Large SUVs and full-size pickups continue to drive earnings, although we’ll have to wait a while before we hear anything about average transaction prices. At the lower end of the market, GM sells 700,000 Chevrolets and Buicks with starting prices under $30,000. A new Chevy Bolt will arrive in the coming months, starting below that threshold.
You know, the base Cadillac CT5 isn’t that bad
Sure, its German rivals come with more energetic entry-level engines, but the 2025 Cadillac CT5 350T holds its own.
Frugal shoppers respond
We should be happy to see General Motors doing something to make cars more affordable, and customers are responding: Buick’s bestsellers are once again the least expensive Encore GX And Envista compact crossovers (57,528 and 58,949 units respectively, and facing 15 percent tariffs from South Korea).
Sale of the Chevrolet Trax compact crossover increased by 2.8 percent to 206,339 in 2025, while 32 percent more shoppers opted for the Chevrolet Equinox mid-sized crossover, good for 274,356 deliveries in a fiercely competitive sector.
In fact, the all-electric Equinox EV — GM’s most affordable EV until Bolt came along — doubled its sales to nearly 58,000 units in 2025, despite the elimination of a $7,500 federal tax credit in the fourth quarter.
Cadillac’s EV play in trouble
So where is the problem? That would be luxury brand Cadillac, although it led the growth among GM’s four brands with 173,515 units, for an 8.3 percent growth from 2024. Cadillac remains the smallest brand in the General Motors stable, but there are reasons to question its long-term stability.
Years ago, Cadillac seriously planned to transition to an all-electric model by 2030, except perhaps the gasoline-powered Escalade cash cow would remain. So the EV campaign was real and produced the Cadillac Lyriq, Optiq, Vistiq and Escalade iQ (not to mention the Celestiq uber-EV).
Shortage of gas-powered vehicles
The strategy made sense when every brand was trying to emulate Tesla, but times were changing. The Trump administration essentially declared war on electric cars, eliminating subsidies and invading Venezuela last weekend to secure enough oil to keep internal combustion as the dominant form of vehicle propulsion, at least in the US.
But Cadillac will soon have to deal with an alarmingly thin portfolio of gasoline vehicles: Cadillac just ended production of the XT4 and XT6 crossovers, and the XT5 will disappear at the end of 2026. The CT4 and CT5 sedans will also be gone by the end of 2026, although an all-new CT5 is expected.
Cadillac’s only certainty
That leaves the Escalade as the only certainty for Cadillac, which will boost sales by 20.4 percent to 49,366 units in 2025 – all a moneymaker. Don’t forget the Escalade iQ, which found 8,115 driveways in 2025. These two vehicles alone will account for a third of all Cadillac sales by 2025.
2026 is a pivotal year for Cadillac, and the brand needs more product news quickly, as four electric cars and an Escalade make it a fringe player, far behind BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
Full Size Pickups Git ‘Er Done
In GM’s primary segments, sales of all Silverado variants rose 5.1 percent to 588,709 units, while deliveries of the GMC Sierra rose 9.7 percent to 356,218. That includes 11,275 Silverado EVs and 8,000 Sierra EVs. While these EV numbers look respectable, GM slowed EV production across its lineup in late 2025 in response to market conditions, which will certainly boost profitability.
2026 will be a US sales battle between GM and Toyota
Can GM remain No. 1 as Toyota’s hybrids grow in popularity and the battery-electric vehicle market slumps?
3-row crossovers are coming
More GM takeaways: Departure from the Malibu sedan cost Chevrolet more than 100,000 units by 2025. The platform-sharing three-row crossovers – Chevy Traverse, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia – rose 40.1 percent, 50.6 percent,
and 12.3 percent respectively, boosted by all-new versions that arrived a year ago. Brightdrop increased deliveries of its 400 and 600 commercial electric vehicles to 4,971 units, perhaps due to generous incentives, when car production ended in late 2025.
Source: General Motors
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