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America’s Big Three are having a tough time in the pivot to electric vehicles. Ford has lost billions through its EV production, Stellantis has faced issues shifting its battery-powered models and General Motors previously announced a renewed interest in hybrids because EVs weren’t selling in the number it hoped. Now, GM is ready to turn things around and has promised to be able to make EVs profitable... one day.
During an investors day talk earlier this week, GM CEO Mary Barra committed that her company would be able to make money off EVs soon, reports Reuters. Barra told investors that while the automaker was focusing on stability for its EV arm, sales for battery-powered models at the company were ramping up:
“I believe before the day is done, that you’ll agree that GM has plenty of upside relative to the consensus view that the auto industry has reached peak profitability,” Barra told investors.
Shareholders were eager for more details on the automaker’s restructuring in China, as well as updates around its Cruise autonomous vehicle operations, which have struggled since an accident when one of its self-driving cars dragged a person.
Barra said it is reducing inventories in China and improving sales, but didn’t give additional details on the restructuring efforts there. Cruise has resumed supervised driving in select cities, she said. Pressed for more details about Cruise, GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said the business is expected to lose no more than $2 billion in 2025.
As part of restructuring at GM’s EV arm, the company killed off the Ultium branding that it has spent years developing. The EV architecture developed through the Ultium program will still be used in cars like the Chevrolet Silverado EV, Blazer EV and Equinox EV, however it will no longer carry the branding, reports the Detroit Free Press:
General Motors said Tuesday that it is dropping the name “Ultium” for its electric vehicle batteries and the technology that propels its EVs despite spending years and millions of dollars to promote the brand. The company said the batteries and technologies will remain, but the name “Ultium” will go.
GM also announced it will start building a battery cell development center at the company’s Global Technical Center in Warren. It did not provide a date for when it will break ground, but said the center will be a new building with a target of early 2027 to start building battery cells.
Despite the shake up in EV strategy at GM, the Free Press reports that the automaker remains on track to produce 200,000 EVs in North America this year. Perhaps more importantly for the automaker, the site adds that the “EV portfolio will reach positive variable profit this quarter.”
A version of this article originally appeared on Jalopnik’s The Morning Shift.