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Volkswagen's Scout Motors reveals first EVs as it shifts to include plug-in hybrids

suimt — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 00:49:43 +0000

Scout Terra pickup truck and Scout Traveler SUV concepts

Scout

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Volkswagen-backed Scout Motors revealed its first electric vehicles Thursday and announced plans for the brand to expand its lineup to include an emerging type of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle in addition to EV models.

Scout, a former American vehicle brand from 1961 to 1980, was expected to exclusively offer EVs in a bid for the German automaker to expand its presence in the U.S. However, slower-than-expected adoption of EVs and higher costs have led it to change course and include extended-range electric vehicles, or EREVs.

“Being a startup that moves quickly, we can pivot,” Scout CEO Scott Keogh, a longtime auto executive who previously led VW’s operations in the U.S., told CNBC. “The pivot that we made a number of months ago into offering range extender definitely was a smart play.”

EREVs are basically a type of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. They include EV motors and battery cells, as well as a traditional internal combustion engine to power the vehicle’s electric components when the battery loses its energy. The engine essentially acts as a generator to power the EV components when needed.

Scout Terra pickup truck concept

Keogh said Scout added EREVs to better protect the brand from any market volatility amid less-than-expected consumer demand for EVs.

“We think electrification is the future. Range extender sets it up as an EV car, so it introduces people to electrification, yet it has a super smart, let’s say, ‘backup plan,'” he said during an interview Thursday. “It will drive like an EV.”

He said Scout has no plans to offer a traditional, non-electric vehicle with only an internal combustion engine.

The company’s first vehicles — a full-size pickup truck and large SUV — will cover about 40% of the highly profitable U.S. sales market.

Keogh said the company targets to be profitable on an operational basis within the first full calendar year after initial production of the vehicles, which will be built at a $2 billion plant that’s under construction in South Carolina.

“If you look at these profit pools, these two areas, from this size pickup truck to this sized SUV … these are the largest profit pools in the world,” Keogh said.

Scout Traveler SUV concept

Scout

Being profitable during that timeframe would be quite a success, as current EV startups such as Rivian Automotive and Lucid Group lose tens of thousands of dollars on each vehicle they produce after several years.

Meanwhile, Keogh said an announced software deal between VW and Rivian will not impact Scout’s operations. He described the $5 billion software deal, which includes the establishment of a joint venture, as an “exciting opportunity” for Scout.

“It’s good for scaling. It’s good for technology. It’s good for everything,” Keogh said.

Scout’s South Carolina plant is planned to have a production capacity of 200,000 vehicles. Scout expects to use batteries — the most expensive part of an electric vehicle — from VW’s joint venture battery cell manufacturer in Canada.

The company opened reservations for the vehicles Thursday night on its website. Scout plans to sell the vehicles directly to consumers instead of through a traditional franchised dealer network like VW does in the U.S.

North American Charging Standard, an 800-volt architecture with up to 350-kilowatt charging capability, and will be capable of bi-directional charging that will allow the vehicle to act as a generator.

Toyota Land Cruiser. It’s larger than Jeep’s well-known Wrangler, which is currently available as a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

The truck is a full-size pickup — a segment currently dominated by Ford, General Motors and Stellantis’ Ram brand. But the electric pickup market where Scout will compete remains a developing market.

Automakers such as GM and Ford rushed to release all-electric pickup trucks early in this decade to compete against several EV startups, many of which never materialized, as well as Tesla. Stellantis is expected to release all-electric and EREV full-size pickups by next year.

Scout Traveler SUV concept

But after rushing the vehicles to market, sales slowed. Much like the overall EV industry, the large vehicles went from commanding significant price premiums to being highly incentivized.

Overall, this electric “truck” market, including the SUVs, accounted for nearly 58,000 vehicles sold during the first half of this year, according to estimates from Motor Intelligence. That’s less than 1% of the roughly 7.9 million light-duty new vehicles sold during that time in the U.S., but a 35% quarterly increase from the first to the second quarter, according to the data.

Keogh believes Scout can differentiate itself in the market with its products, lower pricing and brand appeal. Additional Scout products are expected to follow in the years ahead, Keogh said.

