Following months of plant closures, low sales numbers, and an economic crisis in the United States, General Motors announced that its electrification plans are moving forward as planned.
Despite recording a steep 87% drop in its first quarter 2020 net income, GM does not see anything wrong in pushing through with its plans to develop and launch more electric vehicles in the coming years.
One factor could be because the company is the only automaker in the Big Three that showed an improvement in North America and gained a profit of $294 million. Ford recorded a $2 billion loss, while Fiat Chrysler Automobiles lost $1.8 billion.
Following the release of positive news, GM’s Chief Financial Officer Dhivya Suryadevara announced the company’s investment in EVs and autonomous vehicles will remain “untouched.”
However, new EV projects are likely to be scheduled at a later date as GM channels its resources into production of other priority models such as the GMC Hummer EV, Cadillac Lyriq SUV, and Cruise Origin EV. But it is worth noting that the automaker has postponed unveilings and official launches for the said models either later this year or early next year.
So far, GM has borrowed $16 billion from creditors and sold $4 billion in bonds to fund its EV plans. It is also reportedly in talks to borrow another $2 billion soon.
The company is looking to build a total of 20 electric vehicles that will be released globally by 2023. In a previous statement, GM CEO Mary Barra commented on their electrification plans:
“We think it’s the right path forward. We are looking at every possible angle to continue to accelerate our EVs and our all-EV future.”
GM is currently preparing to restart its productions on May 18 after getting the green light from the government and finalizing its workplace agreements with the United Auto Workers union. The automaker’s facilities across the United States have been temporarily shut down for two months due to threats posed by the coronavirus.
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