GM wants to topple Tesla, become electric car world leader

General Motors have come out swinging at US electric vehicle leaders Tesla, believing they can assert themselves as the number one seller by 2025.

Last week, GM CEO Mary Barra revealed a three-year, US$6.6 billion EV investment plan. Part of the plan includes the GM building one million EVs by 2025. And if everything goes accordingly, that will see a new king of EV sellers in the US market.

“We will have the products, the battery cell capacity and the vehicle-assembly capacity to be the EV leader by mid-decade,” Barra said in a press conference.

Catching and overtaking Tesla will be no easy feat for GM, let alone by its projected mid- decade deadline.

GM was third in EV sales across the US last year. According to CNBC, the manufacturer sold less than 25,000 over the 12 months; significantly down on runaway leader Tesla and
second-best Ford.

Tesla doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon either. The company forecasting another 50 per cent growth in 2022 as EV sales continue to rise.

Tesla is also sceptical of GM’s bold claims.

Barra recently met with President Biden. Biden praised the efforts of GM, saying the announcement is phase one of an American-wide $100 million EV plan. Tesla’s lead man Elon Musk wasn’t invited to the meet-and-greet, which clearly didn’t sit too well with the tech giant.

“Starts with a T, Ends with an A, ESL in the middle,” Musk tweeted on a video of President Biden and Barra together at the White House.

Even so, GM is committed to playing EV catch-up. Part of the investment includes $2.6 billion set aside for a new battery plant through a joint venture with LG Technology.

The batteries GM and LG will produce are said to be capable of a 450-mile range on a single charge.

Another $4 billion will make their Orion Assembly Plant in Michigan capable of producing electric trucks.

All the investment will welcome 4000 new jobs across all of GM’s factories, a much-needed influx of workers as they prepare to launch 30 new EV models globally by 2025.

All of GM’s fleet, including Cadillac, Chevrolet and Buick, will receive the EV treatment at some stage.

By the end of 2025, GM expects more than 40 per cent of their portfolio to be electric.