😵‍💫 GM’s EV Profitability Q4 And Beyond

The Gist

GM is making money on EVs—kind of. The company hit a milestone where each EV sale covers its production costs, but factory and labor costs? Not so much. GM plans to sell 300K EVs in 2025, hoping that scale will close the gap. Meanwhile, the gas-powered lineup keeps the lights on. Cruise, GM’s once-beloved robotaxi venture, is getting axed, freeing up $1B annually. And the Chevy Blazer? Looks like it’s cruising toward retirement. Bottom line: GM’s got momentum, but profitability hinges on scaling EVs and keeping those sweet, sweet incentives rolling.

General Motors just pulled off something big: It made money on every EV it sold in Q4 2024. But before the champagne gets popped, there’s a catch—those profits cover production costs, but not the billions sunk into factories, labor, and R&D. In other words, GM is still losing money on EVs, just a little less dramatically.

"GM is Profitable on EVs!"

Define "profitable."

Let’s break it down. GM’s electric vehicle business hit what it calls "variable profit positive" in Q4, meaning every car it builds and sells (along with battery production credits) now at least covers the cost of making it. That’s a major milestone, but not the same as full profitability. The company still lost roughly $2.5 billion on its EVs in 2024.

CEO Mary Barra put a positive spin on it: "We doubled our EV market share over the course of the year as we scaled production, and our portfolio became variable profit positive." Translation? We’re making progress, but we’re not there yet.

The Road to 300,000 EVs in 2025—Or a Dead End?

GM’s 2025 goal is to sell 300,000 EVs, a move that could cut another $2 billion in costs and bring the division closer to break-even. The problem? That number depends on government incentives staying intact. If federal EV tax credits disappear, so could a lot of customer enthusiasm.

• 114,000 EVs sold in 2024, up 50% from the previous year.

• Chevy Equinox EV was the top-selling model, boasting up to 326 miles of range.

• New Cadillac EVs incoming: Escalade IQ, Optiq, and Vistiq—luxury models aimed at improving margins.

As Barra put it, "Whatever happens on these fronts, we have a broad and deep portfolio of ICE vehicles and EVs... and we’ll be agile." In other words: we’re hedging our bets.

ICE Still Pays the Bills (and Then Some)

While GM scrambles to make EVs profitable, its gas-powered SUVs and trucks are doing the heavy lifting. Best-selling models like the Chevy Equinox, Traverse, and GMC Acadia kept the company’s books healthy, proving that gas is still the financial backbone of the business.

• 2024 revenue up 9%

• $187 billion total revenue for the year

• $14.9 billion in adjusted pre-tax profit

The strategy is clear: Keep selling profitable gas vehicles while slowly ramping up EV production—just in case the world isn’t ready to ditch the pump yet.

Meanwhile, Over at Cruise... Yikes.

Remember when GM’s robotaxi subsidiary, Cruise, was supposed to be the future of transportation? Well, it’s now the past. GM pulled the plug on funding, laid off nearly 50% of the workforce, and folded Cruise back into the company to focus on making Super Cruise (its driver-assist tech) actually useful.

• $10 billion spent on Cruise since 2016.

• $1 billion in annual savings now that GM has abandoned the robotaxi dream.

• CEO Marc Whitten and multiple top execs out the door.

According to GM, the plan is to use Cruise’s technology to improve hands-free driving, not replace human drivers entirely. So no, we’re not getting self-driving Chevy Bolts anytime soon.

We’ll See

GM’s EV business is kind of profitable, its gas cars are still running the show, and the self-driving dream just got a major reality check. 2025 will be a defining year as the company tries to hit 300,000 EV sales, getting through potential policy shifts, and see if consumers are still buying what they’re selling—literally.

Sources:

• Businesswire “GM Financial Reports Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2024 Operating Results”

• Electrify News “GM is Making Money on EVs But Not Enough to Cover the Costs”

• Yahoo Finance “General Motors Pays $4.5 Billion in Charges, Reducing Q4 and Full-Year 2024 Results”

• Reuters “GM takes full control of Cruise in autonomous personal vehicle shift”

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