AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)01/07 Report--

GM's sales in the United States were dismal in the last quarter of 2021, plunging 43% from a year earlier. GM sold 2.218 million cars in the United States last year, down from 2.55 million in 2020. At the same time, Toyota sold 2.332 million vehicles in the United States, an increase of 10.4 percent over 2020. Toyota overtook GM to become the No. 1 car company by sales in the United States. In terms of electric vehicles, GM sold only 26 electric vehicles in the United States, including 25 Chevrolet Bolt and an electric Hummer, compared with 6701 Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles in the United States in the same period last year. When the data came out, Elon Musk commented, "there is room for improvement."

That's equivalent to an hour's sales of Tesla in the third quarter of last year. According to third-party statistics at the time, Tesla Model 3 sold an average of 24.5 vehicles per hour, Wuling Hongguang sold 14.4 vehicles per hour, and Tesla sold much more than expected in the fourth quarter. Musk's comments are "room for improvement", encouraging and more sarcastic.

A few days ago, Toyota announced that it would sell 2.332 million vehicles in the United States in 2021. General Motors has been the top seller in the United States since it overtook Ford in 1931, the first time an overseas car brand has won the title in the United States. In the 1960s, during the 20 years when the Japanese economy took off, Toyota began to export to the United States, which also coincided with the increase of immigrant population, and there was a strong demand for Japanese economical cars with low fuel economy and low failure rate. In 1986, Toyota's sales in the United States exceeded 1 million for the first time. At the same time, in order to avoid friction with the United States, Toyota not only offered to restrict the export of car data to the United States, but also promoted production in the United States until 2021. Toyota put into production in Alabama, which is Toyota's fifth vehicle plant in the United States.

Affected by the chip problem, automakers, including General Motors, have reduced production in 2021, and whoever solves the chip problem will be able to keep sales. In the last few months of last year, GM began massive production cuts in September, halting production at half of its plants in North America, while Toyota adjusted its production models and production plans to avoid long-term stoppings. as a result, it has exceeded GM's sales volume, but the supply chain inventory has also been exhausted. With the chip problem alleviating this year, GM is returning to production speed, and analysts say GM will return to its top position in 2022. GM made the following statement to the number one position: "We value profit more than sales." If we were Toyota, we wouldn't label ourselves as the first seller in the first place. On a conference call with Toyota in North America on Jan. 4, Jack Hollis, Toyota's vice president for North America, admitted: "Yes, we overtook GM, but taking the first place is not our goal, and we don't think it's sustainable." In fact, their common goal is electric cars. Tesla's market capitalization surpassed GM in 2017 and Toyota in 2020.

In the middle of last month, Akio Toyoda announced at a strategic development conference on electric cars in Tokyo that he would spend $35 billion on developing electric cars by 2030, launch 30 electric cars in 2030, and showcase 15 of them at the scene. This scene also happened to GM in the United States before. Us President Joe Biden signed a presidential decree in August 2021 calling for electric vehicles to account for 50% of new car sales in the United States by 2030. GM CEO Maribala subsequently announced a $25 billion investment in electric vehicle research by 2025 in 2020, and adjusted this budget twice last year, finally increasing to $35 billion, an increase of 75% higher than the original plan. GM China president Bai Li also said that GM plans to launch 30 electric vehicles in 2025, more than 20 will be launched in China, the sense of urgency between the two is self-evident.

But in fact, GM does not have much product layout in electric vehicles, only Chevrolet Bolt EV and Bolt EUV are responsible for GM's electric vehicle sales in the United States, both of which sold 24828 vehicles in 2021, up 19.6% from a year earlier. The Chevrolet Bolt EV starts at $31995 (about 206500 yuan), the maximum power of the motor 150kW (201.15 horsepower), the maximum torque 360Nm, the capacity of the battery pack is 65kWh, and the whole system is equipped with DC fast charging function, which can provide 161km mileage in 30 minutes and 416km.

GM has recalled the Chevrolet Bolt three times and halted production twice in the past year or two because of battery defects. Fourth-quarter sales were due to a massive shutdown, and GM expects to resume production of the model in February.

Chevrolet Bolt EV has been recalled three times in the past year because of battery failures that could cause fires. The first occurred in November 2020, and the second and third occurred in the past few months, with the second recall involving a total of 69000 vehicles. Electric cars spontaneous combustion regardless of the country, faulty batteries caused at least 13 cars spontaneous combustion and fire, the American public also talk about the color change of electric cars, in some parking lots, Chevrolet Bolt EV parking is prohibited.

At the beginning, GM also tried to reduce the occurrence of spontaneous combustion by locking electricity. GM advises car owners not to exceed 90% and not to recharge when the battery is too low. Subsequently, GM upgraded the Chevrolet Bolt EV battery management software, but to no avail, there was still spontaneous combustion, GM had to stop production and replace the battery for its owners.

Fortunately, the nearly $2 billion loss was borne by battery supplier LG New Energy, and the two sides claimed that the $2 billion settlement was a huge victory. Last August, GM extended its recall of the Bolt to 140000 vehicles, recalling most of the vehicles sold to replace batteries. The fact that the key technology is stuck is really happening to GM, and according to GM's plan, supplying batteries to other manufacturers is also one of the business of the future.

Overall, there are still many problems with electric car products, but the electric car competition has begun to change the way people travel and world trade rules are slowly changing, while China's corner overtaking policy is beginning to bear fruit.

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