GM increases US electric sales by 50 per cent

While Tesla, the world’s largest electric car manufacturer, published global sales figures for 2024, General Motors looks only at the US market. Tesla is ahead in terms of electric car deliveries, but GM has risen to number two in 2024 – with 114,432 electric cars. However, the exact difference is currently unknown due to the lack of Tesla’s US figures.

However, GM emphasises that the company was the second manufacturer ever (after Tesla) to sell more than 15,000 electric cars in the US in two months – specifically in November and December. If October is also included, GM sold 43,982 electric cars in the fourth quarter – 125 per cent more than in Q4 2023. That was enough for a market share of around 12 per cent of the US electric car market, compared to just 6.5 per cent in Q1 (with 16,425 electric cars at the time). The Equinox EV, which saw sales increase by 85 per cent in the third quarter, was one of the factors behind this surge in demand. According to GM, the model is now one of the top five electric cars on the US market. In Q4, GM sold 18,089 Equinox EVs – more than it sold in Q1 across the entire electric model range. For the year, there were 28,874 Equinox EVs, but the vehicle has only been delivered since May 2024.

“The driving force for our business is new vehicles with great design and performance across our portfolio, helping our dealers satisfy more customers,” said Rory Harvey, Executive Vice President at GM. ‘We’re carrying significant momentum into 2025.”

However, it remains to be seen how long the Equinox EV’s momentum will last: The model is built by GM in Mexico at the Ramos Arizpe plant and imported to the US. US President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on 20 January, announced stricter regulations for US imports from Mexico during the election campaign. GM also builds the Blazer EV (7,833 units in Q4), also in high demand, in Mexico.

However, demand for electric GM models has also slowly developed independently of the compact SUV. General Motors sold 8,084 units of the Cadillac Lyriq in the fourth quarter, compared with 28,400 Lyriqs for the year as a whole. For the Cadillac brand, it was the best quarter ever for electric cars – and in 2025, it will extend its portfolio with the large Escalade IQ EV.

With these results, General Motors has overtaken Ford in terms of electric cars in the US. In the fourth quarter, Ford achieved US sales of 30,176 electric vehicles (+16%). For the year as a whole, Ford just missed out on six-figure sales with 97,865 electric vehicles in the US – and remains behind GM’s 114,000 units.

electrek.co, gm.com (PDF)