GM doesn’t see being profitable selling electric cars until ‘early next decade’

GM has long been suspected of selling its electric vehicles at a loss to get regulatory credits and now CEO Mary Barra confirmed that she doesn’t expect the American automaker’s electrification effort to be profitable until “early next decade.”

Last year, we reported on GM losing money on the Chevy Bolt EV without ZEV credits.

Similar reports also previously came out about the Chevy Volt and GM recently announced that it is ending the vehicle program at the end of this quarter.

When asked when she thinks GM’s electric vehicles will be profitable, CEO Mary Barra said during the company’s earnings conference call this week:

“I would say early next decade, but I wouldn’t put any more specificity on EV profitability than that.”

It virtually confirmed that the company’s current electric vehicle programs have not been profitable.

The CEO seems to link the EV profitability to GM’s upcoming next-generation electric platform:

“We’ve talked about the fact that with our next generation of development, we want to make sure we have obtainable, profitable, desirable, and with the appropriate range. And so that is the work that we’re doing.”

GM’s Cadillac recently unveiled images of the brand’s first EV, which is going to be built on GM’s new “BEV3” platform.

The platform is expected to arrive in 2021, which is in line with Barra’s “early next decade” timeline.

Electrek’s Take

I’m honestly worried about GM. No profitable EV for another two years? It makes it sound like they are years behind the competition.

Also, GM previously announced that they would launch 3 other electric vehicles based on the Bolt EV platform before the end of the decade and the switch to the next generation platform.

Does that mean that those are also going to be unprofitable and relatively low-volume programs like the Bolt EV?

While GM claims to be “all-in” on electric vehicles, there are definitely taking their time to put their cards on the table.