GM’s EV Dreams Take a Hit

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
GM’s EV Dreams Take a Hit

© Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM | GM Price Prediction) will fire nearly 1,000 people at its Lake Orion, Michigan, plant that makes its electric vehicle (EV) anchor product. The Chevy Bolt has been part of GM’s lineup since 2016, which put it in the EV vanguard. It is part of a rotation from an old EV product to an array of new ones.

The Bolt is cheap, at $28,000. It was also a candidate for the federal government Clean Vehicle Tax Credit, which would be as much as $7,500. Beyond GM’s introduction of more modern EVs, the Bolt ran into the buzz saw of flagging demand for EVs by Americans who worry about range and the lack of charging stations. That trend has threatened EV sales across the industry. (These are the 15 worst-selling electric vehicles this year.)

GM has recently introduced electric pickups, which are versions of some of its gasoline-powered nameplates. These are the Sierra and Silverado. The latter is among the three best-selling vehicles in America.

GM has also released an EV version of its massive Cadillac SUV, the Escalade. It will cost a mere $130,000 and, with extra features, can sell for as much as $170,000. Cadillac has launched a brand new nameplate, the Lyriq crossover. It sells for a more modest $60,000. GM also has an electric version of the Hummer, which did not sell well in a gas-powered version.

GM was remarkably bullish on EVs. Its investment in EVs and autonomous vehicles was set as high as $35 billion before the end of 2025. Because of slow demand, GM and crosstown rival Ford have slowed the pace of EV production.

The Bolt was among the first forays U.S. car companies made into the electronic car market. As it leaves the GM lineup, the big manufacturer has to measure the lofty EV goal against demand reality.

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618