GM needs to do 3 things to be successful, says CEO Mary Barra

There are three things that General Motors needs to show shareholders in order to keep its stock high and shareholders happy, according to the company’s chief executive.

The first is probably the most obvious — design, build, and sell solid electric vehicles that customers want to own.

“We clearly need to demonstrate that the Ultium platform allows us to have a portfolio of profitable EVs that customers want to buy,” Barra told Yahoo!Finance.“[It’s] critical.”

That guidance from Barra comes despite the company’s lowered expectations for EV production as sales have slowed and it renews its focus on hybrid vehicles. Barra has previously said that GM plans to sell between 200,000 and 300,000 EVs in North America this year but would “build to demand” and rely on hybrid vehicles — namely the Chevy Corvette E-Ray — in the short-term.

Barra told Yahoo!Finance GM will sell more EVs in the U.S. than any other company, including Elon Musk’s Tesla, in the future. The Detroit automaker sold just 75,883 EVs in 2023, collectively making up less than 3% of its total sales; Tesla sold more than 654,000 EVs in the U.S. last year.

Last year, just 14,000 of GM’s EV sales included EVs built on the Ultium architecture, which is used in the Chevrolet Silverado EV, Blazer EV, and Equinox E. Executives at the company recently said that the “production hell” of transitioning to the Ultium platform will soon be over, Bloomberg News reported.

Barra also emphasized the importance of having “software in our vehicles that enables a better customer experience — an easier customer experience — that surprises and delights.” The automaker last October rolled out its own system for software developers to make apps for its vehicle. The Ultifi software platform will enable “frequent over-the-air software updates, seamless cloud-connectivity, and vehicle-to-everything communication,” according to GM.

But Barra’s third — and most controversial — point is crafting “the future path for Cruise,” GM’s troubled autonomous vehicle subsidiary.

Cruise has struggled to regain the public’s trust after several controversies in San Francisco, where the company had deployed hundreds of robotaxis. The most damning incident occurred last October when one of its cars dragged a pedestrian about 20 feet after the individual was struck by a different vehicle.

Since then, Cruise has laid off a quarter of its workforce and dismissed several executives. CEO and co-founder Kyle Vogt resigned in November, as did fellow co-founder Dan Kan. All of Cruise’s operations have been halted, although the company is plotting a comeback. 

In January, Barra said GM would slash $1 billion in spending on the self-driving car unit after Cruise cost GM about $3.48 billion in 2023. In June 2023, GM CEO Mary Barra said the division could generate $50 billion annually by 2023, partially due to expanding Cruise’s services in international markets.

“I really think it comes down to doing those three things well while delivering the financial results and doing the right thing for our owners, our shareholders,” Barra told Yahoo!Finance.

GM stock is up more than 1% in trading Thursday, adding to a 25% year-to-date gain.