To accelerate its transformative strategy to become the market leader in EVs in North America, General Motors (GM) is ploughing in an additional $35 billion to spend till 2025. This enhanced funding represents a 75% increase from its initial commitment announced prior to the pandemic.
The current announcement builds on GM's initial commitment declared in March 2020 to invest $20 billion from 2020 through 2025, including capital, engineering expenses and other development costs, to accelerate its transition to EVs and AVs. In November 2020, the company increased its planned investment over the same period to $27 billion.
In addition to making it an EV market leader, the cumulative investments will make it a global leader in battery and fuel cell technology through its Ultium battery platform and HYDROTEC fuel cells. Besides, it will enable the OEM to become the first to safely commercialise self-driving technology at scale, through Cruise.
It may be recalled that GM first shared its vision of a world with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion about four years ago. Key factors changing the landscape include strong public reaction to the GMC HUMMER EV and HUMMER EV SUV, the Cadillac LYRIQ and the Chevrolet Silverado electric pickup. The other factors include GM and dealer investments in the EV customer experience, public and private investment in EV charging infrastructure, and the global policy environment.
Mary Barra, Chairman and CEO, GM, said, 'GM is targeting annual global EV sales of more than one million by 2025, and we are increasing our investment to scale faster because we see momentum building in the United States for electrification, along with customer demand for our product portfolio. There is a strong and growing conviction among our employees, customers, dealers, suppliers, unions and investors, as well as policymakers, that electric vehicles and self-driving technology are the keys to a cleaner, safer world for all.'