As chief executive Mary Barra announced the acceleration of General Motors’ rollout of 30 vehicle models in November, she said the carmaker was “committed to fighting for EV market share until we are number one in North America”. She did not mention Tesla by name — and she did not have to.
A decade ago, GM was the company to beat in the US in electric vehicles. In 2012, the year Tesla debuted the Model S, GM sold more than 23,000 Chevrolet Volts, nearly double that of its nearest competitor, the Toyota Prius, and representing 18 per cent of the total US electric vehicle market.
But since Tesla began selling the Model 3 two years ago, it has smashed US sales records for electric vehicles — still just a sliver of the US vehicle market overall — and turned 112-year-old GM into an underdog. Tesla dominated the US EV market in 2019 with 58 per cent share, and some estimates have suggested its share rose to as much as 80 per cent in the first half of 2020.
Ms Barra has said that GM will increase the amount it invests in electric vehicle development to $27bn and that the company will sell 1m electric vehicles in 2025. At that rate, analysts say the Detroit carmaker is unlikely to soon overtake its California competitor, which joined GM in the blue-chip S&P 500 last month. “Right now, on pure electric in the US, Tesla is dominant,” said David Whiston, a Morningstar analyst.