“Can we consider some point in the future sizing down? Absolutely,” he said. “You want to throw the dart at the best place first. And I think we’ve done that between these two vehicles.”

General Motors is set to report earnings before the bell. Here's what Wall Street expects

suimt — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 04:01:01 +0000

The General Motors headquarters inside the Renaissance Center in Detroit on April 15, 2024.

Jeff Kowalsky | Bloomberg | Getty Images

DETROIT — General Motors is set to report its third-quarter earnings before the bell Tuesday.

Here is what Wall Street is expecting, according to average estimates compiled by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $2.43 adjusted
Revenue: $44.59 billion

Those results would mark a 1% uptick in revenue compared with a year earlier and a 6.6% increase in adjusted earnings per share.

GM’s 2023 third quarter included $44.13 billion in revenue, net income attributable to stockholders of $3.06 billion, or $2.20 per share, and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of $3.56 billion, or $2.28 per share.

The quarterly report comes just two weeks after a GM investor day in which the company indicated its earnings strength is expected to continue into next year.

Topics of interest for investors that were not addressed earlier this month include GM’s funding plans for its embattled Cruise autonomous vehicle unit, China restructuring and any updates regarding its near-term electric vehicle sales and plans.

This is developing news. Please check back for additional updates.

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Stellantis to shutter and sell large testing facility amid cost-cutting efforts

suimt — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 21:54:14 +0000

Carlos Tavares, chief executive officer of Stellantis NV, speaks to the media at the Stellantis auto manufacturing plant in Sochaux, France, on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024.

Nathan Laine | Bloomberg | Getty Images

DETROIT — Automaker Stellantis plans to shutter and sell its large vehicle proving grounds in Arizona at the end of this year, CNBC has learned.

The decision is the latest cost-cutting measure by the trans-Atlantic automaker under CEO Carlos Tavares, who has been increasingly under pressure from Wall Street, dealers and the United Auto Workers union amid the company’s lagging financial performance, layoffs and overall business decisions.

The Arizona Proving Grounds covers 4,000 acres between Phoenix and Las Vegas in Yucca, Arizona. It has been used for vehicle testing and development for the automaker since then-Chrysler purchased the property for $35 million from Ford Motor in 2007.

The closure was confirmed by three people familiar with the plans who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity because the matters are private.

Stellantis plans to use a proving grounds in Arizona owned by Toyota Motor beginning next year, according to two people familiar with the decision. Toyota opened its operations, which are costly to maintain, for other companies to use in 2021.

Stellantis Chrysler Arizona Proving Grounds

Source: Google Earth

Stellantis confirmed the closure Friday morning, citing the company’s ongoing cost-cutting and real estate evaluations.

“Stellantis continues to look for opportunities to improve efficiency and optimize its footprint to ensure future competitiveness in today’s rapidly changing global market,” the company said in an emailed statement.

The automaker also said it is “working with the UAW to offer proving ground employees special packages or they can choose to follow their work in a transfer of operations” but that employees could be placed on an “indefinite layoff, which would entitle them to pay and benefits for two years.”

Stellantis said 41 employees currently work at the Arizona Proving Grounds, including 37 hourly workers represented by a local chapter of the UAW.

The UAW, which has been increasingly critical of Tavares and such layoffs, did not respond for comment on the planned closure.

Stellantis, like most automakers, has several proving grounds in different climates and geographies to develop and test vehicles ahead of selling them to consumers. Stellantis’ other major U.S. proving grounds facility is a 4,000-acre campus located west of Detroit in Chelsea, Michigan.

Stellantis’ complex in Arizona was one of 18 facilities the company notified the UAW it could potentially close during the union’s contract negotiations last year with Stellantis.

A majority of the other operations were parts and distribution centers that were expected to be consolidated into “mega sites,” as well as the company’s massive 500-acre campus in metro Detroit formerly used as Chrysler’s world headquarters.

The status of the other properties was not immediately clear, however, local and state politicians, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, have expressed concerns that Stellantis could move to shutter the former headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Stellantis has significantly reduced the number of its U.S. employees in recent years amid Tavares’ cost-cutting measures.

