General Motors Cuts EVs Sales Outlook for Year on Slower Growth Data

By Sabela Ojea

General Motors is lowering its full-year outlook for sales of electric vehicles, citing slower-than-expected growth in the market.

The automaker now expects sales of to 200,000 to 250,000 in 2024, down from a prior outlook in the range of 200,000 to 300,000, Finance Chief Paul Jacobson said Tuesday at the Deutsche Bank global auto industry conference.

"I think most prognosticators were thinking that the EV market would be up to about 10% of total autos. We still see it trending kind of around that 8% level," Jacobson said. "At the lower end of that, I think it reflects the momentum that we have in the business," the executive added.

The executive also said that General Motors will likely achieve variable profit positive in the portfolio in the low 200,000s in the fourth quarter, more than in the second half.

"But we still think that that's an achievable goal going forward."

General Motors' lowered EVs full-year sales guidance comes amid views for sequentially higher earnings in the second quarter.

"Consensus is still trending a little bit lower than that, but we feel strong that the second quarter is going to be better than the first quarter going forward," Jacobson said.

In April, General Motors lifted its profit outlook for the year after reporting a 24% rise in first-quarter profit to nearly $3 billion, driven by solid U.S. sales of pickup trucks, the company's biggest moneymaker.

Write to Sabela Ojea at sabela.ojea@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 11, 2024 12:40 ET (16:40 GMT)

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