As the EV market pivots, this automaker will stay the course

Times are tough for auto bean counters in Detroit: Ford is posting $19.5 billion in losses and killing the F-150 Lightning. Stellantis does dumping its plug-in hybrids. And General Motors yesterday posted a $6 billion loss on its balance sheet for 2025, yes, tied to its aggressive investments in battery-electric vehicles.

But yesterday’s SEC filing contains a sentence that may offer a glimmer of hope for those planning to buy an all-electric Chevy Equinox or Cadillac Optiq from GM:

“Our strategic realignment of EV capacity will not impact the current retail portfolio of Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac EVs in production, and we plan to continue making these models available to consumers.”

Ford, GM, take a different approach

As Ford goes back to the drawing board to revise its battery-electric vehicle strategy (and target an F-Series pickup with longer range and an internal combustion engine), this statement suggests that General Motors is more confident about a broad EV lineup that started with the first Chevy Bolt, then the GMC Hummer, Chevy Blazer EV and Cadillac Lyriq, followed by pickup trucks or crossovers from all three brands. GM now has 13 electric vehicles in its portfolioincluding the over-the-top Cadillac Celestiq.

When reality sinks in

So it makes sense that GM wouldn’t back down in the same way that Ford did. GMs invested even more, spending years building the Ultium battery-electric platform (a brand name that now no longer exists) and establishing a corporate culture that embraces all types of battery-electric vehicles. GM said it in 2021 planned to spend $35 billion on electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles by 2025.

This week’s SEC filing shows the General remains committed to electric cars, though the reality has led to production delays for several existing models, especially in the fourth quarter when canceled federal tax credits pushed EV demand off a cliff.

How much can GM tolerate?

The future is a moving target, which explains why GM’s once utopian goal of being all-electric by 2035 was scaled back to the hope that 50 percent of the fleet will be “electrified” by 2030, perhaps including hybrids or plug-in hybrids that GM has discussed launching in the near future.

After a financially draining end to 2025 for all EV makers, the pressing question is: How many more money-burning quarters can General Motors endure before it seriously changes course?

Black hole in Orion, Michigan

GM’s SEC filing mentions the plant in Orion Township, Michigan, north of Detroit, which opened in 1983 and now represents a black hole that only consumes money instead of generating any revenue at all. The plant sat idle after producing the Pontiac G6 and Chevy Malibu until 2009, the year of GM’s bankruptcy filing.

Then came the quickly forgotten Chevrolet Sonic and Buick Verano, followed by the Chevy Bolt in late 2016. No vehicle has rolled off the Orion assembly line since 2023, but GM spent about $4 billion converting the factory to build all-electric Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups because Factory Zero in nearby Detroit Hamtramck wasn’t expected to have enough capacity to meet expected demand for EV trucks. Looking at you, Cybertruck.

Turning to gas pickups, SUVs

When the EV market cooled in 2024 and GM realized that Factory Zero could handle declining demand for electric pickups, the automaker was forced to admit its miscalculation: In converting the Orion factory for electric cars, it scrapped that plan and announced yet another adjustment, to build full-size internal combustion Silverado and Sierra light-duty pickups and the Cadillac Escalade in Orion. A dumpster isn’t big enough to handle all the money set on fire in this twisting saga.

But the current plan to deliver trucks from next year is the best product news for the workers at this assembly plant since it opened. In explaining GM’s motivation for expanding truck capacity, the SEC filing says, “We believe there is unmet demand.”

Losses in 2026 should be less

While GM says it expects additional costs related to commercial deals with suppliers in 2026, the automaker says it believes these losses will be “significantly less than EV-related costs incurred in 2025.”

Something to build on perhaps. And if you’re wondering why Buick is being left out of GM’s EV strategy, there was talk of the Electra E5 crossover from China, but tariffs of 38 percent (or more) make it unaffordable.

And today GM Authority reports that China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has unofficially revealed SAIC-GM’s plans for a new Buick Electra E7 crossover. That vehicle also doesn’t seem suitable for the US at this point, especially with a published photo of an ‘Electra X7’ nameplate, perhaps an error that will catch the attention of BMW’s legal team.

Source: General Motors, GM Authority