Stellantis has reduced employee head count by 15.5%, or roughly 47,500 employees, between December 2019 and the end of 2023, including a 14.5% reduction in North America, according to public filings. That doesn’t include further head count reductions and layoffs this year.

The automaker had only about 11,000 U.S. salaried employees at the end of last year. That compared with 53,000 at General Motors and 28,000 at Ford.

The reductions have occurred as Stellantis has attempted to outsource many engineering efforts to lower-cost countries such as Brazil, India and Mexico, according to several people familiar with the moves.

Bloomberg News earlier this year reported that Stellantis moved to recruiting a majority of its engineering workforce in those countries, where the cost per employee amounts to roughly €50,000 ($53,000) or less per year — far less than similar positions in the U.S. and Europe.

Chevrolet aims to defend highly profitable SUV market position with updated Tahoe, Suburban

suimt — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 21:01:55 +0000

DETROIT — General Motors has updated its highly profitable large SUVs for Chevrolet for the 2025 model year to defend the brand’s long-standing segment leadership.

The Detroit automaker’s Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban have led the mainstream full-size SUV segment for more than 45 years, according to GM. But increased competition from automakers such as Ford Motor, Jeep and Nissan Motor has slowly eaten away at the automaker’s market share.

“We’re playing a little offense here with what we’re doing today,” Chevrolet Vice President Scott Bell said Tuesday during a media event in suburban Detroit. “We certainly have a response for our competitors from multiple segments.”

2025 GMC Yukon AT4 Ultimate.

GMC

Chevrolet’s retail market share of full-size SUVs is about 34.2%. Adding in its GMC sibling Yukon and Yukon XL SUVs, GM’s share is at 64% of the industry, according to the automaker. That is down from more than 70% when the vehicles were last fully redesigned for the 2020 model year.

The large SUVs for GMC have also been updated for the 2025 model year. Both Ford and Nissan have updated their large three-row SUVs that are on sale this year.

Updates to the vehicles in general include new styling, larger interior screens, enhanced performance and, in some cases, the addition of new high-end models to boost profits.

For Chevrolet, the 2025 Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban check many of those boxes and include the addition of GM’s hands-free Super Cruise advanced driver-assistance system.

“Overall, they’re critical in our portfolio,” Bell told CNBC. “They’re very important to us from a profitability perspective, and they have been for four years.”

Starting pricing for the 2025 Tahoe will range from about $60,000 for a Tahoe LS to more than $83,000 for the top-end High Country. 2025 Suburban pricing will start between about $63,000 and more than $86,000. Prices include mandatory $1,995 destination charges.

The updated SUVs are expected to begin arriving in U.S. dealerships in the coming weeks, the company said.

Edmunds.com, a wholly owned subsidiary of CarMax, reports the mainstream full-size SUV segment has grown to represent 2.7% of the U.S. market this year, up from 2% in 2017. Segment sales totaled roughly 312,500 units through September of this year.

GM said sales of the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban are significantly lower this year due to the model-year changeover and reduction in fleet sales, but the brand continues to easily lead the segment.

Combined sales of the Chevy SUVs, which are essentially the same vehicle but in different sizes, were off 19.3% through September compared to a year earlier to 102,292 units.

Sales of the Ford Expedition — the closest competitor to Chevy’s SUVs — totaled 73,396 units in 2023. Sales of that vehicle were up 3% through September of this year to more than 58,000 units.

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GM to invest $625 million in joint venture to mine EV battery raw materials in U.S.

suimt — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 20:46:44 +0000

The clay mixture from which lithium will be extracted is held by Tim Crowley, spokesman for Lithium Americas Corp.

Carolyn Cole | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

DETROIT — General Motors has agreed to establish a joint venture with Lithium Americas Corp. that includes the automaker supplying $625 million in cash and credit to the Canadian mining business, the companies announced Wednesday.

The deal is centered on the development, construction and operation of a lithium carbonate mining operation called Thacker Pass in Humboldt County, Nevada. Lithium is a key component for batteries that power electric vehicles.

