General Motors BEV Sales Disappointed In Q2 2023
General Motors reports 691,978 vehicle deliveries during the second quarter of 2023 in the United States, which is 19 percent more than a year ago. The total volume so far this year amounted to 1,295,186 (up 18 percent year-over-year).
On the other hand, all-electric vehicle sales during the period are disappointing – lower than in the record first quarter and especially limited when it comes to Ultium-based BEVs.
In Q2, the company delivered 15,652 BEVs (up 117 percent year-over-year, from a relatively slow Q2 2022), which is also 2.3 percent of the total volume.
Despite this being the third-highest quarterly result in GM’s history, the volume is still relatively low and mostly focused on the Chevrolet Bolt EV/Bolt EUV duo (13,959 or 89% of all BEVs), which will be retired later this year.
Without the Bolts, GM would have only 1,693 other BEV sales because the Cadillac Lyriq ramp-up is slow, while the GMC Hummer EV Pickup is moving backward. At the end of Q1, we expected that the volume will increase to a few thousand units, before moving to a five-digit level in Q3 and Q4.
We listed all the numbers for Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands below, with links to detailed reports.
There is an interesting difference of 298 units between GM’s total and the sum of Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC BEV sales, which makes us believe that those might be BrightDrop vans. However, there was no difference in the previous quarters, so it might be something else.
GM BEV sales in Q2 2023:
So far this year, GM delivered more than 36,000 all-electric vehicles in the US (about 2.8 percent of its total volume).
GM BEV sales YTD in 2023:
- Cadillac (Lyriq): 2,316 (new)
- Chevrolet (Bolt EV/EUV): 33,659 (up 361% year-over-year)
- GMC (Hummer EV Pickup): 49 (down 94% year-over-year)
- other/undisclosed: **298
- Total: 36,322 (up 373%) and 2.8% share of GM’s volume
* excluding an undisclosed number of BrightDrop all-electric vans
** calculated as the difference between the total and the sum of Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC BEV sales
For reference, in 2022, General Motors delivered 39,096 all-electric vehicles in the US (up 57% year-over-year), which was 1.7 percent of the total volume.
In 2023, GM should be able to easily double all-electric vehicle sales. In the previous reports, GM said that its target in North America is 50,000 BEVs produced in the first half of the year and double that in the second half of the year, which indicates 150,000 in total.
Sales are usually a little bit behind the production, and narrowing the volume just to the US, we should expect no less than 100,000+ vehicle deliveries in 2023.
By 2025, the company would like to increase BEV sales in North America to 1 million annually (about 250,000 per quarter).
Maybe we just have to be more patient, and GM’s Ultium future will soon accelerate. The company announced that this year will launch several new models, including the Chevrolet Silverado EV, Chevrolet Blazer EV (the first already rolled off the production line) and Chevrolet Equinox EV, as well as a smaller version of the BrightDrop van (the Zevo400) and the Cadillac Celestiq.
Meanwhile, in August, we will see the all-new Cadillac Escalade IQ reveal.
The list of GM models includes:
- BrightDrop Zevo 400 (launch in 2023)
- BrightDrop Zevo 600 (ramp-up)
- Cadillac Celestiq (launch in 2023)
- Cadillac Lyriq (ramp-up)
- Cadillac Escalade IQ (unveiling on August 9, 2023)
- Chevrolet Blazer EV (Summer 2023)
- Chevrolet Bolt EV/Bolt EUV (production end in 2023)
- Chevrolet Equinox EV (Fall 2023)
- Chevrolet Silverado EV (Spring 2023)
- GMC Hummer EV Pickup (ramp-up)
- GMC Hummer EV SUV (mid-2023)