Earlier this month, General Motors (GM) made an ambitious statement: it wants to be the leading seller of electric vehicles in the U.S. (and North America, we presume, so including Canada and Mexico).
The company had not, however, provided a target date for achieving this goal. But in an interview conducted by CNBC with General Motors CEO Mary Barra, we learned a little more about that. The executive said that GM could "absolutely" catch up to Tesla in sales by 2025.
Considering that Tesla is on an amazing run and selling vehicles at a record pace, that's a bold statement. Right now, GM is only offering the Bolt and Bolt EUV, two products that are scheduled to resume assembly next week following a highly publicized recall.
Despite this, Mary Barra remains confident that the models GM's divisions are developing will impress buyers to the point of attracting them to the company. The GMC Hummer EV, the Cadillac Lyriq and Celestiq and an electric version of the Chevrolet Equinox are on the way, as are electric variants of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks, expected sometime next year.
Many other products have yet to be announced. Maybe the company will get there on sheer volume after all.
"I'm very comfortable with (the 2025 target), because when people get into our vehicles, they're just blown away. So we're going to roll them out and we're going to keep working until we have the number one market share of electric vehicles."
- Mary Barra, General Motors CEO
We'll have to see, of course, if Marry Barra's prediction comes true. One thing's for sure, GM will have to improve its offering soon, as many of the models mentioned are still some ways away. We're talking 2023 for many, even 2024 for some.
However, we know that the company's plan is still to offer 30 new electric vehicles by 2025, two-thirds of which will be offered in North America. Of the bunch, SUVs priced in the neighborhood of $30,000 (USD) are in the plans.
Tesla currently has a 63 percent share of the U.S. electric vehicle market, compared to GM's 9 percent. It's a steep hill for sure and Tesla certainly doesn't plan to slow down.
It's going to be an interesting fight to watch, that's for sure.