The joint venture agreement replaces a previously announced, planned equity investment by GM into the Vancouver, Canada-based company.

Securing raw materials such as lithium from the U.S. is crucial to GM’s plans to profitably grow its all-electric vehicle business and meet tightening federal requirements for incentives to produce and sell the vehicles and the large batteries needed to power them.

“We’re pleased with the significant progress Lithium Americas is making to help GM achieve our goal to develop a resilient EV material supply chain,” Jeff Morrison, GM senior vice president of global purchasing and supply chain, said in a release. “Sourcing critical EV raw materials, like lithium, from suppliers in the U.S., is expected to help us manage battery cell costs, deliver value to our customers and investors, and create jobs.”

GM and Lithia Americas stocks

The announcement sent shares of Lithium Americas higher by 23% in trading Wednesday to close at $3.29. The company’s market cap is $532.9 million.

In windswept, remote Thacker Pass in the far northern reaches of Nevada permits approved for a massive lithium mine, proposed by Lithium Americas Corp., are drawing impassioned protest from the local indigenous population, ranchers, and environmentalists.

Carolyn Cole | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

GM will have a 38% interest in Thacker Pass, according to the release. The joint venture investment is expected to include $330 million cash to be contributed on the date of its closing; $100 million cash to be contributed at a “final investment decision” for a phase of the project; and a $195 million letter of credit facility prior to first draw on the $2.3 billion Department of Energy Loan.

“Our relationship with GM has been significantly strengthened with this joint venture as we continue to pursue a mutual goal to develop a robust domestic lithium supply chain by advancing the development of Thacker Pass,” Lithium Americas CEO Jonathan Evans said in a release.

June 7, 2021Jonathan Evans is President and CEO of Lithium Americas Corp. He holds the clay mixture from which lithium will be extracted.

Carolyn Cole | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

The joint venture is in addition to GM’s $320 million investment into Lithium Americas in February 2023. The investment included GM acquiring approximately 15 million common shares of Lithium Americas.

In August, GM and Lithium Americas agreed to delay a second tranche investment worth $330 million in the miner to explore alternative structures for the investment.

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Here's what investors need to know after GM's capital markets day

suimt — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 14:58:54 +0000

The GM logo is seen on the facade of the General Motors headquarters in Detroit on March 16, 2021.

Rebecca Cook | Reuters

DETROIT — Wall Street reacted to General Motors’ investor day on Tuesday with a shrug.

Executives used the Detroit automaker’s event to focus on broad, near-term updates to the company’s operations in an attempt to separate itself from its competitors amid more challenging market and economic conditions. But it did little to move the company’s stock.

GM believes it is in a unique position to outperform the industry and Wall Street’s expectations with its all-electric vehicles and traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. The company expects to improve profits for both types of vehicles as it targets adjusted earnings next year to be similar to 2024.

“It all starts there: scale, capital efficiency and cost discipline. These will differentiate us from others in our industry, and frankly, from our own past performance,” GM CEO Mary Barra said during the roughly three-hour event from its manufacturing operations in Spring Hill, Tennessee.

GM President Mark Reuss even took jabs at its traditional crosstown rivals Ford Motor and Stellantis. Without naming them, he said GM doesn’t need a “skunkworks” team to develop affordable EVs like Ford and that cutting to profitability, like Stellantis appears to be doing, doesn’t work.

Nonetheless, investors have largely failed to reward GM for being ahead of the curve for domestic EV production as well as outperforming many automakers in the profitability of its traditional gas- and diesel-powered vehicles.

Several Wall Street analysts were unchanged in their opinion and ratings of the automaker after the event, citing continued optimism but a lack of details in its overall strategy.

Shares of GM, Ford and Stellantis in 2024

“A missed opportunity — no strategy, just tactics. GM’s investor day showcased many of the company’s current achievements, but did not provide much insight on strategy,” Bernstein analyst Daniel Roeska wrote Wednesday in an investor note.

Others such as Barclays’ Dan Levy and BofA Securities’ John Murphy said while the event lacked some details, it fortified GM’s positioning compared to competitors.

