{"id":152884,"date":"2020-09-14T16:27:01","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T20:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=152884"},"modified":"2020-09-14T16:28:31","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T20:28:31","slug":"gm-ceo-barra-tells-analysts-company-will-win-in-evs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2020\/09\/gm-ceo-barra-tells-analysts-company-will-win-in-evs\/","title":{"rendered":"GM CEO Barra Tells Analysts Company Will “Win” in EVs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra said the company will “win in EVs” during the RBC conference Monday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With nascent electric vehicle companies being hot commodities these, General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra\u2019s plan to keep the company on track to expand its EV capabilities makes plenty of sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cEVs represent the key growth segment for General Motors,\u201d she said during a web presentation for the RBC conference Monday. \u201cWe\u2019re going to win in EVs and give our customers an amazing ownership experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted the company allocated more than $20 billion in capital and engineering resources to EV and battery development, adding \u201cWe believe strongly in our EV future.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Could GM change its name? Barra doesn’t say no.)<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Barra touched on several areas during her presentation and subsequent Q&A session, including commenting on something she\u2019d been asked about during the auto company\u2019s most recent earnings call: spinning off the company\u2019s EV assets.<\/p>\n

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GM showed of its third-generation global electric vehicle platform with its Ultium battery technology.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She noted the company wouldn\u2019t do something like that for a short-term boost to its share price, but once again didn\u2019t entirely dismiss the notion either. \u201cAs I\u2019ve said many times, we will always do what\u2019s in the best interest of our shareholders over the long term, not necessarily for a short-term pop,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A similar question was asked in July. Adam Jonas, an analyst with Morgan Stanley, asked Barra then about the impact, or lack thereof in terms of the stock price, of potentially changing the company\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy not just change the name of the company?\u201d he asked at the time. \u201cThe General Motors brand has done its job, but I\u2019m wondering if it might not be out of touch with some of the really interesting directions your taking the business. Why not call the company Ultium?\u201d<\/p>\n

(GM confirms Hummer debut \u201cthis fall.\u201d)<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Barra noted the company\u2019s executives had put some brain power to the issue, trying to find ways to put a little shine on the GM logo due to its technical prowess. She said that even a name change would be a possibility, however small, but it needs to make sense.<\/p>\n

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Analysts continue to be excited about GM’s electric vehicle and battery development.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen I look at a name change, and we\u2019re going to make any changes necessary to drive the shareholder value because I still strongly believe in the technology and our future product plans as it relates to electrification, so that\u2019s something we evaluate and look at when\u2019s the right time and what are the proof points that everybody looks at\u201d to take any type of massive action like a name change.<\/p>\n

The question of finding a way to exploit the exciting side of GM\u2019s business to benefit shareholders is clearly becoming something that GM officials are being forced to consider, although Barra said earlier that the interest \u201cvalidates\u201d the company\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the company is seeing progress in its return from pandemic-enforced shutdowns of its manufacturing operations and improving sales in its markets around the globe. In the U.S., she noted that production results were encouraging.<\/p>\n

(GM beats forecast but still in the red for pandemic-hit second quarter.)<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Barra said truck and SUV plants are running \u201call out\u201d while other facilities are operating as expected. \u201cWe are selling every truck and SUV we can produce as demand remains strong and inventories remain lean.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With nascent electric vehicle companies being hot commodities these, General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra\u2019s plan to keep the company on track to expand its EV capabilities makes plenty of sense. Get details at TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4389,"featured_media":151555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,5,12,9],"tags":[],"make":[58],"post-state":[],"category_old":[118,286,150,151,123,287,131,319,155,299,243,169,132,284,125,124,139,128,291,278,288],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152884"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152884"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=152884"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=152884"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=152884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}