Common Motors mentioned on Tuesday that its revenue within the last three months of 2023 was depressed by the price of a 40-day strike at a few of its U.S. crops and an accounting cost associated to electrical autos.
The automaker, which has been banking on a fast rise in gross sales of battery-powered fashions, earned $2.1 billion within the fourth quarter, it mentioned, up from $2.0 billion a yr earlier. G.M.’s income jumped about 10 p.c, to $171.8 billion.
“The tempo of E.V. progress has slowed, which has created some uncertainty,” the corporate’s chief monetary officer, Paul Jacobson, mentioned in a convention name.
The strike, by the United Vehicle Employees union, price the corporate $1.1 billion. G.M. additionally spent $800 million on a settlement with LG Power Answer, a battery provider, that was associated to a mass recall of the electrical Chevrolet Bolt.
And the corporate took a cost of $1.7 billion primarily to account for battery cells that had been produced at such a excessive price that they led G.M. to lose cash on electrical autos that had been geared up with them. Mr. Jacobson mentioned the price of cells was declining, and G.M.’s electrical vehicles and vehicles would change into worthwhile within the second half of this yr.
A number of carmakers, together with Tesla and Ford Motor, have diminished costs in response to weaker-than-expected demand for battery-powered vehicles. G.M. has additionally struggled to supply such autos in massive numbers due to manufacturing issues with a brand new battery expertise the corporate calls Ultium.
For the complete yr, G.M. mentioned, it made $10.1 billion, an almost 2 p.c enhance from 2022. Primarily based on the corporate’s 2023 earnings, about 45,000 of its U.A.W. employees will obtain profit-sharing bonuses of as much as $12,250, the corporate mentioned.
The automaker mentioned it anticipated 2024 revenue of $9.8 billion to $11.2 billion. That vary suggests G.M. might get pleasure from a giant soar in earnings or endure a small decline, highlighting the rising uncertainty about demand for vehicles and the general well being of the auto business. The corporate expects to spend about $1 billion lower than final yr on its Cruise autonomous driving division, which has suspended the testing and industrial service of its fleet nationwide in response to rising security issues.
G.M. has additionally pared its electrical automobile ambitions. At one time, G.M. anticipated to supply 400,000 electrical autos by the center of 2024, however customers haven’t flocked to battery-powered vehicles as quick as auto executives anticipated.
The corporate dropped that manufacturing goal final yr and has delayed the introduction of some new electrical fashions it has been growing. Final month, it advised sellers to cease promoting the electrical model of the Chevy Blazer till G.M. engineers might repair a software program concern that would trigger sure options of the game utility automobile to cease working.
Within the fourth quarter, G.M. bought greater than 19,000 electrical autos, however most had been Bolts, that are not being produced and used an older battery expertise. Solely a few third of the electrical autos that had been bought used the newer Ultium battery packs produced at a manufacturing unit in Ohio that G.M. owns in a three way partnership with LG.
Mr. Jacobson mentioned that G.M. had “loads of demand” for its electrical autos, however that it was being cautious about constructing extra autos than clients had been prepared to purchase. “We be ok with the place we’re,” he mentioned.
G.M.’s chief govt, Mary T. Barra, mentioned the corporate anticipated to supply 200,000 to 300,000 electrical autos with Ultium batteries in North America this yr. It bought almost 76,000 battery-powered vehicles and vehicles in the US in 2023.
Ms. Bara additionally mentioned the automaker deliberate to promote plug-in hybrid autos within the subsequent few years, one thing its sellers have been calling for amid sluggish gross sales of absolutely electrical autos.
A plug-in hybrid pairs a gasoline engine with an electrical motor and a battery that may be charged with a plug. Such autos can journey a brief distance on simply battery energy. G.M. stopped making the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, which might journey as much as 53 miles simply on electrical energy, in 2019.
“Deploying plug-in expertise in strategic segments will ship a few of the environmental advantages of E.V.s because the nation continues to construct its charging infrastructure,” Ms. Barra mentioned.
G.M. has set a purpose of ending its manufacturing of inside combustion autos by 2035 as a part of an effort to chop tailpipe emissions and fight local weather change.
