury SUV segment.
• Total sales of the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon rose sharply in the third quarter, and all-new models will soon arrive in dealer showrooms for the 2023 model year.
• Total fleet deliveries were up 66% in the third quarter versus a year ago.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.