GM Grew U.S. EV Sales Almost 60% in 2022

https://www.barrons.com/articles/gm-stock-ev-car-sales-51672851090

General Motors ended 2022 with solid sales results in the U.S., selling more cars and electric vehicles.

On Wednesday, GM reported fourth-quarter U.S. sales volumes of 623,261 units, including 16,266 all-electric vehicles. For the quarter, total units rose about 41% year over year.

EV sales rose more than 62,000%, but the huge increase was driven by lower EV sales in the fourth quarter of 2021, when sales amounted to just 26 units. GM had stopped selling its Chevy Bolt EV until it had a complete fix for a supplier-caused battery problem.

For the full year, GM delivered 2,274,088 vehicles in the U.S., including 39,179 EVs. Total 2022 sales grew about 3%, while EV sales jumped about 58%. The almost 2.3 million units delivered for the U.S. in 2022 remained well below prepandemic levels. GM delivered almost 2.9 million vehicles in the U.S. in 2019.

Supply chain problems and a shortage of semiconductors have constrained global auto production for years. Things have been improving slowly, but 2023 global auto production still isn’t expected to hit 2019 levels.

Low production hasn’t been all bad for car companies. Dealer inventories are low, pricing is higher, and profit margins are solid. GM is expected to generate an operating profit of about $13.3 billion in 2022. It generated $8.4 billion in 2019.

Wall Street projects GM will earn about $10.7 billion in operating profits in 2023.

GM also sells a lot of EVs in China, mostly in partnership with the Chinese auto maker SAIC Motor 600104 0.00% . The pair sold almost 300,000 Wuling Mini EVs in the first three quarters of 2022. Fourth-quarter figures for the Wuling Mini haven’t been released yet.

GM stock rose 1.9% at $34.45 shortly after results were released. The S&P 500SPX +0.89% and Dow Jones Industrial AverageDJIA +0.47% are both flat in early Wednesday trading.

Over the past 12 months, GM stock is down about 48%. Rising interest rates, inflation, and a slowing global economy have sapped some investors’ enthusiasm for car stocks.