American legacy automaker General Motors delivered impressive results in the third quarter of 2023 despite the challenges brought on by the United Auto Workers (UAW) strikes.
Moreover, it also shared some new advancements in its electric vehicle business in the July to September period.
GM’s Q3 2023 performance
GM successfully surpassed Wall Street’s forecast of $1.88 adjusted EPS with its record of $2.28 in the third quarter, according to the press release published on Tuesday.
It also had a revenue of $44.13 billion, notably higher than the industry expectation of $43.68 billion.
“We were profitable in every region, including China. And GM International excluding China is on track to deliver significantly higher EBIT-adjusted in 2023 compared to a year ago.”
GM CEO Mary Barra
Rough quarter
GM is among the automakers affected by the UAW’s labor strikes since September 15. According to CNBC, the American automaker loses approximately $200 million per week in vehicle production.
CFO Paul Jacobson told the media that the strikes also resulted in about $800 million loss in pretax earnings, including $200 million in Q3 2023.
In response, GM decided on Tuesday to withdraw its set earnings target in 2023 of $12 billion-$14 billion and $9.3 billion-$10.7 billion net income attributable to stockholders.
Chief Mary Barra also expressed her insights on the ongoing labor strikes.
“Let me address this head on. It’s been clear coming out of COVID that wages and benefits across the US economy would need to increase because of inflation and other factors. … Since negotiations started this summer, we’ve been available to bargain 24/7 on behalf of our represented team members and our company. They’ve demanded a record contract — and that’s exactly what we’ve offered for weeks now. … It’s an offer that rewards our team members but does not put our company and their jobs at risk. Accepting unsustainably high costs would put our future and GM team member jobs at risk, and jeopardizing our future is something I will not do.”
GM CEO Mary Barra
Electrification progress updates
Teslarati reported GM’s updates on its EV strategy, including a target of higher volume through the fourth quarter and beyond.
According to GM, its production of battery modules enjoyed a notable advancement. It is now actively working on the installment and testing of new high-capacity module assembly lines.
Its Ultium architecture production also recorded a remarkable quarter-on-quarter growth of more than twofold in the latest quarter.
As mentioned, GM aims to deliver further volume growth in the last quarter of the year and the quarters to come.
It also aims to have Cadillac LYRIQ, Chevrolet Blazer EV, Chevrolet Silverado EV, and GMC HUMMER EV account for ~2/3 of its overall electric vehicle volume in Q4 2023.
GM still targets to hit 1 million units of annual electric vehicle production output in the North American market beyond 2025. The remarkable results in Q3 2023 demonstrate GM’s resilience in the volatile market, especially considering the ongoing labor strikes that affect its production.