“GM’s Investor Day yesterday didn’t provide much in the way of sharp shifts in strategy. However, we believe it served as a strong reminder of GM’s balanced and pragmatic approach — a thoughtful combination of ramping on EVs alongside a keen focus on execution and cost while continuing to generate robust shareholder returns,” Levy wrote in a Wednesday investor note.

Shares of GM closed Tuesday essentially unchanged at $46.01. The stock remains up nearly 30% this year, but it has been under pressure of late due to several downgrades and price target adjustments by Wall Street analysts.

Here are several topics investors should know from the event:

“similar range” to the company’s results this year, CFO Paul Jacobson said.

Its targeted adjusted earnings before interest and taxes for 2024 were between $13 billion and $15 billion, or $9.50 and $10.50 per share, up from previous guidance of $12.5 billion to $14.5 billion, or $9 to $10 per share, earlier this year.

Through the first half of 2024, GM earned $8.3 billion in EBIT-adjusted and generated $6.4 billion in adjusted automotive free cash flow.

Jacobson said GM’s capital spend also is expected to be consistent in 2025 with this year. GM’s 2024 financial guidance includes anticipated capital spending of between $10.5 billion and $11.5 billion.

is ultimately dead.

GM will drop the “Ultium” name for its electric vehicle batteries and supporting technologies after spending years promoting the brand as it rethinks its EV and battery operations.

The company said the batteries and the technologies will remain, but the name will be gone, except in production operations such as its “Ultium Cells” joint venture plants with LG Energy Solution.

Instead, GM plans to use a variety of battery chemistries and cell designs, said Kurt Kelty, a former Tesla executive who joined GM as vice president of battery earlier this year.

“GM is evolving to a multifaceted approach,” he said. “This should only help GM strengthen our position of producing more EV models than any other automaker.”

previously announced initiative that’s expected to retire roughly 250 million shares of the automaker.

From 2022 through the end of 2024, GM will have returned about $20 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends, Barra said.

The automaker is targeting to get below 1 billion outstanding shares by early 2025, Jacobson said. It has more than 1.1 billion outstanding shares as of Wednesday morning, according to FactSet.

operations in China.

GM’s operations in China have experienced a decade-long slide in earnings, and executives said they are discussing restructuring options with their China-based partners.

“In China, you’ll begin to see evidence of a turnaround this year, with a significant reduction in dealer inventory and modest improvements in sales and share,” Barra said.

Regarding Cruise, GM said its spending next year is not expected to top this year’s. It did not provide updates on its long-term plans for the troubled robotaxi business.

With GM’s investor day being two days ahead of Tesla’s highly anticipated robotaxi day, Wall Street analysts expected some sort of update on the venture, especially regarding future financing or capital spend for the company.

Hyundai Motor: When asked about GM’s announced non-binding memorandum of understanding with Hyundai, Barra said the teams “are working closely and making progress every week on what will become definitive agreements.”
Chevy Bolt: GM said its next-generation Chevrolet Bolt EV that’s expected next year will be only slightly higher than the 2023 Bolt, which started at $28,795.

PHEVs: GM reconfirmed plans to introduce plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, of PHEVs, in 2027. In the meantime, Reuss, citing single-digit market share, said GM is “not missing on anything right now without PHEVs.”

— CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.

GM investor day: Cruise, cash and EV profits top of mind for Wall Street

suimt — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 17:42:06 +0000

Mary Barra, chair and chief executive officer of General Motors Co., during a news conference at the Hudson’s building in Detroit, Michigan, US, on Monday, April 15, 2024.

Jeff Kowalsky | Bloomberg | Getty Images

DETROIT — A lot has changed since General Motors’ last investor day two years ago, but one thing that hasn’t is the automaker’s ability to outperform Wall Street’s expectations — doing so every quarter since then.

GM CEO Mary Barra will attempt to convince investors during a capital markets day Tuesday that she and her executive team can continue to do that despite slowing consumer demand and changing market conditions.

Wall Street analysts are eager to hear about plans for electric vehicles and hybrids, the company’s embattled Cruise autonomous vehicle unit, its China restructuring and GM’s near-term plans for free cash flow, lowering costs and rewarding investors.

Many of them are expecting GM will be more grounded in its near-term targets and messaging than it has in its most recent investor days, including three years ago, when Barra and others laid out ambitious long-term financial targets by to double the automaker’s revenue to about $280 billion by 2030.

“It’s clear we enter a very different industry environment vs. three years ago,” Barclays analyst Dan Levy said last week in an investor note. “Accordingly, whereas the theme for GM three years ago was “Growth Motors,” we believe the theme today is “praGMatic Motors.”

The company is expected to tout its “flexibility” when it comes to producing EVs, as well as vehicles with traditional internal combustion engines, commonly called ICE, at the event. To underscore that effort, the event is taking place GM’s vehicle assembly and Ultium EV battery plants in Tennessee. Spring Hill Assembly produces both types of vehicles.

Barra and other executives have stressed such a dual strategy since lowering or withdrawing nearly all of the company’s EV targets amid slower than expected adoption of electric vehicles.

“We are making the most of every opportunity we have in ICE and in EV and leveraging our core strengths,” Barra said during the company’s second-quarter investor call in July. “We’re being flexible and opportunistic, but also importantly, we’re being very disciplined.”

downgraded GM and cut price targets, citing challenging market conditions and low upside potential, among other things.

“We want to wait and see which updates GM shares with the market and downgrade the stock to Market-Perform,” Bernstein analyst Daniel Roeska wrote in a Sept. 23 investor note.

GM’s stock remains overweight with a price target of $54.64 a share, according to average estimates of 29 analysts compiled by FactSet.

business in the country has been in a yearslong freefall.

The operations, which recorded $2 billion in equity income in 2018, posted a loss of $104 million during the second quarter — its second consecutive quarterly loss after hitting a roughly 20-year low in 2023.

China has been inundated with domestic automakers such as BYD that have caused a pricing war, especially when it comes to EVs.

GM’s 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV (right) next to a gas-powered Chevy Equinox on May 16, 2024 in Detroit.

Michael Wayland / CNBC

In GM’s home market, investors are seeking updates to its plans for EVs as well as hybrids. Unlike crosstown rival Ford, which has amped up its focus on hybrids, GM hasn’t offered a hybrid option other than a Corvette for many years.

“The event will likely provide a glimpse into GM’s efforts to balance the slowdown in EV adoption with its Future business plan, which we still expect will be centered on electrification, but with a greater emphasis on hybrid technology,” BofA Securities analyst John Murphy said in a Sept. 20 note.

GM has maintained expectations that its EVs will be profitable on a production, or contribution-margin basis, once it reaches output of 200,000 units by the fourth quarter.

Regarding Cruise, Wall Street is particularly interested in the company’s future funding plans for the embattled autonomous vehicle unit.

After ceasing all on-road operations last year and ousting leaders following an accident involving a pedestrian in October, Cruise has slowly been attempting to relaunch operations, but it remains far from it was before the incident.

Ford reveals new 2025 Expedition SUV, including off-road and 'Ultimate' models

suimt — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 00:00:01 +0000

2025 Ford Expedition Platinum Ultimate

Ford

DETROIT — Ford Motor is increasing the refinement and technology of its large Expedition SUV as part of a vehicle redesign to better compete with growing competition.

The new three-row SUV features a smoother interior and exterior design, increased comfort and convenience features such as a 24-inch driver display, and the addition of the automaker’s BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system.

“We spent more than 1,100 hours talking with customers about their everyday lives. And with those insights we’ve rethought and redesigned Expedition to help customers make the most of their precious time with family and to make life easier — before, during and after every trip they make,” said Trevor Scott, general manager of Ford Utilities.

Ford declined to release pricing for the 2025 Expedition until closer to when the vehicles will arrive in dealerships in the spring. Current starting pricing ranges from $55,000 to $84,000, depending on the model. The average transaction price of current models is roughly $70,000, according to Ford.

2025 Ford Expedition Platinum Ultimate

Ford

The last time the vehicle was redesigned seven years ago, its main competition was full-size SUVs from Ford’s crosstown rival General Motors, such as the Chevrolet Tahoe, Chevrolet Suburban and GMC Yukon.

While GM’s vehicles continue to lead the segment, new competitors such as the Jeep Wagoneer from Stellantis as well as large three-row crossovers from Kia and Hyundai have also come to market.

Auto data and insights firm Edmunds.com reports three-row crossovers such as the Kia Telluride and Hyundai Palisade, which are smaller but cost less than Ford’s current Expeditions, represent the top cross-shopped vehicle segment of full-size SUVs.

Edmunds reports the mainstream full-size SUV segment that includes the Expedition has grown to represent 2.7% of the U.S. market this year, up from 2% in 2017. Segment sales totaled roughly 312,500 units through September of this year.

2025 Ford Expedition Tremor

Ford

Ford also has shifted the models for the 2025 Expedition to Active, Platinum (including an “Ultimate” version), King Ranch and Tremor. The off-road inspired Tremor is new for the Expedition but is available on other vehicles.

The Expedition will continue to be available in a standard version or longer “Max” model. It will be powered by a 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engine or a high-output version of the engine with 440 horsepower and 510 foot-pounds of torque.

GM reports 2.2% decrease in third-quarter sales, but EVs make gains

suimt — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 16:02:04 +0000

GM’s 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV during a media launch event for the vehicle in Detroit, May 16, 2024.

Michael Wayland / CNBC

DETROIT — Increases in sales of electric vehicles and small crossovers helped General Motors report slightly better-than-expected sales during the third quarter.

The Detroit automaker reported a 2.2% drop in third-quarter sales compared with a year earlier, slipping to 659,601 vehicles sold. Auto industry forecasters such as Cox Automotive and Edmunds had expected GM’s sales to be down by more than 3% during that time.

GM’s third-quarter sales are expected to be in line with the overall industry. Cox Automotive and Edmunds project third-quarter sales industrywide will be down roughly 2% compared to a year earlier.

GM’s sales were assisted by a roughly 60% year-over-year increase in EVs during the quarter, to roughly 32,100 units sold. Still, EVs made up only 4.9% of the company’s total third-quarter sales.

GM forecasts its market share was 9.5% of the U.S. EV market, up 3 percentage points from the first quarter of this year.

While GM has withdrawn most of its previously announced electric vehicle targets, the automaker believes its EV sales momentum is finally building thanks to an expanding lineup of all-electric vehicles — spanning a price range of roughly $35,000 to more than $300,000.

“We are definitely outstripping the industry in terms of growth, in terms of EVs,” Rory Harvey, GM president of global markets, including North America, told CNBC last month. “We have the most comprehensive EV lineup out of any manufacturer in the industry, in the U.S., at the moment.”

GM’s EV sales were led by the Cadillac Lyriq crossover at roughly 7,224 units sold during the quarter, followed by the Hummer EV pickup and SUV at 4,305 units.

Sales of small, gas-powered crossovers such as the Chevrolet Trax and Buick Envista and Envision also experienced notable increases compared with a year earlier, GM reported.

GM’s total 2024 sales of 1.95 million vehicles through the third quarter were down 1% compared with the first nine months of 2023.

An unknown outlier in the third quarter is how much of an effect Hurricane Helene had on vehicle sales in the South, since it hit the U.S. in late September. It’s also unclear how much a strike at U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports will impact sales during the fourth quarter.

GM is one of several automakers to report its third-quarter or September sales on Tuesday. Here are other reported U.S. sales compared with the third quarter of 2023:

The Hyundai brand reported total sales of 210,971 units, a 5% increase over the third quarter of 2023 and the second best third-quarter in the company’s history. Hyundai’s Genesis luxury brand reported its best-ever third quarter of 20,117 units, up roughly 4% from a year earlier.
Toyota Motor reported an 8% decrease in third-quarter sales, including a 20.3% decrease in September.
Nissan reported a sales decline of 2.2% to 212,068 vehicles sold during the third quarter.